New kitchens costs - Opinions please

CKdesigner

Welcome to the forum Kitchen Fitter.

Just for accuracy though, you recommend a particular kitchen supplier and say they are the same as Tesco and Wickes. How can this be? When Tesco do not supply kitchens, the Tesco brand is used by Mark 2 distribution to sell their kitchens and Wickes supply kitchens made by Gower.

cyclonebri1

loracan1 wrote: »

Bear in mind I know nothing, but; £460 to plaster half a wall and one ceiling sounds a lot and nearly £5000 for B &Q to just 'fit' a kitchen? Is that really what it costs?:eek:

That was the 1 bit I was going to pick up on.

It sounds very expensive, if it's simply a skim over I guess less than half that, if they are chopping off the lot an doing basecoat and finish, or reboarding the ceiling then it becomes closer to what you would expect.

Regarding the sparkies quotes, 1 wants your buisness a lot more than the other;);)

cyclonebri1

Mojisola wrote: »

The only people I know who had kitchens fitted by B&Q had nightmare experiences. It may be that they both were unlucky but one couple were without a functioning kitchen for six months because of problems.

I have fitted B&Q kitchens for both my daughters over the last 4 years, 1 went for a much higher quality range than the other did.

I could see little if any difference in quality, and to be honest considering the price of both of them, I wasn't impressed.

Nightmares?, No, no real issues at all bar a few omissions and even over supplying parts.

But they were fitted as I always do, with great care and now are as good as you get for the price.

My 1 grouch with them, one of the kitchens used granite worktops, but the other was conventional 38mm composite. With the convectional worktops, why the hell do they produce the upstands for the worktops out of crappy MDF:mad::mad::mad:

I fitted the worktops and upstands but didn't have time to seal the joints at the days end. Left instructions not to wet the worktops, but the next day after 1 pot wash, the upstand at the rear of the sink was blown:mad::mad:, Utter rubbish and should never be used for such purpose unless it is fully wrapped which the B&Q stuff isn't.

Leif

The B&Q Cooke and Lewis kitchens are said to be quite decent, a colleague had one, and it looks nice. I've taken a look at demo units in store and they seem to be as per Benchmarx, Magnet etc. Your fitter could install a B&Q one.

I would not use one of the trade sites such as TrustedBodger or whatever they are called. They serve trades, not you. I've had bad experiences with them.

Do you have an independent kitchen shop nearby? They can be good.

Does the fitter come with recommendations? I was lucky, the chap who installed my Optiplan kitchen was excellent. He charged £1,200 for a 3 by 3.5m C shaped kitchen, and the units were not flat pack. Flat pack units take longer to install for obvious reasons.

ITtim

I was going to start a new thread but since i'm also hunting a kitchen I thought I'd post here. I've found some very good quotes for our kitchen (minus fitting)

diy-kitchens.com and bighomeshop.

the diy-kitchens one looks excellent to be honest, they appear to be really good quality, does anyone have any experiences with either?

Furts

cyclonebri1 wrote: »

I have fitted B&Q kitchens for both my daughters over the last 4 years, 1 went for a much higher quality range than the other did.

I could see little if any difference in quality, and to be honest considering the price of both of them, I wasn't impressed.

Nightmares?, No, no real issues at all bar a few omissions and even over supplying parts.

But they were fitted as I always do, with great care and now are as good as you get for the price.

My 1 grouch with them, one of the kitchens used granite worktops, but the other was conventional 38mm composite. With the convectional worktops, why the hell do they produce the upstands for the worktops out of crappy MDF:mad::mad::mad:

I fitted the worktops and upstands but didn't have time to seal the joints at the days end. Left instructions not to wet the worktops, but the next day after 1 pot wash, the upstand at the rear of the sink was blown:mad::mad:, Utter rubbish and should never be used for such purpose unless it is fully wrapped which the B&Q stuff isn't.

And why are the upstands so small? What protection does 100 or 150mm give to a wall? It is then dependent on a good seal between the wall and the upstand to stop splashes going down the back. And, of course, if this upstand is mdf and not well sealed that is another piece that blows!

Then there are foil wrapped doors, that is covered mdf! These might be durable if the worktops had an adequate overhang and a drip groove. But unless a breakfast bar is cut down there is no chance of this.

