Kitchen Supplier recommendations? Supply and fit

prenticesa

Thanks for all your suggestions and feedback. I shall pass them on, and see if I can persuade them to research and shop around a little more before committing. It's a big outlay so worth taking the time to get right.

If anyone else has anything to add, please feel free.

Leif

CKdesigner wrote: »

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

That isn't how they operate. The sales people in the shops may design a kitchen using measurements supplied by the customer. That way you get a quote, and know the price you will pay, give or take a few adjustments. The surveyor then visits, and checks all of the measurements, and checks plumping, and so on, to make sure nothing is missed. I think you will find that Optiplan are not a high pressure sales company, with a rapid expansion of stores. In my case the customer service was very impressive. Clearly that is not always the case given the experience recounted earlier. But it is best to search around for a large number of reviews, rather than listen to one critic (Innys), or one fan (me), and hence get a balanced review.

I also had a quote from a company called Conquest, in Portsmouth. They provided computer created designs with '3D' visualisations. Impressive, but as far as I could see no better than Optiplan and others, but a lot more expensive. And the kitchen was at heart still made from chipboard and/or MDF.

I am always taken aback that kitchens cost so much when they are made from chipboard and melamine, albeit perhaps with wooden doors, given that chipboard is a cheap material. An alternative is a wood kitchen. Kit Stone do solid wood kitchens, and there are others too, such as Pineland Furniture. I have no experience of these, and you might need to do designs yourself. I believe there is a Kit Stone within driving distance of the OP's relatives.

Antispam

:spam: post 14

katejo

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

Not sure about Wren's. Just google wren reviews and you will get a large number of grumbles about their customer services along the lines of "They don't care once they have your definite order"

A colleague of mine is currently having a John Lewis kitchen installed and is very pleased so far. I am thinking of getting a quote from them myself.

rotoguys

I bought a kitchen from Wickes but refused to pay their ridiculous charges to put it in.

So I did what I did when I had the house built. Had specialised contractors in for the various stages. I built up all of the units and drawers, did all of the ripping out and ended up with a room with a view - pipes etc.

Then pulled in a chippy on a fixed price contract, then a plumber, tiler etc. Worst job was getting hold of a professional kitchen fitter for the worktop. He turned up on a Sunday morning and by lunchtime the two runs of 3m and one of 2m were in including sink and hob.

Best kitch I have ever had - good quality gear for the price. New Neff hob and stainless extractor, sink (£600) full kitchen, floor tiling, wall tiling, new electrics for lighting, solid oak WT, Paint & Dec - all in £8250. Original fitted price from Wickes £17800.

tobyjug

We have just ordered a wickes kitchen, you have the option to have it installed. They aer quoting £2200 to fit it, we are currently obtaining some local fitters quotes. They are bound to be cheaper than that surely. They are not even fitting the granite worksurface just putting together the units and cutting down some cupboards.

Magnet quoted considerably less for fitting , might be worth having another go there. All I know is because it is high pressure sales time, the magnet staff seem to have no availability with bookings. However still liked the wickes kitchen more.

eRach

I recently had my kitchen (and bathroom) redone and went with the local builder option. He arranged for both Howdens and Magnet to come round to do designs, but Magnet cancelled on me and then told my builder I'd cancelled on them - so we forgot about them pretty quickly! The guy from Howdens was helpful and showed me a few design options, he quoted an OK price so I went with them and had my builder manage the whole thing (I had all the plumbing and electrics re-done at same time). The problem is in finding a decent builder of course!