Hey design-lovers,

So, you want a new kitchen, and you’re interested in getting something unique that’s design around you. But you’re not sure....

The million-dollar-question: how much does a genuinely original kitchen cost?

The truth is that there isn't a single answer, as each project has its own complexities . But at H. Miller Bros, we hold to the principles of honesty, integrity, and plain dealing, so below I’ve tried to give an honest appraisal of how much each part costs

So, let’s get into it…

The Costs: A Breakdown

Design: We offer two routes to a kitchen – the first is our ‘Entirely Bespoke’ design route, where the project is a genuine original and is designed just for you. The second is our ‘HMB Signature Design' route where, if you love a particular design in our LookBook and want us to adapt it to your space, choose the wood, and add your preference for appliances and worktops, we can work up a layout and quote.

The benefit of the HMB Signature Design route is that you get a savings on the cost, as it involves a lot less design and coordination time. With the Entirely Bespoke’ route, the advantage is that you get something that’s designed for your exact requirements, sense of style and with more complex and unusual detailing. The design time involved in our Entirely Bespoke kitchens is usually about 15% of the total cost and a minimum of £10k. In general, clients with a budget of £60k or under tend to go down our HMB Signature Design route, whilst those with budgets great than £65 often choose to follow our entirely bespoke route.

Cabinetry: This is usually about 50% of the total budget, but the amount of cabinetry affects this, with large kitchens requiring more materials and more labour. The timber selection affects the cost; oak and ash are more cost effective than more obscure or prized species such as elm, cherry or walnut. The proportion of solid timber to veneered boards is also relevant, with more soli wood tending to increase the cost.

An aspect that’s easy to overlook is how efficiently the cabinetry can be made and here the number of different processes and one-off custom items is what affects the cost. For example, a kitchen with 3 different sizes of drawer box can be made more efficiently than a kitchen with 27 (I can hear you asking the question... and, yes, we have made a kitchen with 27 different sizes of drawer box.) A typical bespoke kitchen for us, one with a wall of full-height cabinetry, a section of waist-high cabinets under a countertop, and a kitchen island, might have a cabinetry value of around £35-£45k.

Appliances: A full set of appliances from a high-quality brand such as Miele typically costs around £10k-£12k. For some clients, the show-stopper will be a feature appliance such as an AGA, SubZero fridge or a Gagganau oven set. These appliances can be £5k, £10k or £20k+ on their own. We tend to recommend appliances that are equivalent, in terms of quality and longevity, to our cabinetry. This is why we supply, amongst other, Miele and Fisher & Paykel, in our kitchens. In addition, our experience in the industry has allowed us to develop some best-buy tips for getting good quality appliances at better rates, and we can happily share these with you.

Worktops: A good rule of thumb is to factor in £1.3k/m2 for natural stone, and £1k/m2 for premium quartzstone. An average kitchen with an island might have 6-8m2 of stone (more if there are tall backsplashes or stone cladding to areas of cabinetry), so this gives a typical range for the worktops of £7k-£11k. Very beautiful Quartzite (not to be confused with quartzstone) or marble will be more.

Delivery and installation: We generally fit our own projects. This is because we know one of the top issues for our clients is the disruption and mess caused by tradespeople in their home, and we can guarantee the best quality service when it’s our own staff. We mock-up our projects in the worktop and thoroughly plan the installation so that we can install quickly and without mess or disruption. An install in central London might cost £8k, and one more local to our base in the North West might be £4k. If you have a builder, and want us to provide the cabinetry for them to install independently, that's fine. It's important we know this at the start of the design process, so that we can optimize the design to simplify the fit so that someone else can install it successfully.

VAT: We include VAT in any price we give to you, and all of the cost ranges above include VAT.

 I hope it's been interesting and useful to find out a bit more about how much it costs to make one of our kitchen projects. If you're interested to talk to us about your own project, just click the link below to arrange q quick chat.

Cheers,

Hugh