Kichen fitting quote B&Q

catterlen

Hi all,
I have just had B and Q "design" a kitchen. This includes 9 flatpack units, a hob and an oven- the guy tried to sell me an induction hob, as they are very efficient, but conveneiently left out the part about buying all new pans which are also very expensive! We have to have electric of some kind as we have no gas here. Sorry, getting distracted...
So, for these 9 units, cornices, kickboards and handles, fittings, the quotes he gave me were:
£5700 with solid wood worktops
£4600 with laminate.
Given that the kitchen itself is large, but the actual work area is a small L shape, this seems excessive. What is the opinion on this? Am i being unreasonable?
Having been to Ikea, the same 9 units, plus another 5 flatpacks with accessories for another section of the kitchen, and laminate worktops, works out at (with fitting) £3500 with a hob, oven and extractor (about £1800 without fitting). I would add a little more for accessories etc.
Does any one have any idea of the general quality of B&Q or ikea flatpacks, or if they are comparable? And the same question of solid wood worktops? I liked the idea that Ikea still have the same ranges year after year, and their standard sizes stay the same for future replacments or repairs, unlike other stores.
Any thoughts/preferences on the quotes or past experience would be appreciated,
cheeers!

PurpleK8

look at your b&q quote very carefully and only order what works out cheapest from them, source from other suppliers. the quality of the units i got is pretty good for the price (its from the expensive range they do)

we had a quote from them which mounted to over £9,000 - i nearly fell through the floor as i'd worked out the units would come to around £3,500, sink & taps £800 and worktop about £2,500, the other £2,250 included the removal of old kitchen even though there was nothing to remove (£250), kitchen fitting (£1k) plumbing in the sink (£200) and the fitting of the worktop (£1K). I told him to forget, about fitting etc but he was really ar5ey with me saying unless I had the kitchen fitted by them i couldn't have the worktop, and if i didn't have the worktop I couldn't have the sink, like that was going to make me say 'ok then!'. he didn't look so smug when i said 'fine, i'll leave the extras and just order the units then' as they obviously make their profit on all the extras! I then found my worktop elsewhere for £1k and sink/taps for £450, I didn't even order the handles through him as i could get the same much cheaper

friends of ours also had a quote from them at the same time, they allowed them to design the kitchen (I'd told them what I wanted as I found their designer useless), when the kitchen was delivered they had about £800 worth of units, end panels etc than they didn't even need.

blottedcopybook

As an ex B&Q employee I can tell you that the quote you are given for fitting will rarely if ever be competitive. In this climate too, with tradesmen falling over themselves to get work, you'd be very wise to look into other quotes.

I think the B&Q quality is reasonable, but personally I would advise you to price a similar design & layout through a builders merchant like Wickes. It may be comparable, and the quality is likely to be vastly superior.

catterlen

thanks for the advice- I have been looking this afternoon at getting the units elsewhere, and worktops. I found that when I priced up myself, the b and q range were reasonably competitive with ikea, but ikea had more of the choice that I wanted, nothing really against b and q. However, I am getting a couple of people to give me quotes on fitting- one person came up today and will give me a quote later, but said that in his opinion the best thing was to get someone to design the kitchen, and seperately source everything to get the cheapest price.
We don't have a wickes close by- does anyone know if they have a distance limit on fittings and sales? The nearest is about 60 miles I think.
Also, another problem I had with B and q was that they quoted a 4 month waiting time, which seemed a little long.
thanks for the advice so far, will let you know any updated quotes...

Steve_the_fitter

The more expensive b and q range isnt to bad but still well overpriced. as for the cheaper white units they really are bad quality. Where you from . Maybe someone can point you in the right direction to get a independant fitter round to price you up on a supply and install. Personally I also think howdens are overpriced what what they are and dont think you find many actual kitchen fitters supplying Howdens as they really should have better contacts in the trade. i can understand builders supplying howdens cause they dont know any better

blottedcopybook

catterlen wrote: »

thanks for the advice- I have been looking this afternoon at getting the units elsewhere, and worktops. I found that when I priced up myself, the b and q range were reasonably competitive with ikea, but ikea had more of the choice that I wanted, nothing really against b and q. However, I am getting a couple of people to give me quotes on fitting- one person came up today and will give me a quote later, but said that in his opinion the best thing was to get someone to design the kitchen, and seperately source everything to get the cheapest price.
We don't have a wickes close by- does anyone know if they have a distance limit on fittings and sales? The nearest is about 60 miles I think.
Also, another problem I had with B and q was that they quoted a 4 month waiting time, which seemed a little long.
thanks for the advice so far, will let you know any updated quotes...

I'm very wary of ikea to be honest, their furniture looks amazing but is terrible quality (I have bought and binned three TV units and God knows how much other stuff) and doesn't stand up to the rigmarole of family life in my opinion which would make me wary of making an investment in such a long-term refit. I think if you're spending that kind of money on a new kitchen you really want to go for the best quality you can possibly afford.

I think the suggestion of getting someone to design *and* fit your kitchen is a wise one, I would personally avoid any of the MFI/Ikea/B&Q type options for it though because in my experience the units are all made of that chipboard stuff with veneers rather than being solid. It's obviously dependant on your budget but I feel it's a false economy.

Good luck, whatever you decide.

mojomcl

If it's of any help, I just signed up for a new kitchen last night.
We also had B&Q out, didn't like the design the guy insisted was 'perfect', laughed at the quote, marvelled at just how much was NOT included in the quote, and thought the guy was a bit of a twit, all in! lol
Other than B&Q, we mainly had local companies quote, and the difference in the service(s) they offer is amazing.
Last night we made our descision and signed up for a bespoke kitchen, being MADE about 10 miles away, with bespoke units, solid timber worktops, EVERYTHING from a tongue and groove effect ceiling, through black wallcovering, gloss white units, wood effect floor etc. Not one inch of the room not being changed/covered. We will have 26 units, which is basically one L shape, and one U shape....and all this is 'just' £7,600, and the fitting will be around the £2,000 mark....it should come in at just uner the 10k mark, all in. Should! lol
Kinda makes B&Qs quote to you rather a p*ss take, doesn't it?

tlrtone

Go for a Wickes kitchen and fit it yourself - or get a local tradesmen in to fit it.
I have fitted 4 wickes kitchens and the quality and fit is great and delivery is excellent. Had the expensive B&Q and whilst the quality is good and the only reason we chose it over wickes was that the interior of the cupboards was not white, but matched the outside. The delivery of the b&Q kitchen was atrocious and it took over 10 months to eventually get the last units to arrive. We even cancelled our worktops and got them locally as B&Q could not get them right.
It is all in the design: even a lower quality kitchen can look great in a well designed kitchen, so get several designs and have a go at designing yourself on a squared bit of paper. You may surprise yourself!

catterlen

Hi all,
Just a quick update on the kitchen situation, and thanks for th advice. I had a quote from an independant fitter, 2 days to refit the kitchen (14 units) and rip out th eold one, plus tiling 3 walls of 3 metres, 1.5m and 1m, fitting all electrical appliances(but not connections for them) , for £500. Also found a mixture of units from Howdens and an idependant supplier close to us for about £1500, with lots of extra bits, so all in all, more units and approx. £4k cheaper than out original B and q quote!!

mojomcl

That's much better!

Many thanks for the update, it's always nice to know.

Hope it all goes smoothly for you.

Jo
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