Replacement for Nobilia kitchen required

MattyKHZ

We moved into a new build property just over 3 years ago and the supplied kitchen was from Nobilia.

We have found the kitchen to be of poor design and when asking for extra units were quoted silly money from the Kuchenhaus chain of Nobilia shops.

As the foil door fronts are starting to bubble we have decided to start from scratch and replace.

The only thing we actually like is the cappucino gloss colour and have started to look around seeing the cucina colore range from Wentworth which looks to be a nice replacement.

I have also started to reasearch and hear about brands like alno, pronorm, hacker, schuller, mobalpa and was wondering how available some of these brands are in the UK (we are in Tamworth) and what their quality is like as I do not want to be replacing in 3 years like we are having to with Nobilia.

Any advice would be very welcome.

Thanks,

Matt.

ryder72

In fairness Nobilia is not a bad product but remember it is an unbranded and basic German kitchen, built to sell in the likes of German B&Q's. They are built to a price and this is reflected in the finishes and materials offered.

Even the most expensive kitchen can be poorly planned. Your problem with the doors stems from them being foil wraps. I am no fan of foil wrapped doors and they can really be troublesome, with very poor heat and humidity resistance.

Try and select laminates, acrylics or lacquers. They will serve you well.

MattyKHZ

Thanks for the reply.

Noticed that evern the carcasses are bubbling on the units both sides of the extractor fan which I am suprised at. Just waiting for some manufacturers brochures to come through and then can hopefully decide which we like and what showrooms to visit.

ryder72

That sounds like a very poorly planned kitchen. A heat source too close to the units or very poor extraction or both.

Rosiegirl_2

We are in the process of choosing a kitchen and it has come down to a choice of nobilia or pronorm. Pronorm is dearer but we possibly could negotiate. Can anyone help re quality, value etc as this info re dodgy nobilia kitchen has thrown me!! We were going to go with it!!

Meepster

If you can afford the Pronorm, go for it every time, much better than Nobilia...

CKdesigner

Hi Rosigirl

Completely agree with Meepster above.

I would suggest you go back to both kitchen displays and have a real close look at them, open and wobble the drawers, see if all the gaps are even between all the doors, find out how old the displays are.

I think if you look closely you will see a huge difference in quality. I would also expect a better design from the Pronorm dealer as there will be a far greater choice of doors and unit sizes.

Good luck

CK

Rosiegirl_2

Thanks for the information, funnily enough both designers have said they're product was the best! So for someone who is having a steep learning curve it is great to get some external advice, many thanks and wish me luck!!

ryder72

Here's what I believe is the best way to analyse a German kitchen-

For almost all German manufacturers, their home market is this biggest market and they all occupy various niches in this marketplace, from the entry, through the mid range through to top end products. Their brochures are printed for the German market and either multi-lingual or translated to English. These brochures reflect this market positioning (one doesn't expect a brochure for a Ford Fiesta to be as slick as one for a Mercedes S class). If its a high quality brochure its almost certainly a higher quality product. A number of German products sold as high quality in the UK are actually unbranded no-name products in Germany manufactured for sale in 'pile 'em high sell 'em cheap' outlets. These brochures usually wont carry any branding. I wont name them here but PM me if you want to know.

Then look at the pictures carefully and try to identify the appliances. Entry level German kitchen manufacturers usually feature kitchens in their brochures, unbranded/Bauknecht (rebadged Whirlpool)/Bosch/Neff appliances. Mid range manufacturers show their kitchens with Neff/Siemens/Miele appliances while top end ones will always have Siemens/Miele/Gaggenau appliances. Note the order of appliances listed as that broadly reflects the appliance market positioning hierarchy in Germany.

Usually the higher in the market the product is positioned, the wider the choice of units, features, finishes (including in many cases exclusivity of finishes) and colours available. Not important if one was spending 10k on a kitchen but a very important factor on a 25k+ market.

German kitchens find their way into the UK through several routes including subsidiaries, import agents, distributors or direct imports. Depending on the route to market and level of marketing associated with brand building in the UK, there are inevitable markups at various points in many cases skewing the true position/quality of the product and the price point. This is a good point to compare prices of 'like for like' manufacturers and there will be some interesting surprises.

Finally - I firmly believe that the most basic manufactured kitchens from Germany are still better built that almost all English made kitchens. I haven't found an English made that is of comparable or better quality. Its a sad reality and I will be happy to be proved wrong. Germans invest significantly in their product development and manufacturing and this is reflected in their product quality.

Meepster

kmdesign wrote: »

Finally - I firmly believe that the most basic manufactured kitchens from Germany are still better built that almost all English made kitchens. I haven't found an English made that is of comparable or better quality. Its a sad reality and I will be happy to be proved wrong. Germans invest significantly in their product development and manufacturing and this is reflected in their product quality.

I was about to reply saying I 100% agree with what you said, until I got to the above statement.

Please tell me that you don't think a (for example) Hacker kitchen is better built than a Smallbone or Clive Christian kitchen, or for that matter, a Stoneham kitchen?

ryder72

Thats precisely why is said 'manufactured kitchens' to compare them to the popular English makes such as Mereway, Sheraton/Omega/Chippendale, Second Nature and stuff from sheds.

The makes you mentioned are bespoke hand built kitchens and that can never be compared to a manufactured kitchen. Its like comparing a bespoke Saville Row suit to a factory made Hugo Boss.

On that note, I have seen several 'high end' bespoke kitchens and I must say I wasn't impressed with the quality.