Like any worthwhile project, installing your own DIY kitchen should start with good planning. A little bit of time spent before you rip everything out can save you a great deal of time and expense later.
The 5 planning steps to a safe, successful and stress-free kitchen installation:
- Decide on your budget
- Create your kitchen plan
- Decide who’s going to fit it
- What’s your timescale
- Where will you buy it from
Okay, let’s go through the 5 steps one at a time…
1. BUDGET:
If you’re going to install your own fitted kitchen, then you have an immediate cost saving which may allow you to:
- Buy kitchen units of a better type (or more of them)
- Specify luxury fittings like soft-close doors & drawers, a Magic Corner storage system, feature lighting, pull-out larder units or even a flip down TV!
- Upgrade to real wood or stone worktops instead of laminate
- Treat yourself to a premium appliance brand or just an appliance you’ve always wanted – like a dishwasher.
- It’s relatively easy nowadays with the internet to get a fairly accurate idea of how much your DIY kitchen is going to cost. Google’s Shopping search engine or similar price comparison tools make it quick and easy to find the best deals around.
First though break your project down into these groups:
- Kitchen units (kitchen cabinets)
- Kitchen worktops & splashback area (could be a panel to match the worktop, ceramic tiling or just painted wall)
- Appliances
- Sink & tap
- Lighting & electrical
- Flooring (ceramic tiling, laminate, vinyl etc)
- Accessories
- Decoration
- Miscellaneous (this might be any job you can’t do yourself, like plastering, electrical, gas or plumbing work)
Before you can price most of these items though you need to know how much or how many you’re going to need and to do that you need a …
2. PLAN:
Kitchen planning may seem like a black art if you’ve never done it before but it’s pretty straightforward if you go about it logically. However, rather than describe all the different layouts you could choose and the important safety considerations you have to take onboard I’m just going to recommend you download our FREE kitchen design guide
In simple terms, this is going to show you how to design your dream kitchen and create a millimetre-perfect plan that you or a professional fitter can work from.
You’ll also receive a 7-part email guide which tells you how to organise the installation so that everything (and everyone) turns up when they’re needed and in the right order … successful project management can make or break your project and will make the difference between the kitchen being completed within 1-2 weeks … and it taking 5-6 weeks (by which stage you’ll be tired, aggravated and have probably had several heated discussions with your significant other!)