How do I work out a budget?

 

It’s the question everyone wants answered first, and the honest truth is that a kitchen budget isn’t a number you can look up or easily arrive at on your own.

 

Most people have no real visibility of what makes up the cost of a kitchen, and there’s no reason they should. The price reflects materials, appliances, the trades involved, insurance, project management and the time it all takes, most of which sits out of sight. So when clients arrive with a figure in mind, it’s usually a guess, often anchored to a high-street price or something a friend mentioned, rather than to what their actual project involves.

It’s also not as simple as more work costing more, and it often depends on what you were going to do anyway. Relocating a sink or reworking a layout to improve access or make better use of the space doesn’t always change the overall total, because cost is spread across the whole project and a change in one place is often absorbed rather than added on top. Removing a wall is another good example. If you were already going to redecorate and refloor the room next door, the real cost of opening it up is small, because most of that work was in your plans regardless. It only looks expensive if the whole cost of finishing that second room gets loaded onto the kitchen. Part of our job is understanding where the true cost of a change actually sits, and where it doesn’t.

That’s why we don’t give firm figures before we’ve assessed the space. A number given too early is either a guess or a hostage to fortune. What we can do, once we’ve seen what we’re working with, is give you a clear and realistic figure and talk you through exactly what’s driving it, so you understand where your money is going rather than just what the total is.

The most useful thing you can bring to the conversation isn’t a precise budget. It’s an open mind and a rough sense of what you’re comfortable investing. From there, we can steer you toward the products and approach that make the most of it.

Prefer to listen? We go deeper on budgeting in two episodes of The Home Improvement Podcast: