Replacement for Nobilia kitchen required

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.

Appologies, I took the above hightlighted word literally, the statement certainly holds true if you change it to manufactured

kmdesign wrote: »

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.

I used to sell Stoneham alongside RWK, carcase quality was comparable between the two, but the fascia and decorative quality of the Stoneham was a way ahead.

Like everything though, you will always get some variances between qualities, it doesn't matter if you are paying £10k or £100k for a kitchen, no two companies are the same and some will always try to cut corners and save a little by using cheaper alternatives...

ryder72

I have seen a Roundhouse kitchen and it was very good. But price wise it was very much at the top end of the range comparable to Siematic, Leicht, Poggenpohl and for that price I know what I'd buy unless Roundhouse came up with an absolutely stunning design.

Rosiegirl_2

Thanks for all to information provided it is much appreciated. I now plan to go and review again both the Nobilia kitchen at Kuchenhaus and the Pronorm at the other designer to see quality, service, etc. I may get back to the forum as will probably still be confused but need to make a decision if we want it the side of the year!

Many thanks!

Rosiegirl_2

Update re kitchen choice. Been to independent design company and happy with their designs and proposed care but remain v expensive! Struggling with prices and starting to wonder if we are becoming caught up in the belief that we HAVE to have a certain type of kitchen! Would howdens etc be good enough??

I have to say, now that I have been dealing with builders (we have walls to remove etc!), 4, and kitchen designers, 4, my head is wasted!! received 2 quotes from buiders, one just gave price and the other was like War & Peace in its detail, including hourly rate for 6 weeks! Any advice would be welcome!!

Rosiegirl_2

Also wanted to ask, since Pronorm sold off are they as good and long term, are they safe? Advice appreciated!!

ryder72

Impossible to talk of long term future of Pronorm. Its a good well made kitchen but there are cheaper kitchens out there offering similar or slightly better quality.

CKdesigner

kmdesign wrote: »

Impossible to talk of long term future of Pronorm. Its a good well made kitchen but there are cheaper kitchens out there offering similar or slightly better quality.

Agreed. I would say it has actually improved now its not part of Nobia, they have introduced a lot more doors to the range and built a beautiful new showroom / centre at the factory.

Hacker or Schueller will probably be slightly cheaper than Pronorm and equally as good.

I would always say have a cheap door from a decent manufacturer than an expensive door on a kitchen from a lower market manufacturer.

Rosiegirl - Again have a close look at Howdens and you will see a huge difference.

Good luck

CK

happyhairyhound

Rosiegirl wrote: »

Update re kitchen choice. Been to independent design company and happy with their designs and proposed care but remain v expensive! Struggling with prices and starting to wonder if we are becoming caught up in the belief that we HAVE to have a certain type of kitchen! Would howdens etc be good enough??

I have to say, now that I have been dealing with builders (we have walls to remove etc!), 4, and kitchen designers, 4, my head is wasted!! received 2 quotes from buiders, one just gave price and the other was like War & Peace in its detail, including hourly rate for 6 weeks! Any advice would be welcome!!

Rosiegirl, I can't recommend strongly enough how important personal references are for the builder selection. I've used builders who literally give a single lump sum figure and are terrible with paperwork but superb on site whilst others have a slick marketing / presentation set up but hopeless when it comes to doing the work. References from recent clients doing projects similar to your own are an invaluable sanity check.

I came across this thread because I'm also looking at kitchens for my self-build house. I've looked at pro norm, leicht, baumatic and to be honest I'm left wondering what the high cost is for.

My question to the kitchen experts is this: My kitchen design is fairly simple with repetition of equal size drawer units and a white gloss finish. I am considering buying carcasses from ikea (which seem pretty good quality to me) and then having a manufacturing carpenter make up door panels and paint them in their spray booth. I'm confident that the quality can be achieved as I'm looking for a simple flat finish and i can detail the exact sizes i require but I wonder if I'm missing something that the
German kitchens offer?

Perhaps I'm being a miserable Scotsman but I figure that a massive saving on the units allows me to spend more on top end work surfaces and appliances.

Any advice gratefully received.

MattyKHZ

Well thought I would post that we have now ordered our kitchen and found it to be pretty stressful, not that enjoyable and full of different designs, mis-advice and high pressure tactics.

Using more than 1 supplier helped us to get the design we wanted as many people design differently, some copying our poor exiisiting design.

We set ourselves a budget, adjusted that budget when it was clear that to get the kitchen we wanted would require more funds and then had some designers push past this even more to which I got annoyed with one german kitchen supplier and removed them from further consideration.

Looking at german kitchens many look the same. There are a few details that seem to warrant extra money whether warranted or not. These seem to be pushed on branding and badging.

From looking Schuller and Hacker seemed similar and it came down to colour choice with Hacker usually offering more colours. We even looked into Warendorf which was lovely and their showroom at Abingdon being a great place to view. This showed us the flaws in some expensive featuires like the touch to open drawers that would drive us crazy in a 2.4m wide kitchen.

So once we had decided on Hacker we ended up going for their Emotion range. Going to more than 1 dealer showed that some are more about sales and some are more technical. Yet the least knowledgeable was actually willing to find out from Hacker themselves to sort out someof the technical details.

So from going from a Nobilia kitchen who I would not touch with a bargepole again, and wanting to re-use existing neff appliance we are going for new neff induction hob, oven and microwave and vastly increased unit count and worktop area in white which we were adament we would not go for before we saw it.

Now the fun of sourcing worktops, sinks, taps, water softeners, floor tiles and glass splashbacks.

Thanks to all those on here who have helped and searching far and wide and at all options is the only advice I would give.

MattyKHZ

Rosiegirl wrote: »

Also wanted to ask, since Pronorm sold off are they as good and long term, are they safe? Advice appreciated!!

A local dealer did both ProNorm and Hacker and felt Hacker was better value for money and I preferred the look of the Hacker units personally.