One for the resident kitchen experts - truly British companies?

leveller2911

cddc wrote: »

There are people out there bringing in kitchens from China. They are cheap. They are not good! Vance Miller and his henchmen come to mind.....

I think he may have been on here yesterday causing problems.

"Someone" joined the forum with around 10 indentities ,copied and pasted the same post with lots of Anglo Saxon words and phrases.

They were not happy about a couple of threads started with regards to a couple of his companies, one being "St il hau s kitchens". Got to hand it to him trying to make his kitchens appear to be of German or Scandanavian origin. Anglo Saxon language but thats as far as he got..;)

The mans a chancer plain and simple.He should have stuck to selling potatoes as thats about his limit.

Must just say I wouldn't buy a kitchen from him...;)

cddc

I was working and missed the fun then..love nothing better than winding up a VM spammer!

Doozergirl

Yesterday's antics were certainly an interesting take on PR, leveller.

I've just read this month's KBB review and essential kitchen & bathroom business. The whole German thing really only confuses me. What's Pronorm like?

As a reseller, do the Germans offer better margins to resellers? A better variety of sizes or other items that create more design in the design (if you see what I mean!)

They're not German but what about Keller? Are they any good?

Doozergirl

cddc wrote: »

I was working and missed the fun then..love nothing better than winding up a VM spammer!

There were probably a thousand posts! They invaded the boards entirely. Throwing proper abuse at a few of the board guides and a completely innocent poster. The !!!!s today are some sort of leftover of the whole forum being rinsed through the spam filter as there language was particularly colourful. It's surprising what gets through the naughty word censor!

SuzieSue

No-one's mentioned JJO. Aren't they British?

Doozergirl

SuzieSue wrote: »

No-one's mentioned JJO. Aren't they British?

Tell me what you know .

I have seen their name today in a bit of editorial about British Kitchens. Complete coincidence that I saw it after posting.

ryder72

I will try and answer some questions and I am not getting into arguments that have been had before-

Rotpunkt are towards the bottom of the market and not that cheap.
Siematic are towards to top of the market an a very nice product.

Egger is a European company with 1 factory in the UK. Thats like calling a Swindon made Honda a British car. In my mind that is a Japanese car made in Britain.

Blum is Austrian. Grass is Austrian too. Hettich is German. Grass and Hettich are owned by Hetal, a German company. Of all the runner systems, Grass are really heads and better IMO than others. Blum is the most overrated stuff out there.

I think using the building as a pointer for suppliers of quality is like calling McDonalds gourmet food.

German manufacturers do not operate from warehouses full of product. Every kitchen is manufactured to order. They have a culture of paying for quality in Germany and their export people laugh at the incessant fake discounting in the UK market. However, Germans are making strong headway into the contract market in Britain and its rare to see a quality housing development in the South East these days that doesnt have German kitchen in it.

Pronorm is a mid range manufacturer and tey make a decent product. In the main the thing to remember with German kitchens is that they all do a decent product. What you pay for as you move up the market is the specification and attention to detail. A basic, Rokpunkt, Hacker, Schuller, Wellmann kitchen with be on 10-15 carcase colours so not all doors will have a matching carcase etc. At the higher end, carcases usually match doors, carcases are made to a taller height on a modular platform etc. The differences are too detailed to list here.

German manufactuers so not work by offering margins of a list price. They work on a net price basis. There is one manufactuer I can think of that doesnt work in this manner off the top of my head.

Keller are Dutch. Very mediocre. Offer what the Germans offer but I think generally Germans offer more for the price.

JJO - nothing to write about. Just run of the mill stuff.

SuzieSue

Doozergirl wrote: »

Tell me what you know .

I have seen their name today in a bit of editorial about British Kitchens. Complete coincidence that I saw it after posting.

All I know is that my kitchen and bedroom furniture was made by them and their website says that they are British.

I had my kitchen and one of my bedrooms supplied and fitted by a reseller but managed to get trade prices from a wholesaler for the second bedroom and got a friend to fit it. JJO were very helpful when I had any questions about their products.

Furts

SuzieSue wrote: »

All I know is that my kitchen and bedroom furniture was made by them and their website says that they are British.

I had my kitchen and one of my bedrooms supplied and fitted by a reseller but managed to get trade prices from a wholesaler for the second bedroom and got a friend to fit it. JJO were very helpful when I had any questions about their products.

I was trying to work with JJO around three years ago. I found them evasive, unhelpful, and not interested unless there was the prospect of big orders. I gave up and went elsewhere. Of course, they might be better now....but there was no excuse for the poor service then, so I fail to see why they would have changed in the passing time.

Vampgirl

Interesting information here - does anyone know anything about Paula Rosa/Manhatten Kitchens (aka The Kitchen Store if you're a retail customer)?

They are the manufacturers of the kitchen fitted in our new build house but until we bought this place I'd never heard of them. Their website says "crafted in England", and when quoting for additions their prices seem pretty high to me - though that could just be because I have no idea what a kitchen island unit should cost *lol*.

Would be interested if anyone knows anything about them?