First time buying a kitchen - quality and process of Ikea or go with B&Q/Wickes etc.

richmond155

I'm having a new kitchen fitted as I type. I went to Homebase, Wickes, Howdens, Magnet, John Lewis and a local specialist .
In the end we went with the local guy. He is doing everything, from electrics, plastering and flooring to the cupboard fitting. His units are a much better quality than any of the others we saw, and he could get hold of a greater variety of sizes and combinations of units. He also had a bigger range of doors and prices , and some very good ideas when it came to planning.
Price wise he is cheaper than Homebase and a lot cheaper than John Lewis, but on a par with Wickes, although their prices didn't include plastering and flooring, so its all very much of a par. In terms of quality and value for money, he was by far the best option by a long way.

I was dubious at first - I saw the showroom and thought it was way out of my price range, but he has been brilliant, and far more realistic and less pressured. Please try an independant.

Happy kitchen hunting!

katejo

richmond155 wrote: »

I'm having a new kitchen fitted as I type. I went to Homebase, Wickes, Howdens, Magnet, John Lewis and a local specialist .
In the end we went with the local guy. He is doing everything, from electrics, plastering and flooring to the cupboard fitting. His units are a much better quality than any of the others we saw, and he could get hold of a greater variety of sizes and combinations of units. He also had a bigger range of doors and prices , and some very good ideas when it came to planning.
Price wise he is cheaper than Homebase and a lot cheaper than John Lewis, but on a par with Wickes, although their prices didn't include plastering and flooring, so its all very much of a par. In terms of quality and value for money, he was by far the best option by a long way.

I was dubious at first - I saw the showroom and thought it was way out of my price range, but he has been brilliant, and far more realistic and less pressured. Please try an independant.

Happy kitchen hunting!

What make are the units? What is the name of the firm? I am also in the process of looking at quotes.

lmille38

I am also in the process of getting a new kitchen fitted. Is there anywhere not already mentioned that I could go for a quote? I have had a quote for an independant but he seems mega expensive!!

verydeeppockets

I would echo using an independent company wherever possible.
Our kitchen is Crown Imperial (fitted my me) - 18mm decent quality chipboard flat pack carcasses with 2mm edgings, Blum fittings, and most importantly the quality of the high gloss doors knocks anything from a shed into a cocked hat.
B&Q is junk, seriously - orange peeley vinyl wrapped doors, their own brand plasticky pullout larders you can't get spares for, it's rubbish. Half the shop displays have sticking doors, bits hanging off 'em etc.
Ikea aren't much better - their 18mm carcass board weighs next to nothing. And no void at the back? Genius :rotfl:
Of the original shed list, Wickes. But comedy fitting quotes will ensue!
An independent could do waaay better, and quite possibly cheaper too.

ChrisEvanson

I think its unfair to label B&Q as 'junk'. I've just installed a B&Q kitchen and I am very pleased with it. We had issues with a couple of doors, and their replacements, and the delivery service, but once we had got all that sorted, the actual units and fittings are great. They do two ranges - IT and Cooke and Lewis, and IT are the cheaper ones.

The problems with units instore are more likely down to poor maintenance and ham fisted customers more than poor units. If you push down or pull up on any door regularly it is going to cause damage. Any big store is more likely to have tatty units than an independent who more likely will repair any damage quickly and replace any faulty units. I'm not saying thats how it should be, what I'm saying is that it doesn't prove that the units are worse because they don't maintain them.

I can only speak as I find. I am happy with our B&Q kitchen.

ruthsaver

Having bought a B&Q kitchen in October, I would avoid at all costs. I will not even enter the store again! It took 16 trips in 7 days to sort the ridiculous catalogue of disasters caused. To start, they arranged delivery, calling 3 times the preceeding week to confirm the date. I waited in from 7am til 6.45pm to be called to say the drivers taco had expired, and they will not deliver and cannot confirm a date when they will re-deliver. Having workmen scheduled to start the following day was disasterous to say the least. After 3 frustrating calls, none of which were responded to, my partner and baby son went to the store at 9pm the following day, in order to speak to someone and finally get a response. This list could go on for pages lol! The customer service experienced overall is nothing short of a joke. For the customer service department to simply hang up on you,or persistently cut you off when re-directing is just a sign of what to expect. The in-store planners will try and order everything, but our decided to supply 500mm drawers on a 600mm unit(?!) and also added 'extras' to the order worth more that £250. Luckily we returned everything we didn't use, and we were told by a staff member that they always do this to get more commission. Nice!! Overall, the units, which were solid oak and v pricy at around £80 per door, were fine. But the service provided throughout was utterly shocking. We have since moved, and have purchased a gorgeous new kitchen from Avanti. We are thrilled with it. I would also urge anyone who buys from Avanti to seriously haggle. We got from just under £12k to £4.5k and consider that to be an absolute steal. Delighted!!

lil.smartie

Ikea put voids behind all appliance cupboards where you need them and let you use the whole space on the others!

Kate

lil.smartie

Get a better kitchen fitter then! Seriously, our walls are terrible and our guys have fitted the Ikea kitchen (with Howdens worktops as I wanted a 3m length) all scribed in and fits brilliantly all square at the front too. The void is usually only in the middle of the cabinet so still need to trim the edges of the cabinets, there are a few mm on the Ikea ones to do this too.

Kate

olly300

lil.smartie wrote: »

Get a better kitchen fitter then!

While it's true to some extent some kitchens really don't have straight walls so can't use Ikea cabinets.

In fact some kitchens have to have their cabinets specially made for them as no mass produced ones from the likes of B&Q etc will fit.

A good kitchen designer and a good kitchen fitter both know this though. Hence it may be best to spend a few hundred quid on using a kitchen designer if your kitchen walls are awkward shapes.