Fareham Kitchens: Replace Doors and Worktops or Buy New?

Start by checking the carcasses, not the doors

The carcasses are the cabinet boxes behind the doors, and they decide whether a doors-and-worktops job is worth doing. Many homes in Portchester, Stubbington, Locks Heath and Titchfield Common have kitchens fitted in the 1990s or 2000s. Those carcasses are usually chipboard and often still sound, apart from damage in the usual places.

Open every cupboard and check it carefully before you get quotes. If most units pass, a refresh is realistic. If the base units are swollen or sagging, you would be spending money on a face that sits on a failing frame.

• Swollen or crumbling chipboard under the sink or next to the dishwasher
• Shelves that bow, or hinge screws that won't hold any more
• Rot or damp in the plinth area and the back panels
• Units out of level or pulling away from the wall

What each option typically costs locally

Every kitchen is different, so treat these as rough guides rather than quotes. For a typical ten to fourteen unit kitchen in the Fareham area, supplying and fitting new doors, drawer fronts, handles and end panels usually costs somewhere around £1,500 to £4,000. Where you land in that range depends on the finish and on whether your units are standard sizes.

New laminate worktops, fitted with the sink and hob cut-outs, often come to about £400 to £1,200. Solid wood is usually a bit more. Quartz or other composite worktops are templated and made to order, and typically cost £2,000 to £5,000 or more, with a lead time of one to two weeks after templating.

A full new mid-range kitchen, fully fitted, generally starts at around £8,000 and can easily go past £20,000 once you add appliances, flooring, tiling, electrics and plastering. A door and worktop refresh is usually finished in two to four days. A full refit can leave you without a working kitchen for two weeks or more.

When new doors and worktops make sense

A refresh is the better choice when the only problem is how the kitchen looks. It also suits you if you're getting a property ready to let or sell, or you'd rather keep your budget for something else.

• The carcasses are sound and dry, and you're happy with the layout
• The units are standard sizes, so off-the-shelf doors will fit
• Your appliances are fairly new and the right size for the gaps they sit in
• You want to add soft-close hinges, new handles or a new sink and tap without moving any plumbing

When a full new kitchen is the better spend

Sometimes a refresh just puts off the bigger job. If the layout doesn't work, for example because of a poor cooking triangle, not enough worktop space, or a boiler cupboard in the wrong place, new doors won't fix it. Moving the sink or hob means changing the plumbing, the electrics and sometimes the gas, and at that point you're paying for most of a refit anyway. Any new electrical circuits will need Part P certification, and any gas work must be done by a Gas Safe registered engineer.

Older kitchens can also have odd unit sizes, especially in some pre-1980s homes and in kitchens that were built on site. Made-to-measure doors cost noticeably more, and that can take away much of the saving.

Getting quotes you can compare fairly

Ask each tradesperson to itemise their quote. You want doors, worktops, fitting, waste removal and any plumbing work listed separately. Check whether the price includes disconnecting and reconnecting the sink and hob. Ask whether they'll replace any worn hinges and drawer runners while the doors are off, because it costs very little to do then and a lot more to do later. An honest fitter will look inside your units before quoting and tell you if the carcasses aren't worth keeping.