Bespoke Kitchen or Standard – Your Choice

Bespoke is an old-fashioned word, it just means custom-built. Many kitchen suppliers boast of selling Designer kitchens, which implies that they are exclusive. In theory all kitchens are custom-built, different for each customer. In reality, standardization in the kitchen industry means that many kitchen companies sell from a range of standard sized cupboards and standard sized doors. These are pieced together like a jigsaw with the occasional filler panel to hide the gaps that standard cupboards cannot be made to fill.

A more creative way of using standard size cupboards is to make just one or two non-standard ones to use instead of filler panels. The sales-only companies who use mass produced cupboards and use a local joiner to make the non-standard bits use this trick.

Standardisation has opened the way for ‘kitchen shops’. These are outlets that sell kitchens but do not make or install them. The DIY sheds sometimes have a kitchen department within them. Kitchen shops are also to be found in industrial estates amongst manufacturers or even on the high street. They buy in the ready-made kitchens and use self-employed tradesmen to install them. Some of the more up-market shops import kitset kitchens from Europe or Asia and dress them up as exclusive designer brands (at exclusive designer prices).

The old fashioned joiner does still exist in various guises but many of them have had to give up or invest heavily in expensive computer-controlled machinery in order to keep up. Consequently there are fewer than there used to be.

A genuine bespoke kitchen will be made from scratch to your own specific design with no compromise for standardisation. It can be as individual as you are. The discerning eye will always pick out a genuine one-off. You can build into it any particular (and do-able) features you desire. The finishing materials can be more adventurous and the finish can be of a higher standard. There are some excellent trades people around who can produce superb bespoke/designer kitchens, at a price.

A genuine one-off bespoke/designer kitchen will necessarily be more expensive than the common or garden variety found in most homes. If your home is of a standard and finish that demands the best kitchen you can put in it, the specialist kitchen maker is the one to go to. You can spot them by their showroom, the installed kitchens they can refer you to, the features in the up-market magazines, their reputation and the language they use.

A kitchen made up of standard-sized cabinets can be made to look very nice and there is no reason to dismiss this approach out of hand. Take a good look at your options; consider very carefully your budget and look realistically at your home. Remember: between 5% and 10% of the cost of building or re-building the house is the price range for the kitchen. Do the best you can without going over the top. Skimp on the kitchen at your peril.

How do you get best value for money?