New kitchen

moneypanicker

Can somebody please recommend a good make of kitchen. We are going to redo kitchen approx 10ft x 10ft we would like good value for money but good quality that will last.

We have contacted wickes to do a design but I guess we can do our own ordering etc. Please give us some suggestions. Thanks

lifes-too-short

Hi there, i done my kitchen about 2 yrs ago and went to Howdens. I have always used howdens as I feel they are a quality product not top mention the carcasses come assembled, saves time. From memory they are trade only though so not sure if that will cause you a problem. I would say dont buy there electrical range (lamona).

spongybobby

It depends what you class as a 'quality' product?

I have just been through the kitchen malarky and have various quotes.
#
This is from my experiance:

Ikea -
Bad points: no rear service cavity, flatpack
good points: Service cavity is below the unit.. if its that much of an issue space the units away from the wayy to give a rear cavity. 18mm carcass, 25 year guarentee, lots of choice.

Wickes & suchlike :
Bad points: use the same carcass no matter what range you buy from, over priced, and quality should be better to reflect asking price.
good point: Nice design idea's, they design for you, have rear service cavity..

Howdens:
Bad points: Overpriced again for the quality of the units. Some of the doors i looked at where worse than Ikea kitchens i have seen. not the greatest choice range
Good points: offer 18mm or 21mm carcass, rear service cavity.

I have been looking for some period of time for a kitchen that will withstand a growing family for the next 10 yrs. (1 child is 2yrs old.. have a baby on the way and two adults using the kitchen daily.)

I found from my own research that the quality of most carcasses are much the same, i could not tell an Ikea carcass from a wickes carcass. it depends on how much you want to spend and if you will fit it yourself.

most builders will steer clear of ikea stuff as they actually have to self assemble the stuff (which i guess is hard for them?)


again this is all from my personal research, and im sure others will dissagree with points i have made above.
my Ikea kitchen will be 1/3rd of the price of a howdens or wickes... will it be a 1/3 rd of the quality... i doubt it very much.

moneypanicker

Thanks for replies.

I thought about ikea but a lot of our furniture is from there and it is all falling apart so I guess I worry about kitchens because it is such a large amount of money.

Has anyone used DIY kitchens I'm sure I read about them on here somewhere. Are they any good?

We shall use our own fitter I wouldn't be any good at doing it!

LEJC

I f you already have a fitter in mind,who does he recommend,or does he get discount on any ranges at certain suppliers....

Ive had 2 kitchens fitted in my time...one in my house which was handmade to our specifications and most recently in our renovation project we went to Howdens on the recommendation of our fitter....each kitchen suits the purpose and about £20k seperates the price!

evokit

Diy kitchens will be a better option oout of all listed above, but again there are some companies that offer better carcass and choise of colours.
howdens only offer 18mm carcass and not alround - like diy.
but the colours howdens offer are slim (2) Also the density of the carcass materail will be different from each.
My mum has a council kitchen and is Howdens, they use the same carcass throughout there company for council and for builders just changing the doors and hinges at an upgrade.
So all depends on what you want to spend really. There are many differences between carcass, and that will depend on how long the kitchen will last.
For the end user it's a mine field as you see a unit and a door and all looks nice in a showroom albeit low or high end of the market.
The thing i would say as a supplier is to stay away from foil & vinyl doors as they aint that great in quality and tend to orange peel, when upgrading to higher quality door wont cost much more. Look at lacquer or wood depending what style your after.
Look for upper end hinges, drawers (blum or sim) as these will last.
dont buy wirework from sheds etc, these will be the 1st things to break so worth investing if you want them.
Appliances there is a strong market online that some brands are trying to clip.
Guarentees on kitchens - read the small print as 99% of them are against manufacture defult...eg they dont mean much as many products wont fault due to be manufactured.
Looking at companies like you stated will get you more variety on unit sizes and non standard also along with better quality doors and bits, but will cost more also than ikea.
But as you said your norma furniture from Ikea isnt lastng, so.......would there kitchen???

Have fun looking

verydeeppockets

Most fitters HATE Ikea kitchens as there's no void at the back for plumbing.
Ask your fitter what/who he recommends as he will get good discounts from his regular suppliers.
Crown Imperial are good, mostly british-made, and well priced considering the quality.

bizzylizzyh

We have just had an Ikea kitchen fitted. to be honest I would have stayed well clear if the house we moved into had not already had one fitted. After 2years of living with the 'old' kitchen this gave me time to reflect. Lots of great points I liked about Ikea, will always be able to update, love the drawers instead of Shelving, dont like all the holes for the shelving, however this does give more choice. This time we used fitters recommended by Ikea, they were stars - great job done. So much so I have been happy to pass their number onto a few people. 3 days and job done -however we had already stripped the old one out (sold on ebay), we did the flooring, electrics, and had the plumping moved. Great job - so happy with finished kitchen. If you live in north east am happy to pass on fitters no.

bizzylizzyh

Oh and they reused some of our 'old' worktop and re-plumbed our excisting sinks & hot water steamer.

dollyxdimple

Hi
I know exactly where you are coming from. We have just moved into a property that required a brand new kitchen and I have been going through a bit of a nightmare as to what kitchen supplier to use.
In the end, and after much research, I have chosen to get my kitchen from Benchmarx. (Other options were Wickes/Ikea/Howdens/Betta Living - stay AWAY from them though, they have done nothing but bombard me with calls ever since and they wanted £18K for the kitchen!) My brother put me onto Benchmarx as he recently had his kitchen done and his builder recommended them to him. They are technically a trade supplier, a bit like Howdens, but the difference being (as far as I can tell) is that Benchmarx are happy to deal with the end user (i.e you) where as Howdens like to deal with trade only. Also, I think that the cabinets are slightly better quality than Howdens with the back panel being thicker and soft close is standard on everything). Benchmarx are the same company as Wickes (Travis Perkins Group) so the kitchens that they do are basically the same as the ones you will see in Wickes but just called different names. And they are cheaper. Wickes quoted us around £7000 for a kitchen, we got our one from Benchmarx for £3300. It is called the Tuscon range. We didn't even have to do our own plan, the guy from Benchmarx came round to do it for us. We used the branch in Colindale and the guy that I dealt with was called Peter. Anyway, it was all pretty painless in the end because all the things I was fretting about were like water off a ducks back to them as they have seen it/dealt with it all before. The kitchen turned up yesterday and is still in boxes in our lounge, due to begin fitting tomorrow. But I've opened a couple of things and am very happy with how they look so far. Also, the cabinets have arrived already put together whereas Wickes and Ikea come flat packed (not sure about Howdens and Betta Living, didn't look that far into them). My advice would be to visit your local Benchmarx to have a look at their kitchens and then if you want to order from them they open you a 'trade' account in your name.

Hope this helps and good luck.
Georgeia

christwodogs

We used the German Kitchen company, brilliant quality sadly poor uk fitters. BUT the product has lasted very well as expected. If you have one near you.