Kitchens - John Lewis, German Brands etc

anoujr

Hi, we are looking to purchase a kitchen on a supply only basis and therefore just the cabinets and end panels and anything required to be bought with the cabinets but no appliances and worktops (things that I can buy elsewhere). Magnet have quoted me £4848 for the handle less Integra Fantasy Grey range. I was wondering if it is realistic for the German brands or John Lewis to be similar in price? I have always assumed them to be very expensive and therefore out of my budget.
The cabinets in the quote from Magnet are:
1X 600 appliance unit
1X 800 Floor unit
1X 1000 corner floor unit
1X 800 floor unit
1X 500 drawer floor unit
1X800 wall unit
3X 500 wall unit
1X 300 pull out larder
1X 1000 wall bridging unit
Thanks for reading

ryder72

John Lewis by itself will be much more expensive compared to other places where you can buy the same product. FOr instance, the First Collection is a symphony kitchen, the Jonelle collection is Mereway and Alno is cheaper at independents. So if you want a John Lewis kitchen, buy it elsewhere.

German kitchens come in at various price points. They will be more than Magnet but there is no comparison on quality. Even the most basic German kitchen will outlast anything from Magnet, so you will get a better product than Magnet for your money.

Xeorix

I've just mentioned this in another thread, however in my honest opinion - forget Magnet. They are a brand name, and their kitchens are "rubbish" in comparison. They don't even have a solid back!

Take a look at Crown Imperial, and see if you can find a local kitchen fitter than sources them, they are quite popular and well known.

Also, have a chat to your local fitter, as you may very well find that you can source the innards for less.
A 300 pull out larder is around £700 I think from Crown. You can get the unit for peanuts, and then the innards are from Hafele. Plenty of places sell them, so just search for the product code, they're about £200 if I recall.

ryder72

In truth Crown isnt that great either. Its flat pack cam and dowelled units and without the hard back their carcases would have all the rigidity of a cereal box.

Internal are available cheaply but a lot of Hafele stuff is cheap cheerful kit. If you want proper internal fittings look at Kessebohmer or Grass, no less.

leveller2911

[QUOTE=ryder72;67494535

Internal are available cheaply but a lot of Hafele stuff is cheap cheerful kit. If you want proper internal fittings look at Kessebohmer or Grass, no less.

Hafele sell Grass products although having had a recent bad experience with Grass soft-close hinges for doors up to 32mm thick and the poor aftersales from Hafele I wouldn't recommend Hafele if you expect any sort of aftercare. Grass poducts are good quality engineering but thats no good if they aren't fit for purpose.

You also have to register to use the Hafele online shop.

martin1959

We have viewed numerous kitchens, and have decide on a Rotpunkt German kitchen.


We are having about 26 various units. With no worktop, or appliances it came in originally at just over £10k.


Magnet, for a similar LOOKING range came in at £16000 LOL!!!
But in the 50% sale, and with the 'wind in the right direction' discount, came down to about £7,500.


The service we have had from the independent in Southend has been second to none. We have visited at least 5 times, each time asking them to tweak the design. We have had numerous cups of tea, been lent sample doors as we could not make our mind up on colour, been offered the opportunity to visit some of their previous and currents installations.


Over the Christmas period, when we were in the shop, at least two previous customers dropped of presents for the girl we were dealing with to thank her for all her help.... I doubt this happens in Magnet!


And....with no prompting, when we went in last week, she told us that Rotpunkt were having a discount in January, and they could pass on the extra 15% they were getting from the supplier.......so a decent (albeit lower end range) German kitchen, with excellent service, for just under £8500

penguingirl

Have you looked at diykitchens? We ordered from them after lots of recommendations on here. We only ordered our units from them, everything else came from elsewhere (mainly local suppliers and online for appliances)

leveller2911

+1 for DIY

martin1959

We also looked at DIY


Pros
Cheap
Ready built


Cons
Few reviews where they have cocked up orders
Not a vast range of some types of door
No design or measuring service
They buy in the doors from a third party
No showrooms to view (within reasonable distance)


I would probably use them for a buy to let property.

leveller2911

martin1959 wrote: »

We also looked at DIY


Pros
Cheap
Ready built


Cons
Few reviews where they have cocked up orders
Not a vast range of some types of door
No design or measuring service
They buy in the doors from a third party
No showrooms to view (within reasonable distance)


I would probably use them for a buy to let property.

The units are of far superior quality to any of the sheds including Wickes,Howdens,Magnet,B&Q etc etc. The doors are bought in as you say .The laminted worktops are Durapol which are a good laminate worktop as far as laminate worktops go. If your looking at reviews of poor quality and or service they are far better than the rest of the budget kitchen suppliers.

There is free software online for planning a kitchen and generally speaking its not rocket science.DIY will send out samples of all doors,carcases and worktop swatches, they have as many if not more choice of doors than most of the others and how many of the others have a choice of over 16 carcase colours and 45 different kitchen door styles/colours?.

Howdens for example barely have a dozen units on show at their branches,a choice of 2 carcase colours and their kitchens are over priced and discount system is all smoke and mirrors. I wouldn't like to deal with a company who's aim is to deceive its clients with "trade only" (which they are not) and discounts which no one believes are true discounts.

I make kitchens for a living as well as Traditional Joinery and have fitted a fair few budget kitchens from the sheds when clients couldn't stretch to a bespoke kitchen and DIY are much better than the others I have mentioned.

Even though I don't rate Howdens I have ripped out 15-20 yr old Howdens kitchens that were still working fine but fashion/tastes change. Even a bog standard kicthen can last 25 years or more ,if its looked after.


Where would you suggest?

ryder72

leveller - Hafele is one of the distributors of Grass products but I dont think they dont sell any of the corner solutions or larder pullout systems from Grass or fot that matter Kessebohmer. They do sell Vauth-Sagel which is pretty cheap basic stuff and might sell other makes too. Not sure.

Hafele sell Grass drawer box and hinge system and I do genuinely believe that these are the best systems on the market, though Blum have recent launched the Legrabox which is very good too.

Hafele are pretty useless and there is little doubt about that.