BUYING a new kitchen is often the priciest thing you can do to your home – and the hefty price tag puts a lot of us off.
But one mum-of-two, from Manchester, decided it was time to revamp the important room – especially as she was using a bedroom chest of drawers for her kettle and toaster.
Alija Sarac-Ashworth, 43, managed to save a fortune on her new kitchen after deciding using local bargains to pull it together.
Speaking to money-saving community LatestDeals.co.uk the caseworker said: "I needed a new kitchen but I was on a very tight budget, so I scoured the internet looking for affordable but solid wood units.
"At the time my Auntie was doing her kitchen and said she wanted stand-alone units instead of fitted MDF, so it got me thinking.
"I decided to make the project work around my budget and started out seeking professional quotes.
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"I sent out pictures of the units and waited to hear back but I got no response – except for one who said he outright didn’t want the job!
"I continued my search and found the best value for money at an affordable price online.
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"A company called Furniture Nation, a small family-run business in the Midlands, said they would deliver to Manchester for £75 no matter how large or small the items were.
"It was the best deal I had found so I began negotiating with them.
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"There were a lot of emails back and forth to the supplier where I gave them the measurements and described how I wanted it.
"I kept chopping and changing the design so it would fit my budget. From what I had seen online doing my research, a full kitchen would be £10k and a half-kitchen – what I wanted – would be £5k, which was much more than I wanted to pay.
"Eventually I did a deal with the supplier where I got a double cupboard, single cupboard and drawer/cupboard unit.
"They sent me a design and a quote, but I cut back certain features so I could save money.
"For example, I didn’t get an end unit, nor did I go for the wall-hung cupboards. I knew I wanted shelves above my units for storage but I decided to come up with another solution for these.
"I ended up paying £1500 for the units and delivery, which considering it could easily have cost me £5000 if I’d purchased a complete setup, I’m quite proud that I saved £3500.
"I decided to do the painting myself once the units arrived as it was much cheaper to spend £50 on paint than to order the units pre-painted or get a professional painter in.
"Completing the paint job did take me a few weeks as I was working around my full time job and my children – if I was doing it again I would take a week off work to complete this project properly.
"While I did the paint work I emailed local tradespeople to ask if they’d be available to fit the units to the wall, but I kept getting knock-backs or silence from them.
"I concluded that I’d better fix them myself! I watched YouTube videos on how to scribe the wooden units to an uneven wall and floor using clamps, shimmies, sandpaper and a jigsaw.
"I was very pleased with the result and the next step was getting the shelves sorted. I went to my local timber yard for a thick length of pine and some brackets, saving up the money before placing my order.
"A lovely couple delivered them and after affixing them, the job was nearly finished.
"The final step was getting worktops sorted. I had no money to get these so I decided I’d just use plywood until I’d saved enough.
"Then I remembered I had leftover laminate flooring from a previous job, and it’s waterproof so it would work well for my new units.
"I basically laid flooring planks on the plywood to create a worktop and now I have a smart set of blue kitchen units with wooden shelving to match.
"Even though I was basically forced to do the job myself as I kept getting knocked back by local tradesmen, I’m very happy with the finished result and I learned a lot during the process."
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Tom Church, Co-Founder of LatestDeals.co.uk, said: "Alija has done a great job at transforming her kitchen workspace. Now she’s got plenty of room and the area is much more functional than it was before.
"I always recommend negotiating with sellers to get a better deal, and impressively Alija has saved £1000s by ensuring she only got the exact units she needed. Nice work!"
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