Kitchen Supplier recommendations? Supply and fit

prenticesa

Need some help with choosing a kitchen supplier:

My sister-in-law and husband are looking to purchase a shiny new kitchen (they live in Swindon). They are not very DIY minded, so ideally want a company to supply and fit, and manage the whole project from start to finish.

So far they've had a quote from Wickes which they like. They tried and failed to get Magnet to quote (after several no shows they've given up).

Wickes have quoted approx £16,000, which includes all fitting, tiling (inc floor) etc as well as new boiler (£3000) and oven/hob package (~£1000).

They've discounted Homebase/B&Q/Ikea as being lower quality, and I can't really argue with them.

So the million dollar question: has anyone got any suggestions for a good supplier for a low-mid range kitchen, circa £10,000 budget.

Local independent specialist would be great (if you think the budget is suitable, and if anyone knows a company in the Wiltshire area).
or how about Howdens?

Leif

They could try Optiplan. They have approved contractors, and as I understand it you pay the contractor, not Optiplan. They are very well organised, and competitive on price. I used them, and then I used a recommended tiler. Very very good, and no problems. If they need to find a plumber for the boiler, only go by personal recommendation. If Optiplan recommend one, then I would expect them to be reliable, albeit not the cheapest.

Jnelhams

Don't use B&Q. What an awful job they did in my kitchen, broke the freezer, used wrong type of flooring (mdf and not marine ply) so all had to be relayed. Ikea offer 25 year guarantee or try a local builder.

Avoid Howdens - they supply a lot of the diy sheds. Try Wrens...

http://www.wrenkitchens.com

Innys

Leif wrote: »

They could try Optiplan. They have approved contractors, and as I understand it you pay the contractor, not Optiplan. They are very well organised, and competitive on price. I used them, and then I used a recommended tiler. Very very good, and no problems. If they need to find a plumber for the boiler, only go by personal recommendation. If Optiplan recommend one, then I would expect them to be reliable, albeit not the cheapest.

I've used Optiplan and would never do again.

Having spent the best part of £16k on one of their kitchens, the least I would expect is a computerised plan of the proposed kitchen. Instead, I only ever got a hand sketched plan.

The salesman who gave me the sketch also didn't bother to use the exact dimensions of the room I told him, even though I also gave him a scaled drawing. So the kitchen he designed was too small for the room.

Fortunately, the Optiplan surveryor spotted this stuff up when he came to measure up but, for that price, I expect a lot better.

Steer clear.

Leif

Innys wrote: »

I've used Optiplan and would never do again.

Having spent the best part of £16k on one of their kitchens, the least I would expect is a computerised plan of the proposed kitchen. Instead, I only ever got a hand sketched plan.

The salesman who gave me the sketch also didn't bother to use the exact dimensions of the room I told him, even though I also gave him a scaled drawing. So the kitchen he designed was too small for the room.

Fortunately, the Optiplan surveryor spotted this stuff up when he came to measure up but, for that price, I expect a lot better.

Steer clear.

I do not for one minute discount what you say, but it sounds like you had a bad salesman or one on a bad day. As far as I know your experience is atypical.

http://www.reviewcentre.com/reviews245119.html

A hand drawn plan is fine, assuming it is drawn to the correct dimensions of course. My initial design needed minor changes when the surveyor arrived because I gave him slightly wrong dimensions.

Feel free to add your experience to the above reviews!

By the way, was it all delivered and installed correctly, and did you think that it was a good kitchen or not?

Steve_the_fitter

If they like the Wickes kitchen and want a MSE way of doing it find a kitchen fitter with an account with Benchmarx. They are the same kitchens though Benchmarx kitchens come ready built. Nice mid range kitchen imo and as you say better quality than the rest of the sheds. Well on par with Cooke and Lewis but better than the rest. Id bet my life on it being quite a bit cheaper for the same kitchen.
And for even more savings on top of that get the appliances of the internet.

adamg

Jnelhams wrote: »

Don't use B&Q. What an awful job they did in my kitchen, broke the freezer, used wrong type of flooring (mdf and not marine ply) so all had to be relayed. Ikea offer 25 year guarantee or try a local builder.

Avoid Howdens - they supply a lot of the diy sheds. Try Wrens...

http://www.wrenkitchens.com

no Howdens dont, and do not recomend wren on this site they are so bad please see various reviews

CKdesigner

Hi

I am sure you would be able to get a new kitchen complete, from design to fully fitted from a local independent kitchen specialist. If you don't find a couple by recommendation then have a look on the Miele, Siemens and Neff appliance websites to find local dealers that are kitchen specialists, as these dealers will have to show a certain level of competence to have direct accounts with these appliance brands.

Good luck

CK

CKdesigner

Innys wrote: »

I've used Optiplan and would never do again.

Having spent the best part of £16k on one of their kitchens, the least I would expect is a computerised plan of the proposed kitchen. Instead, I only ever got a hand sketched plan.

The salesman who gave me the sketch also didn't bother to use the exact dimensions of the room I told him, even though I also gave him a scaled drawing. So the kitchen he designed was too small for the room.

Fortunately, the Optiplan surveryor spotted this stuff up when he came to measure up but, for that price, I expect a lot better.

Steer clear.

Hi

I think you are right to show concern.

In my experience any kitchen company that sends round a salesperson to 'design' and sell the kitchen on the night and then has to send a 'surveyor' round to check to see whether the design will fit is just a high pressure sales company.

This sort of practice is all about sales and not good kitchen design.

CK

Weird_Nev

Try "Rated People" - put the job up and people come to quote. Yo ucan get a good feel for whether they're any good from the site feedback. I know an excellent kitchen designer, who sees it through form design and specification to fit and finish, but he's a bit far from Swindon Sadly (Chiltern Installations Ltd - fantastic quality of service and workmanship), but rated people lets you get a good local tradesman and check that they're not a cowboy.

Other "Rate my builder sites" are available, but I've used that one and had good results with it.

Plasterer

My builder.coms a good one too (here comes the bombardment from people who dont agree) Always choose a tradesman with 15 or more feedback, tghe ones with one or two are the ones you need to be wary of (they could easily have got family or freinds to mock up the feedback) however to have 15 "mock ups" would be very costly and more unlikey to be misleading.