NEW KITCHEN HELP -OPTIPLAN/SECOND NATURE/IKEA which should we go for

toylaw2

Hi,

Background - I urgently need help in deciding. we are about to by a new kitchen for our home and we are not too much on a budget but will like to bag a good deal and get good quality value for money.
My question is would you go for Second Nature Kitchen from a Local supplier and installer over an Ikea Kitchen? How does the quality compare.
In both cases we would rely on the supplier to design and fit as our DIY skills are rubbish.
I was quoted about £19k for a Second nature 5m X 5m kitchen with Island and Granite Worktop with a contemporary finish and includes installation. Could i possibly get this cheaper elsewhere. We really dont want to throw money down the drain.

please help!!!! I can provide more information if needed.

Smick100

We went with Ikea and are very impressed.

What is great about Ikea kitchens is that they are infinitely customisable. In five years time, you can change the doors and leave the units behind them. If something breaks, you can buy that piece on its own.

Go on to their website and design the kitchen yourself, see what you think.

CKdesigner

Smick100 wrote: »

We went with Ikea and are very impressed.

What is great about Ikea kitchens is that they are infinitely customisable. In five years time, you can change the doors and leave the units behind them. If something breaks, you can buy that piece on its own.

Go on to their website and design the kitchen yourself, see what you think.

Sorry Smick100 this is no different to any other kitchen company and to be fair Ikea has probably the least amount of choices in terms of unit sizes and doors available.

CK

CKdesigner

Hi Toylaw2

It is virtually impossible to say whether you are getting value for money as Second Nature only make doors and finishing components. The problem is that any kitchen retailer can purchase from Second Nature (PWS to the trade). You may get one that then purchases carcasses from a decent rigid carcass manufacturer then the next retailer down the road may buy in the cheapest flat pack carcasses he can find that week. As a customer both kitchens will look identical but one will be (or should be) a lot cheaper than the other.

My advice would be if you really want a Second Nature door-ed kitchen be very sure about the quality of that retailers carcasses. Alternatively look at Mereway as a decent middle market English kitchen manufacturer or look to a mid market German product like Hacker or Schueller as you have the budget and you can be sure of the quality.

Good luck

CK

Leif

Kitchen designers here usually recommend you go to an independent. Now that might be self interest - - but I suspect it is good advice. It worked for me. Try and find local kitchen shops and find recommendations if you can e.g. from neighbours. That is a lot of money. I paid about £11.5K for an Optiplan kitchen (small chain of shops) with quartz worktops and Bosch appliances, in a U shape in a 3.5m by 3m room. It was on sale, but these sales are a sham really, sadly customers fall for them.

As many will tell you, a good fitter can make a cheap kitchen look great, and a bad fitter can make a great kitchen look cheap. Optiplan use their own fitters. All the fitting money goes to the fitter, and they are well paid, which IMO always helps ensure good work. I suspect independent kitchen shops will work the same way. Places like B&Q take a huge cut, hence fitters are probably not quite so motivated.

I also got a quote from Conquest for basically the same kitchen but Kashmir white granite. It was about £19K.

evokit

i wouldnt look at ikea really, there are the low end of the market (hence there cost)
I 2nd CKdesigner look at the pws suppliers quality of carcass also.

shirlgirl2004

Having bought a 2nd nature kitchen and the doors cracking on the freezer in a year. I wouldn't pay the extra. Also the units had lots of dings in them. The dings were very hard to see with the blue film on them (which is supposed to be left on until after install) and yet once installed we were told they must have been caused by our fitter. This may have been down to the supplier but I think I'd rather spend my money in Ikea if going for high gloss type finish or www.pineland.co.uk if going for something more traditional.

evokit

Shirlgirl - have you got the gloss door?

shirlgirl2004

evokit wrote: »

Shirlgirl - have you got the gloss door?

Yes it was high gloss white. Fortunately I moved after 2 years so it isn't my problem anymore.

Steve_the_fitter

Have a look at diy-kitchens.co.uk. Second Nature doors on their own cabinets which are really good quality. Pretty good on price as well. It wouldnt surprise me if you saved 5k plus by getting a local fitter to fit a kitchen from diy-kitchens

akitchendesigner

Buying Second Nature is a gamble is you ask me. An end user is very unlikely to know what to look out for by way of a decent carcase. Moreover, most second nature doors are foil or vinyl wraps.

Apart from the carcase element, try and find a laminate, lacquer, acrylic or wood/wood veneer door.