Mum Saves £3800 On New Kitchen With £300 DIY Bargain Build
- Rachel wanted a new kitchen but she was quoted £5k
- She decided to go DIY and bought a second hand kitchen for just £300
- By installing the parts herself, she has saved nearly £4000
Many of us will avoid getting a new kitchen because we presume it will cost thousands of pounds, but one savvy DIYer has proven that doesn’t have to be the case. In fact, after she was quoted over £5k for a new installation, she bought a used one for just £300 online and installed it herself.
Rachel Poolton, who runs Inch Go Lipo and is based in Cardiff, told money-saving community LatestDeals.co.uk: ‘I am always doing DIY projects around the house. My two children are nearly 17 and 13, and they’re never surprised to come home only to discover I’ve completely changed the decor in a room. They’ve grown up with it so luckily they don’t take any notice of me!
‘The idea to buy a second hand kitchen came from browsing Facebook Marketplace and seeing the quality of the used items available. Loads of people moving into old homes and updating them to their taste and offering the existing kitchens for bargain prices. I knew it would save me thousands.
‘My love of black matt paint inspired the eventual design. I always want to go for something different, so when I thought about painting my kitchen black and I researched the best paint to use, I saw lots of wood combined with black and it got my creative juices flowing. I don't like wood furniture, it's just not my cup of tea, but I liked the combination of black/white with warm 'wood effect' tones.
‘I bought a complete used kitchen for just £300. This included the integrated dishwasher, fridge freezer and ovens. I couldn't believe my luck. I also got wall and floor cupboards as well as integrated housing units for the fridge and other white goods.
‘I purchased all of the worktops and baseboards, too. I knew I bought a lot more than I needed, but for that price, it was a complete bargain. I paid a local man with a van £50 to take it to my storage unit until I was ready to install it. In the end, it was only a month in storage, and I had 50% off the monthly rent.
‘I bought the flooring in Dunelm. The sticky tiles were on offer at £10 for 14. I got them in a white and rose gold finish to pick up the warm tones of the wood effect.
‘I used waterproof drawer liners for my baseboards and cut them to size, then stapled them onto the back of the baseboard. I bought three packs from B&M for £3.99 each.
‘I bought sticky-back plastic for the worktops from eBay for £6 a roll, and I used 2.5 of them. The wood effect is really realistic and people think they're real wood. As I don't like wood, like I'd mentioned, I didn't want to buy worktops in case I didn't like the combination of the black/white wood effect. So I could just peel it back off and change it if I didn't like it. But I love it! In fact, I ended up covering my washing machine in offcuts from the sticky back plastic.
‘I bought dried flowers and accessories from Wilkinsons and The Range to make my own flower arrangement above the blinds for a combined £20. And I made it myself and secured it with nails. It just pops onto them. I also bought a champagne-coloured blind at Dunelm for £38.
‘Lastly, my black/wood effect microwave was also from Dunelm and the toaster and kettle from B&M. All of these supplies cost approximately £110.
‘I couldn't use the integrated dishwasher so I sold it for £100 back on Facebook Marketplace and my sister added extra cupboards to her utility room and changed some of her doors with the leftover supplies.
‘We arrived at the property with drills and freezer bags, plus a Sharpie. I did this as I labeled every door that came off and stored every item's nails/screws in individual freezer bags and handwrote what piece of the kitchen it came from. It saved loads of time when I tried to fit the individual items into my kitchen when they'd all been moved around loads.
‘Luckily, I got them out of storage when the weather was fine so they all went in my garden until I'd put them in their forever spot. So a lot of jiggling around to get them to fit. I did this in the garden before taking them into the kitchen.
‘Most of the walls were way out so a lot of packing out behind cupboards to push them out flush. I then used a sticky back plastic kit from Wilkinsons which cost £5. It was hard red plastic with a black material over the end to smooth out the sticky back plastic to avoid bubbles. I didn’t pull much backing paper off as I would be covering the worktops and it would become fiddly.
'After wrapping the worktops, I tucked the overlap underneath for a better finish. I then decided to cover the silver, built-in handles with the same sticky back plastic. I removed all the handles and wrapped them tightly and neatly to look real.
‘The challenges along the way were dealing with the uneven old walls and floors, as my house is an older build. If I had to do it again the only thing I would change is to plaster the walls to get a flush finish. However, the haggling with the spirit level and packing to make everything flush is part of the fun!
‘To have bought the units, worktop, flooring, fridge freezer ovens and so on brand new, it would have cost me over £5k. All in, I'd say I only spent £1,200.
‘I’m really happy with the end result and I’m in love with the wood effect and the black/white contrast. It's one of my best budget makeovers. The upgrade is better for my clients who visit the clinic and they always compliment it. They can't believe the worktops are covered in only sticky back plastic and the matching washing machine.
Tom Church, Co-Founder of LatestDeals.co.uk, said: ‘Wow, Rachel has done a great job installing her kitchen by going DIY! I never knew you could buy second hand kitchens at such low prices. The saving she’s made is truly impressive!’
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where did you get the worktop coverin from pls and is it easy to fit and keep clean