Kitchen - thinking of getting slightly cheaper cupboards with granite worktops

cally1_2

I have no idea what the individual prices were as she didn't give me a breakdow of the prices. Just a final figure, which makes me feel very uncomfartable.

I have been to Magnet Trade today and they can do similar (not granite but a 40mm laminate worktop) for £7000... That was with appliances, sink, tap and everything really...

But I can't have my curved cupbaords at end of peninsular like I wanted as they don't do them in the trade section.

sheslookinhot

Steve_Groves wrote: »

Where were you getting quotes for Second Nature from? I have just put a BroakOak kitchen in with 2 x 4.5m runs + granite for £5100 (no appliances included but 3 curved doors, larder unit....)

Look at www.withknobson.co.uk and www.diy-kitchens.co.uk. They are the cheapest for Second Nature and provide a good service.

BTW What price were you quoted for the granite?

Steve,

Did you buy from diy-kitchens ?

What is your opinion of service, advise and quality of units. Ready to buy Howden or Jewsons and saw your link. Need to spend more time now looking over what they can do. I like the Milton Oak.

cally1_2

I like the Avant Ivory but was unsure of the aftercare etc if items were missing from the order and so on by buying online.

a_star_3

By sounds of it granite should cost around 1900 + vat. What colour and length do you want?

Doozergirl

I'd try DIY kitchens for second nature if you're able tto break the order down yourself.

We're looking at cream gloss. Magnet units are lovely - we got them to 4000 and the kitchen we are designing is 3.6 x 3m with a 1.4 x 1.2 metre island. I think they're pretty comparable in that respect. We're including 5 appliance towers and 3 x 1m pan drawers - relatively expensive units. In the end we are going for Howdens as we've got them down to 2040 for the units!

When you are comparing you really just need to strip out all the appliances and worktops so that you can actually compare the core cost of the units. If they aren't quoting you unit costs then I don't like it - I know you like the curved units - as do I but if I told that they come in at over 400 pounds each! even in Howdens, would it affect your decision?

When you design a kitchen the best way to keep costs down is to use large units wherever possible - two 500mm units will cost nearly double one 1000mm unit! You always need to bear the look in mind as well so there is a compromise but don't just shove in whatever fits - jig it all around! Our kitchen would be cheaper if I opted for cupboards instead of drawers but I love the look of the lines running straight down the kitchen and drawers do hold a lot more stuff than cupboards as you can pack them properly - you get good access to your stuff because you pull it straight out from above rather than dig around in a cupboard looking for what you need.

The cream gloss in Howdens comes with the original chipboard white units as given which I don't like - it makes the inside of the kitchen look cheap so I've opted for wood look inside which looks much better.

Having shopped around everywhere for cream gloss units the best ones are john lewis (wentworth), magnet, B&Q Cooke & Lewis range and Howdens. There is obviously a difference between John Lewis and Howdens but I've opted for Howdens - B&Q will price match minus 10% but just being able to go and get missing bits directly from Howdens is more helpful to us. Anywhere else the gloss looks stuck on the top rather than wrapped around the door and the drawer units are flimsy.

I am very confident that we will pull the kitchen off for 6500 including quartz or corian tops (not granite this time I think although price is same) and a 1000 pound extractor fan (I'm a little undecided on it though!) I've found a De Detriech induction hob for 489 which I need to compare prices on properly.

It's important to play people off against each other to get the best price so make sure you get your quotes redone with just units - no worktops, no appliances and then you can compare directly.

Without a doubt I would choose a cheaper but not inferior kitchen and have decent worktops than cheapen and really good kitchen with laminate.

Steve_Groves

I have bought from both WithKnobsOn and DIY Kitchens. Both have what I consider fantastic customer service.

Both orders I raised were for partial kitchens so did not include everything one would require for a whole kitchen. I thien had a call back and we walked through the order, clarified the reasons for missing certain bits (eg cornices) and was given some suggestions as to how to save money and improve delivery timescales.

sheslookinhot wrote: »

Steve,

Did you buy from diy-kitchens ?

What is your opinion of service, advise and quality of units. Ready to buy Howden or Jewsons and saw your link. Need to spend more time now looking over what they can do. I like the Milton Oak.

Steve_Groves

I agree that it is false economy to buy plain cupboards instead of the drawer line units.

One area I saved loads of money was with the larder unit. Everyone seemed to want £500+ for a pull out unit and they only came in 400mm.

I bought a standard tall unit and then filled it with the pull out drawers from IKEA at £20 each. They are made by BLUM so are the same make and quality that you get elsewhere but without the premium. We now have 7 x 600mm drawers in one cupboard that holds all food. The drawers are so good that we completely fill one drawer with tins that are double stacked.

