New Kitchen - Wickes vs others + prices

isofa

We are finalising some designs for refitting our kitchen...

People's experience, advice and input re. Wickes and others would be great.

Last year we had quotes from Magnet, which we managed to hammer down in price, but didn't feel it was quite right for us, didn't include fitting and our builder (good but expensive) wanted almost the same cost again to fit (looking at a good 20K in total), however this did include quartz worktops rather than laminate.

A couple of weeks ago we got a "sale" price quote from Wickes (being recommended from friends that their units are better quality, using Blum drawers etc), pretty much to the design we have decided on:
Cabinets - 2 x 1200 wall units, 5 x 300 wall units, 3 x 600 base units, couple of corner units + base with s/s sink, 1 x 300 base, then one integral f/f unit and one oven housing next to it.
Solid wood cupboards/doors, but just a laminate worktop at the moment, although with a couple of curved edges which are adding to the price (curved cupboards being 3 to 4 times the price of standard ones).

With all Wickes current "discounts" the cabinets, sink and worktop totals £9000 + approx £2500 for a few appliances which we'll replace (which I'll source ourselves and we are keeping others we have) and an estimate £2500 for fitting. (in total just a shade over 14K at the moment).

Any thoughts, advice, tips - re Wickes and the quote?

CKdesigner

Hi Isofa

Please disregard 'Sale prices' there really is no such thing in the kitchen industry, its all marketing smoke & mirrors to get you as the consumer into their store.

My advice would have to be to shop around a bit, try an independent kitchen specialist or 2. I am sure you will get a better quality of kitchen, service and design. For instance the first thing that strikes me (obviously without seeing a plan) is that you have rather a lot of 300 wide units, as a kitchen designer I regard 300 mm wide units as little more than fillers to make up space, as a consequence I can't remember the last time a designed a kitchen using a 300 mm wide unit!

Good luck

CK

CKdesigner

Hi Kitchen DesignR

You say whether you get a better design and service from and independent is very much down to the individual. I would agree with you to a degree but generally I would have to say that an independent specialist would be a better place to go for a consumer than a DIY store for a new kitchen for quite a few reasons. Firstly as the name suggests they 'specialise' in kitchens where as a DIY store by its very nature does everything. Generally DIY stores get their customers by spending a huge amount of money on advertising that very often shows supposedly huge savings on this that and the other. Where as us for instance, we don't spend anything on advertising other than the odd local school fete program, we use the internet a bit more than most kitchen specialists I would say for marketing but other than that most of our customers come to us as recommendations.

Secondly our design skills, I have been designing kitchens for over 20 years 11 of which within our own business. Hopefully customers recognise this experience and frankly if I don't do good design work and we don't give good service then potentially we go out of business and can't pay the mortgage at home etc.

Thirdly as independent kitchen specialists we choose our suppliers. I always say 'what we sell is what we have or would have in our own home'. We select our suppliers according to quality, value for money, versatility, exclusiveness, brand reputation, etc. After all its our reputation on the line.

There are many other things that I think customers should consider in selecting their kitchen supplier as purchasing a kitchen is one of life's most important purchases and therefore the utmost consideration of whom you entrust to do the job should be given.

CK

evokit

You have to see Ck's point, alot of kitchen designers in the shed etc just put boxes on the wall and dont design.

Also the fact that retailers have lots of suppliers they chose there stuff alot of the time on cost..not always quality.
Again they buy what people like and what is safe where an independant will promote the next trend/design/finsh opposed to following.
hence your poggenpohl, bulthaup and also many italian kitchen designs.
An independant has flexability and can use as many door companies in one kitchen and not lose the quality and still deliver the standard of carcass and colour choices they offer.
Its offering the best variety and quality in one go.
I love the fact i have this option and you cant buy what i offer from the sheds...gives you the edge if you offer better for around the same.

Fed_Up_Tradesman

Benchmarx Joinery market themselves as a specialist kitchen supplier.

They are in fact owned by Travis Perkins, who also own Wickes. Both have their kitchens made for them by the same company but just call them different names with different prices.

I fit loads of kitchens and have heard every bs argument there is over the years.

Go for an 18mm carcass, solid backs and drawer bases, soft close every where etc., and you can't go far wrong.

Magnets are a joke - their list prices are ridiculous and I've yet to meet anyone who has ever paid them.

Kitchens are marketed like double glazing used to be, ie: full of bs and ridiculous prices that are then reduced by so called sales and offers.

There is hardly anything to choose between most kitchens units nowadays in terms on quality and guarantees offered.

I use Howdens Joinery / Benchmarx Joinery / Wren Kitchens and all the major retailers depending upon the customer's budget.

IKEA I've found to be a pain largely.

CKdesigner

Kitchen_DesignR wrote: »

Firstly, The name specialist doesn't nesscessary mean special in the same way "Sale" doesn't mean "Sale". The way your advertise your business has nothign to do with the way you handle your customers. Once again its down to individual people.

