kitchen quotes & joiners

kokolino23 · 12 May 2015 at 12:20AM

Hello,
What a HEADACHE this is turning to be.
Just buying a house and we need a new kitchen fitted. We've seen an offer from Wren so rang them for a quote. The designer came out, measured the kitchen and we went to their showroom for a 3D design.
The quote is not bad at all: 4K with splash back but without the appliances. We like the kitchen but we're being put off by the bad reviews regarding this company.

Not sure what other suppliers should we try though: B&Q, Howdens, Magnet, Wickes, Ikea... or go for some local ones? Or try to get quotes from all of them and put them against each other ?!

Then the difficult job to find a good kitchen joiner in Cardiff, based on reviews...

Many thanks for your valuable advice

wymondham · 12 May 2015 at 7:38AM

have you looked at diy-kitchens.com ?

cddc · 12 May 2015 at 9:18AM

Stay clear of Wren, if possible. They do have happy customers and are not all bad, but equally they have more horror stories than anyone else. All companies get things wrong sometimes, Wren are the the worst at putting them right when they do go wrong, hence the plethora of shocking reviews.

Most of the others are perfectly fine. If using a DIY sheds fitting service, ask for their best fitter, rather than the one on the shortest lead time. You may have to wait longer, but it will be worth it. The fitters are all subbies and vary in quality. Good fitting is as important, if not more so than the quality of the kitchen itself.

onomatopoeia99 · 12 May 2015 at 9:24AM

If you don't want to do the installation yourself then local independent kitchen companies will all be able to organise an installation if you order through them, as will Magnet & Southern (a colleague is getting a kitchen from them but also talked with a number of small companies around Bristol, all of whom offered installation, before setting on Magnet). No idea about what the DIY sheds can and can't do though.

I did my kitchen installation myself, saved me a ton. As long as you are patient and methodical it's not terribly difficult, although a second pair of hands is needed occasionally.

kokolino23 · 12 May 2015 at 1:52PM

wymondham wrote: »

have you looked at diy-kitchens.com ?

I've looked at this one but is different when you see exactly what are you going to buy. Even though I must admit the cost difference.
I've never thought could be such a headache.

Halle71 · 12 May 2015 at 2:54PM

We had a plan done at Howdens the sent it to DIY Kitchens who matched it and saved us £2k :-)

kokolino23 · 12 May 2015 at 11:03PM

Halle71 wrote: »

We had a plan done at Howdens the sent it to DIY Kitchens who matched it and saved us £2k :-)

Can I ask how did you manage to get the plan from Howdens, please? Wren didn't give anything away...
Cheers

wymondham · 13 May 2015 at 8:37AM

kokolino23 wrote: »

I've looked at this one but is different when you see exactly what are you going to buy. Even though I must admit the cost difference.
I've never thought could be such a headache.

it is initially confusing, but keep with it as their units are very high quality and you can seriously save. We were quote £12k for a kitchen by a local company. I've just done it myself using DIY-kitchens and done much more for £6k.

kokolino23 · 13 May 2015 at 10:06AM

wymondham wrote: »

it is initially confusing, but keep with it as their units are very high quality and you can seriously save. We were quote £12k for a kitchen by a local company. I've just done it myself using DIY-kitchens and done much more for £6k.

Did they give you a kitchen plan along with the measurements for the units? Where did you find a good kitchen fitter? Can they cut and finish the worktops if I'll buy them from somewhere else?
Thanks

kokolino23 · 13 May 2015 at 10:18AM

I've got the measurements for the kitchen but how would I know what units should I buy so they can fit perfectly?
If I buy the worktop from somewhere else, surely needs to be finished off by the fitter. If I'm going to fit it myself, how on earth can I do that ?!
I'm an engineer myself and quite practical but I've never fitted a kitchen...

wymondham · 13 May 2015 at 2:04PM

If you've got the measurements then it really is not too hard to do yourself, especially as you are practically minded anyway? if you take your time its not as bad as you think!!

Depending on the type of worktop you want, you can also get this all cut to size along with any cutouts and delivered to you - I used worktop-express.co.uk for my wooden worktops, all precut/oiled and ready to fit!

kitchen quotes & joiners

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