Kitchen experts advice required!

mrsmazza

We put in a new kitchen 2 years ago, we had a few designs from various places.
They all differered hughley.

I was told not to put fridge freezer next to cooker.

Also just a suggestion, maybe a centre unit instead of the curved unit.

Try magnets, they do fitting as well.

Kim_kim

Ben27 wrote: »

Thanks for all your replies, will try to address each point here...sorry was just putting the kids to bed!

The space to the left will be for table and chairs.

Cupboard by the window...yeah will be blinds there.

Electrics, plumbing, plastering, tiling are all seperate as the builder is charging for this as part of the whole job.

Vansboy, good idea, thanks, think I will also take a trip to Magnet tomorrow and see what they come up with.

Im guessing there is a door in to the kitchen on the long flat wall at the bottom of the plan?

How about a u shaped layout with the main bit opposite the french door wall?
Just coming down about 5 units along the walls, so you'd have plenty of room for a table along the wall where the french doors are.
Then you could have a nice little island in the middle & use that as your breakfast bar.
Need to know where the door in is?

ETA - dont bury your fridge in units. The units are likely to be there longer than the fridge, so you
Need to be able to swap without worrying about size.

Get a swanky one & park it at the end of your u.

Ben27

Captaincodpiece, yes think you are right, having looked it again it doesn't look like a huge amount of storage...there's a guy on here who pm'd me who is going to send me a new design layout tomorrow so be interesting to see what he comes up with.

Mrsmazza, I will ask someone who knows about the fridge/cooker tomorrow, thanks! Will also find out about how much curved, centre units differ in price.

Kim kim, sorry - I should have said earlier, main entrance in is on the left hand side at the bottom of the plan, but also double doors coming through from the lounge at the bottom of the plan roughly in the middle so the actual placement of the kitchen has to be in the top half of the plan. Thanks for your point about the fridge too.

Got to say thank you all for all your help and input, all stuff I wouldn't have thought of and very helpful to be able to tap into your collective knowledge!

Ben.

cddc

That does seem a bit steep to me, looking at what units are included.

Get your worktops elsewhere as Howdens,along with most sheds, are expensive for solid wood tops, and for gawd sakes get your appliances elsewhere if they are quoting you for Lamona.

Agree with Doozergirl re the plan....she speaks sense.

Many Howdens designers could not plan their way out of a paper bag, and though there are some good ones out there, whoever planned that one...err isn't!

Ben27

Thanks cddc, would you say we'd easily be able to get cooker, ceramic hob, hood, dishwasher, microwave and wine cooler in a higher spec for the £2400 roughly quoted for appliances?

Thanks for your thoughts and advice too

Ben27

Sorry...also would anyone have a rough idea what we should pay solely for solid oak work tops in these dimensions? Think I've got to get my builder to break the costs down to order these things separately

cddc

You should be able to source worktops for comfortably less than £1000.
Worktop express seems to have a good name on here.

Appliances, I would suggest almost anywhere else! AO.com or your local branch of Curry's would be a good place to start!

CKdesigner

Hi Ben27

Please go and do some research, find a proper kitchen design company, don't rely on your builder getting a kitchen for you from a trade supplier.

Builders are not kitchen people - I am a kitchen designer and have certain builders / developers come to me for my knowledge and expertise in kitchens, likewise when I get a potential customer needing to do a major project that involves building work I can put them in touch with one or 2 builders we would recommend.

CK

trailingspouse

Regardless of whether you buy from them, I would highly recommend the Homebase design service.

You take your own measurements, but they do the design with you sitting next to them. I spent a very long time at our local Homebase (think loo breaks and coffee!), and between what I thought I wanted, what I could realistically have, the knowledge the designer had of their own range, and seeing it on the screen (plan view and front elevation), I ended up with a kitchen that I'm extremely pleased with. And the advantage is that, when it comes to choosing flooring/tiles/units/worktops, they're all there for you to look at 'in the flesh'.

At no point did I feel pressured to buy, nor did I feel that they were trying to hurry me.

But basically, if you feel uneasy with Howdens, you need to shop around. Get lots of quotes (I got quotes from Magnet, Tesco, Homebase and a local kitchen supplier) - each designer will have a different set of suggestions, some of which you might be able to incorporate in the new kitchen even if you don't buy from them. It's a major expense, possibly more expensive than buying a car - but without the opportunity to test drive it, so you have to spend a lot of time on getting it right.

redmalc

Ben,i think you are pushing it on the appliances at £2400,we have just had Siemens fitted the same as you and the cost was £3400