Sorry I didn't mean 'special'. Specialist as in we only do kitchens, therefore should hopefully have a better understanding of the subject than a company national or otherwise that does other products as well. I believe if we did bathrooms and tiles and paint then we wouldn't be as knowledgeable as we are with kitchens.

Secondly, I've not been designing Kitchens for as long as you (only 18 years) but I've worked for 2 independants and 2 retailers and 1 trade suppliers. My experience and skillz with the independants didn't disappeared once I joint a large company.

Its great that you have a wealth of experience as a kitchen designer like me you can give your customers, but the difference is that when a customer speaks to me they are speaking to one of the people that jointly owns the business (the other half being the other) so the buck stops with me! I don't need to go and take advice from my manager it is up to me to get it right and if I don't it comes out of my pocket!

Even working for a large company, if I don't give good service then I can't pay my Mortgage.
But worse than that, because I work for a trade company if I don't give good service they don't give me repeat business over the whole year.
So, where you sell one kitchen to one customer and give good service once.. I have to sell 10 or 100 kitchens to one customer and give the same ammount of good service on every kitchen and every time...:A

We only do retail work, I couldn't do contract stuff its all about price and not quality as far as my experience goes with that.

Thirdly, You have the luxury of multiple suppliers but so do alot of other retailers.

Yes I do have the luxury to choose our suppliers, which is fantastic. I regularly review every year what our 2 German cabinetry suppliers do for us and see if any others could do better, so I like to think we have the best 2 makes of German kitchens available that suit our and our customer's needs.

The difference between what we do and what you do is that you can only sell the kitchens that your company does and I suspect you would have very little influence to try and change anything for the better.

I'm not a double glazing salesman.:cool:
I'm experienced and honest enough to know whats good and what not in my market and would recommend another companies products if its better and cheaper than mine.
I get more comeback from being honest and tell people where the good deals are rather than the "you can only buy it from me" attitude.

Glad to hear it.

Compared to my local independant who is a 60 year old man, with a BO problem. He owns and sits in a corner shop, with a badly fitted, half finished display with a sink in the window (which he ordered by mistake).
He can't plan for toffee and he leads little old ladies down the garden path and robs them of their hard earned pension.

Thats my opinion of an independant. Its not the company that makes him a problem, but him as a person...

You are right it is the people that make the difference. If all that you say about this independent near you is true then its amazing he is still in business. I normally think recessions clear out of a market sector the businesses that aren't doing the job properly leaving the way clear for the more professional businesses when the up turn finally comes!

CK

evokit

KD- i know that, but them ones come and go.....
People buy into the person as well as the product, and word of mouth for an independant is paramount.....
Many only know of the sheds, so when quoted 8/9/13k they dont bother looking else where as they know the sheds are the lower so they think others will cost alot more so dont bother or they dont even know theres others, yet many on here know this isnt always the case.

but then as ive gathered from my short time on here so many people want to put in the cheapest they can.
The way i look at it, some people spend 8/10/15k on a car and change it 3/5yrs (not all) also spend 30/40+k on an extension and then want to put in a 3/5k low end kitchen to last 20yrs...
I personally think door quality is over looked so much on these threads as low end doors dont stand the test....

rustybucket

We went to two independents, both of which acted like total snobs and appeared to treat us as if we were something on the bottom of their shoe!

Had some help from Meepster on here, changed a few things about with a kitchen designer from Wickes who was very helpful and I have to say she really worked things out for us, and was extremely patient.

Very pleased we bought our Tiverton kitchen from Wickes.

abankerbutnotafatcat

rustybucket wrote: »

We went to two independents, both of which acted like total snobs and appeared to treat us as if we were something on the bottom of their shoe!

Had some help from Meepster on here, changed a few things about with a kitchen designer from Wickes who was very helpful and I have to say she really worked things out for us, and was extremely patient.

Very pleased we bought our Tiverton kitchen from Wickes.

Hi rusty, we're going for Tiverton. What work surfaces did you go for??

rustybucket

abankerbutnotafatcat wrote: »

Hi rusty, we're going for Tiverton. What work surfaces did you go for??

We looked at granite, sourced from a local company, to be honest we like oak so have gone for oak worktops and a white enamel sink which is over the wood, so hopefully won't get ruined by water.

If that part does then we will get that part of the worktop replaced with granite etc.

We like the look of wood to be honest

We went with different handles to the tiverton type just to make it look a bit more traditional.

Gastines2

Has anyone had a quote for the normal price from a kitchen supplier then taken the quote in when they offer 50% off? I used to retail kitchens and each year the main supplier would send me a stack of brochures with the 50% off headline. The price was exactly the same as the normal retail price?
As one member has already pointed out,the stores love to put in 300mm units and odd sizes as they are the dearest. Remember it's only boxes and it's the doors and drawers that cost the money. Try and avoid drawer line units,A, as it gives you less cupboard space and B, as they are nearly twice the price.Better off with one larger Drawer unit.