That Kevin McLoud Thing

That Kevin McLoud thing needs a bit more input.

5K or 50k that is the question. Is there a significant difference between the material make up of the 5k kitchen and the 50k kitchen.

At this particular time I am in the right place to in part answer this as I am having a new kitchen fitted on Friday (28/11/10).

My Kitchen is a Chippendale Hilton Ivory over painted solid ash door, veneered painted cornice & pelmet rail. I will be having solid 30mm Medura Gold granite work surfaces with upstands, behind hob granite splashback and window cill, two Neff single ovens, Neff five burner gas hob, Neff semi integrated dishwasher, Neff built in large fridge, Baumatic curved stainless steel extractor. (All available to view at the end of next week on Twitter #kitchenproject).

 Now this kitchen would retail at approx £13,000 excluding installation, decorating, flooring, stainless steel sockets, this would add approx £3k.

I could have gone to a DIY outlet to purchase my cabinets, but would not have got  a solid wood painted door, cornice & pelmet rail, 18mm colour co-ordinated PVC face edged cabintes, with 15mm solid backs, anti tip shelves, blum clip on/off Soft Close hinges, none collapsable Grass drawer boxes.

I would have got 15mm white melamine edged cabinets, 3mm hardboard backs, plastic or metal shelf studs, normal screw on hinges and a cheap Metabox look-a-like drawer box for half the price of the Chippendale cabinets. The benefit of my purchase is the USP's and quality of the materials Chippendale use to construct their cabinets. If I was trading up on the cabinetry I could have gone to one of the higher end companies like Intoto and probably got 19mm HDF cabinets with fittings that will have other USP's, maybe this would have added 4 0r 5k  to cabinetry. An even greater leap I could have gone to a bespoke manufacturer I.E Todd Hunter Davies, and had solid wood cabinets as well as doors, true the fittings would not have been that much different although again there would be different USP's probably adding 25 to 35K to the cabinetry.

If I chose one of the the latter two I would have still chosen the same appliances, worktops, sink taps etc... so the kitchen cabinetry would differ from say 5k for the Chippendale to 10k for Intoto or 30 to 40k for the bespoke. The construction process between each company would be similar but the overall differences would be noticed not only by a trained eye but any person who is looking for a kitchen, a persons perception of what a kitchen costs is not made by looking through a shop window but by opening, touching and feeling the product you know as the advert says "sounds like a golf but isn't".

When Kevin made this statement he should have made himself clear as to what he was refering to in the differences between the 5 and 50k kitchens. On the appliances I definately would not want an old oven from the skip becasue it does not do what the Neff ovens I have bought do.

I am very happy with the purchase of my kitchen and would not want to spend any more to get a different specification of cabinet unless money was no object. I purchased my kitchen based on the door style and quality, if I had another 30k spare I would still have chosen the door but maybe got the solid wood cabs,
"A lifetimes purchase" either way. So in my opinion there is a difference between the two price ranges and it is not just a status symbol. Is there a difference between a £129 Technica LCD TV and a Panasonic Viera LCD were I can look at the screen from any angle and still see a perfect picture?

The debate will roll on I am sure and maybe Kevin will have some answeres for his views on the 5th May.