Inspirations/Cost
Cost · 9 min read
What a modular kitchen quote leaves out
The modular part is often half the money.
Kitchen quotations are built around carcasses, shutters and hardware, because that is what a modular company sells. The kitchen you actually end up with also includes dado tiling, plumbing shifts, electrical points, the counter, the chimney and hob, and the civil platform underneath. Those lines are frequently absent, and they are not small.
Price the joinery per running foot, and get base, wall and tall units quoted separately. They are not the same rate, and a single blended number makes comparison impossible. Ask which board is being used and whether it is boiling-water-proof grade where it should be — under the sink, at minimum.
The counter deserves its own decision. Granite is the workhorse and takes heat. Quartz is consistent and needs no sealing but will mark under a hot pan. Marble will patina, and in a kitchen it will do so quickly.
On the work triangle: the useful version of that old rule is simply that the sink, the hob and the fridge should not force you to cross the room repeatedly while cooking, and that there should be a place to put down a hot pan within reach of the hob. Everything else is negotiable.
The counter deserves its own decision.