Sorry cyclonebri, you have got me going now. I do not understand how people can pay thousands of pounds for a kitchen and not question such obvious, fundamental, flaws.

Price is no guarantee of quality. Even the charlatans who trade by the name of Cosentino do not ask their installers to bed the upstands on a bead of silicone nor seal them back to the wall. The Cosentino attitude is "what do you expect for worktops that cost over £10000"! I would point out that is more than some people pay for their kitchen units, but cr-p installation comes with the price even when buying Cosentino!

What you comment on is rife throughout the kitchen industry. I will now stand back and await the flack!

Leif

ITtim wrote: »

diy-kitchens.com and bighomeshop.

the diy-kitchens one looks excellent to be honest, they appear to be really good quality, does anyone have any experiences with either?

I found this:

http://www.trustpilot.co.uk/review/www.diy-kitchens.com

aggypanthus

DIY kitchens , Great! Doors made by Second Nature, so you can see them on the SN own website./we visited the factory and were given a tour of the workshop where they make own units which come ready built. they are very helpful over the ph, and the website is very easy to order from.
Buy all your own extras such as sockets and lights.
I got my handles from Band Q. worktop from an axiom supplier.

cyclonebri1

Kitchen_DesignR wrote: »

Come on CK, it's obvious.

He's the fitter so he knows best, we're just the designers so we know jack.

I was going to say that:D:D

cyclonebri1

Furts wrote: »

And why are the upstands so small? What protection does 100 or 150mm give to a wall? It is then dependent on a good seal between the wall and the upstand to stop splashes going down the back. And, of course, if this upstand is mdf and not well sealed that is another piece that blows!

Then there are foil wrapped doors, that is covered mdf! These might be durable if the worktops had an adequate overhang and a drip groove. But unless a breakfast bar is cut down there is no chance of this.

Sorry cyclonebri, you have got me going now. I do not understand how people can pay thousands of pounds for a kitchen and not question such obvious, fundamental, flaws.

Price is no guarantee of quality. Even the charlatans who trade by the name of Cosentino do not ask their installers to bed the upstands on a bead of silicone nor seal them back to the wall. The Cosentino attitude is "what do you expect for worktops that cost over £10000"! I would point out that is more than some people pay for their kitchen units, but cr-p installation comes with the price even when buying Cosentino!

What you comment on is rife throughout the kitchen industry. I will now stand back and await the flack!

The quality of the upstands, given the price, was the bit that got me going.
I put every effort into that particular kitchen, it was a new build extension and believe me my kids are particular. I'd rate my skills as an ex senior engineer as good as any kitchen fitters', and believe me I done a fair few kitchens. It let down what was a dam good job for just a few pence, even moisture resistant chipboard would have stood that small accident.

To be fair to B&Q they replaced the length of damaged section with new without question, but I'm guessing the cost was slightly above £0.

Ok, that's my issue with B&Q sorted, but I'd like to add a point in general, especially as there are quite a few posters in this section of the forum that are obviously new kitchen designers and retailers..
No problem, but the balance has to be maintained.

Without insulting you chaps too much, just how much designing does a kitchen need? You are dealing with the same functional requirements for almost every kitchen, the only constraints being space and budget and of course style requirements.

To anyone searching out a new kitchen I would say 1 thing, even the cheapest kitchen available in the UK, wether sourced from Scandinavia, UK, Germany etc will, if correctly fitted and cared for, last as long as you either live in the property or can live with the style and arrangements.
My own kitchen was refitted with granite tops about 2 years ago, it was an MFI kitchen, the cheapest manf out there. (Too cheap hence their demise). But I opted for the best doors they had available.
It's now 17 years old and still as good as new.

Yes the appliances have been uprated and the door handles have too, 2 door had to be refinished due to an accident with oven cleaner but being solid oak that wasn't a major issue. And that's it, no other changes.

Doors can be changed, almost all hinges, draw slides, cutlery draws, pan drawers etc etc are made to an industry standard and are readily available at little cost compared to a brand new kitchen.

Consider the fact that this is a money saving site, and my views come better into perspective.

Sorry Furts, you pressed my button too;);)

Apologies to those that trade in new kitchens, of course you can have your say but some of the stuff on here re kitchens sales has gotten pretty close to spam recently.