Wednesday 9 January 2008

Kitchen renovation time - yay!

Have suddenly become obsessed with kitchens as we've decided to get moving on ours. And this picture started it all. I found it in my Cosmo Pregnancy magazine (of all places!).

Picture from Getty

Not that there's much to see in this pic, but I love the open shelving and the crispness... I was all ready to go white everything (my usual first choice!) but then I saw the cover of this IKEA kitchens catalogue and basically want this colour theme - white cabinets, dark grey glass splashback (without the twig feature, as nice as it is) and lime-washed beechwood benchtops.

Love this look
So combine these two pics and HOPEFULLY that's what our kitchen will look like. For under $10,000. Think it's doable? I do. Here's my plan (so far): flatpax cabinets from Bunnings. I've already worked out the measurements and added it up: $2000 for whole room. I think I can get the appliances for around $2000, I'll have my builder quote me the open shelves (I'm thinking maybe $1500) and that leaves a fair bit for all the rest. I actually think we'll get it all done for about $8000, but always better to go a bit over to make room for any surprises!

So, my question to fellow renovators is this: Has anyone put in a Bunnings flatpax kitchen and if so, how do you find it? They seem fine to me - to me a cabinet is a cabinet (they're all pretty much made out of the same stuff despite the ridiculous prices some places charge) and I'd rather put my money into the things that'll get more wear like the benchtop and appliances.

Would love to hear your thoughts and what people spent on their kitchens. Am I in dreamland thinking I can get it done for under $10K?????????

Cheers, Bx

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm sure you're well aware but IKEA have a kitchen concepts station... you can plan it all out on the computers they have there. I would love to have a house to "play" with... ahh to dream.

belinda graham said...

I know, it's great! I've played with it many a time. My other option is an IKEA flatpak (dad's promised to install it for me - he did there one years ago and it's still going strong) but we'll see...

Anonymous said...

Hello! We are also tossing up Bunnings versus ikea with a $10,000 budget. Bunnings is cheaper, but ikea has more fancy organisation and options for arrangement of cupboards. Our kitchen is small and we have alot to fit in our cupboards so we have decided to pay that little more for ikea so we get more bang for our buck as far as organising the kitchen goes. Good Luck! Now just need to find that $10,000...

belinda graham said...

oh Ikea have awesome things don't they? I love their pull-out pantries but at the same time, I don't have any pantry now so any would be an improvement!! I was actually going to pay Ikea a visit and check the sizings of their interior stuff - I wonder if it'd fit into the bunnings cabinets (like the carousel thing for corner cupboards if they sell it alone) as i think they're similar sizes. Or we might just go wtih Ikea... decisions decisions!

Anonymous said...

We have an Ikea kitchen and I love to bits...people always comment on how nice it is! We got seperate laminate benchtops(I wish we bought Ikea wooden ones now, and just stained them darker!), and have a tiled splashback, but I would say it still came in under 10k. Ikea have some really nice limewashed benchtops too! I didn't like a lot of the bunnings doors, I don;t think the range was as good, and has has already been pointed out, all the Ikea groovy fittings are awesome...we have 2(!!) corner carousels and I love them! The doors we chose we the bottom of the range (we were a bit poor at the time!) and we are in the process of deciding which ones to upgrade too. There are so many fab options ( I love Adel, but I think they are too exxy for what they are!) Gah, must shut up now, I tend to ramable about Ikea kistchens cause I love em so much (nope I don't work there!)

belinda graham said...

haha awesome - thanks. I didn't think about that actually: you could always upgrade the cabinet doors to better ones. Great idea! Thanks

Anonymous said...

When we were researching Bunnings vs. Ikea we worked that Bunnings doors wouldn't fit ikea cupboards and visa versa. Such a buggar, would be great to buy cheap bunnings cupboards and sexy ikea doors!! I really liked that ikea had tall oven units so that your oven sits at waist height with cupboards above and below. It will be a lifesaver oneday when we have inquisitive little children! I also liked the cupboards that sit above your fridge, it allows the kitchen design to flow more easily and incorporates the big chunky fridge better!

I saw in an ikea catalogue yesterday, they have a deal whereby when you spend $2000 on kitchens you get $200 gift voucher back. Thats $1000 in vouchers for a 10k kitchen. Yay. Bring on the shopping!

Anonymous said...

Without sounding like a grandma, how do the warranties compare? ikea has a 25 year warranty(??? that was a guess) - what about bunnings?? Having worked in retail and interior design for a little while now, i have compared a lot of similar products with those at bunnings - i love bunnings btw - sometimes they don't quite compete with other brands in the quality stakes! Check their warranty details! in the long run Ikea might be cheaper!
Love the kitchen choice though!
Good Luck and thank you for letting me go on!

belinda graham said...

thanks for all your advice, guys. I spent way too much time last night on the ikea website doing the 3d planner thingy and am now leaning towards them again!!! will def do some serious comparisons and let you know!! bx

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