Doozergirl wrote: »

I'd try DIY kitchens for second nature if you're able tto break the order down yourself.

We're looking at cream gloss. Magnet units are lovely - we got them to 4000 and the kitchen we are designing is 3.6 x 3m with a 1.4 x 1.2 metre island. I think they're pretty comparable in that respect. We're including 5 appliance towers and 3 x 1m pan drawers - relatively expensive units. In the end we are going for Howdens as we've got them down to 2040 for the units!

When you are comparing you really just need to strip out all the appliances and worktops so that you can actually compare the core cost of the units. If they aren't quoting you unit costs then I don't like it - I know you like the curved units - as do I but if I told that they come in at over 400 pounds each! even in Howdens, would it affect your decision?

When you design a kitchen the best way to keep costs down is to use large units wherever possible - two 500mm units will cost nearly double one 1000mm unit! You always need to bear the look in mind as well so there is a compromise but don't just shove in whatever fits - jig it all around! Our kitchen would be cheaper if I opted for cupboards instead of drawers but I love the look of the lines running straight down the kitchen and drawers do hold a lot more stuff than cupboards as you can pack them properly - you get good access to your stuff because you pull it straight out from above rather than dig around in a cupboard looking for what you need.

The cream gloss in Howdens comes with the original chipboard white units as given which I don't like - it makes the inside of the kitchen look cheap so I've opted for wood look inside which looks much better.

Having shopped around everywhere for cream gloss units the best ones are john lewis (wentworth), magnet, B&Q Cooke & Lewis range and Howdens. There is obviously a difference between John Lewis and Howdens but I've opted for Howdens - B&Q will price match minus 10% but just being able to go and get missing bits directly from Howdens is more helpful to us. Anywhere else the gloss looks stuck on the top rather than wrapped around the door and the drawer units are flimsy.

I am very confident that we will pull the kitchen off for 6500 including quartz or corian tops (not granite this time I think although price is same) and a 1000 pound extractor fan (I'm a little undecided on it though!) I've found a De Detriech induction hob for 489 which I need to compare prices on properly.

It's important to play people off against each other to get the best price so make sure you get your quotes redone with just units - no worktops, no appliances and then you can compare directly.

Without a doubt I would choose a cheaper but not inferior kitchen and have decent worktops than cheapen and really good kitchen with laminate.

cally1_2

OK for just cupboards, plinths and cornice Magnet Trade is £4400.

DIY Kitchens are coming out as about £3500 but I can't work out where to add the cornice on the iste so this isn't on the rpice yet. This has two additional curved end units for the peninsular. Plus one of the cupbaords has wire pull out drawers.

So cheaper yes but I am not sure I have got the peninsular cupbaords quite right as the magnet ones aren't curved...

Doozergirl

cally1 wrote: »

OK for just cupboards, plinths and cornice Magnet Trade is £4400.

DIY Kitchens are coming out as about £3500 but I can't work out where to add the cornice on the iste so this isn't on the rpice yet. This has two additional curved end units for the peninsular. Plus one of the cupbaords has wire pull out drawers.

So cheaper yes but I am not sure I have got the peninsular cupbaords quite right as the magnet ones aren't curved...

The 4000 price we had from Magnet was the retail shop offering us trade prices, so we could have had curved units if we'd wanted them. If trade don't do the curved units then are they exactly the same quality as magnet retail?

It's time to start taking these quotes and playing people off against each other.

Happychappy

cally1 wrote: »

OK for just cupboards, plinths and cornice Magnet Trade is £4400.

DIY Kitchens are coming out as about £3500 but I can't work out where to add the cornice on the iste so this isn't on the rpice yet. This has two additional curved end units for the peninsular. Plus one of the cupbaords has wire pull out drawers.

So cheaper yes but I am not sure I have got the peninsular cupbaords quite right as the magnet ones aren't curved...

Cally, I went to the Diykitchens factory today for final details before ordering, if you are anywhere near Wakefield it is well worth a visit and will put your mind at rest concerning all the little things to consider and also you can see the quality of finish. I am ordering the Avant Ivory and Oak worktops, was going for the Avant white gloss till I saw the Ivory and the chap showed us an Oak and Ivory kitchen made up.

I have already bought the three 500mm chrome pull outs at £100 each from a business on ebay, so saved money all round, worth looking round on ebay for suppliers of appliances, pull outs,, extractors etc, but would recommend DIYkitchens for the cabinets, doors and worktops.