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You may
think having to have a kitchen custom built will be
more of a drain on your wallet than one available off
the shelf, however you would be wrong. Kitchens in Portugal in
comparison to the United Kingdom offer better value for
money. A top quality, custom built wooden kitchen with
granite work surfaces costs around 5,000€, the
equivalent of which in the United Kingdom would be around
12-15,000€.
Though
the majority of kitchens are custom-built, there are
showrooms on the high street, albeit within some of the
larger DIY merchants such as AKI, IZI, Maxmart and
Bricomarche. The kitchens available within these stores
offer good value for money and are likened to those on
offer in B & Q and other such outlets. The introduction
of the Swedish home-furnishing store, Ikea, in Portugal
has provided another off the shelf outlet with lots of
choice for homeowners.
One
thing you will find about kitchens in Portugal as the
majority of them will have either granite or marble work
surfaces. Although in the United Kingdom and other more
northern European countries having this kind of work
surface within the kitchen is an extravagance or luxury
only afforded by a few, here in Portugal granite and
marble are a given.
Granite
and marble is quarried in Portugal and as such is
available at a fraction of the cost it is on offer in
the United Kingdom. Whereas in the United Kingdom the
normal 'chip board' work surfaces have starting prices
of around £17 a metre, in Portugal this is the starting
price of granite and marble, so it is little wonder even
the most modest of properties has these 'luxury'
surfaces installed.
Most new
build properties will include the installation of a good
quality kitchen, however attention should be paid during
the negotiations of the purchase. The term fully fitted
can be misleading in Portugal as a kitchen is classed as
the units and not the white goods. Before you pay any
deposit money it is important you identify exactly what
of the kitchen will be installed and to what
specification. |
