Kitchens - John Lewis, German Brands etc

leveller2911

ryder72 wrote: »

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.

I had a major issue with Grass 160 degree, soft close hinges for thick doors which ,eventually went all the way up the line from Hafele UK,Grass UK to Grass Austria and never did get the issue resolved and re-embursed.

I sent hinges back to Hafele uk who did a mock up of a door and carcase and the same thing happened and the Grass UK chap had never seen anything like it before. The doors fell off the base plates when the doors were opened past 90 degrees.

To this day I have never had the issue resolved or my money back and ended up replacing all of the hinges/base plates with Blum........I'm too busy to be chasing suppliers for a few £ but It does give you an idea of how a company/companies do business.

martin1959

leveller2911 wrote: »

Where would you suggest?

Ultimately we have gone to an independent.

leveller2911 wrote: »

There is free software online for planning a kitchen and generally speaking its not rocket science

Buying a trowel, a hawk, and a bag of plaster from B&Q does not make me a plasterer.....


The independent have come up with several very good ideas, such as a tambour unit, which I would not have even considered.


DIY kitchens do not offer ANY planning advice, and the sheds 'pile em high, sell em cheap' mentality does not allow for in depth advice, and we found most of the planners we came across, basically kept asking us what design we wanted, as opposed to actually giving any meaningful ideas.


Yes, we may pay 25% more for a German kitchen, but when the cost of the units is only about 30-40%% of the cost of the actual finished kitchen, we feel it is worth it.

ryder72

I had a major issue with Grass 160 degree, soft close hinges for thick doors which ,eventually went all the way up the line from Hafele UK,Grass UK to Grass Austria and never did get the issue resolved and re-embursed.

I sent hinges back to Hafele uk who did a mock up of a door and carcase and the same thing happened and the Grass UK chap had never seen anything like it before. The doors fell off the base plates when the doors were opened past 90 degrees.

To this day I have never had the issue resolved or my money back and ended up replacing all of the hinges/base plates with Blum........I'm too busy to be chasing suppliers for a few £ but It does give you an idea of how a company/companies do business.

That doesnt sound good. Admittedly we deal with our furniture manufacturer in Germany who specify and supply furniture with Grass mechanisms. They switched to Grass from Blum about 7 years back and things have only got better in terms of problems we have had to resolve on drawrs/mechanisms. We dont directly deal with Grass in any capacity so I have no experience of their customer service.

I deal with Hafele for other products and I have found that its all down to the sales rep you get. SOme are good, others bad. The company itself is a black hole and getting anything out of them is like the search of extra terrestial intelligence - if you get anything coherent from them its pure chance.

bui

Your kitchen plan looks amazing! Do update when you get it done.

smallblueplanet

martin1959 wrote: »

The independent have come up with several very good ideas, such as a tambour unit, which I would not have even considered.


DIY kitchens do not offer ANY planning advice, and the sheds 'pile em high, sell em cheap' mentality does not allow for in depth advice, and we found most of the planners we came across, basically kept asking us what design we wanted, as opposed to actually giving any meaningful ideas..

Personally I had no qualms about getting kitchen planning advice from all and sundry and then buying our new kitchen units from DIY Kitchens - great prices and choices.


PS in your kitchen designs I'd have my oven nearer to a work surface so you don't have to carry very hot food about further than necessary. Just my preference of course, function over prettiness for me.

Ramona123

Completely agree with the function over prettiness statement. An oven in a mid size unit at waist height is the best fit for me.

anoujr

Xeorix wrote: »

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.

Thanks for your message, if i go the route you suggested, is it likely to cost around the same as Magnet? (around £5000 for 13 units)