Buying kitchen from Wickes

TranceNRG

Hi guys,
Wow thanks for all the replies. I guess the consensus is to wait and get quotes from Howdens, Magent and Ikea.

I just got back from Wickes and the good news is I didn't pay the deposit. I have 2 more days to pay the deposit and 'secure' the price. Plus the design consultant said they can price match (to be fair she said this last time) the appliances if I get prices from a story like Currys, John Lewis, etc. She also said she can get a further discretionary discount from her manager (for 250) or if I could similar quote from Howdens or Magnet they could price match. Now I won't have enough time to get quotes from those guys in 2 days unfortunately.

The previous design was for a new layout in my flat (opn plan living and moving the kitchen and bathroom to where the current living room is) but I think I'm going to stick with the current layout (kitchen opening to the garden) as I don't think I'll have the 5-10K extra needed for the new layout plus the value of the flat won't necessarily go up much (this is what a couple of real estate agents said).

So I got the design consultant to design a new kitchen in the current layout. It's going to be like a galley kitchen with 3m x 2m.
She also advised me to go for a glossy finish as it's easier to clean and the kitchen I picked last time (Marlow) is being discontinued so will be hard to find parts if things break.

I don't have a soft copy of the new design but the new kitchen (Atlanta) is more expensive than Marlow and also the new layout, it's slightly bigger. Total prices (including appliances) £5657. But she reckons with price matching of appliances and discretionary discount, I could get it down to 5K.

What do you reckon? It's too steep? Should I not pay the refundable deposit?

Also regarding appliances, what brand should I get? Zanussi, Electrolux or AEG? I've heard that they are owned by the same company now so have similar parts in them. But Electrolux and AEG come with 2 year warranty but more expensive.

oli_ro

I would take my time on this one. I guess the sales person wants to close and she/he is throwing all the weapons in the arsenal at you.

Kitchen design is one of this things where you have to do loads of homework. I got Ikea kitchen installed 4 months ago and made a lot of stupid mistakes due to rushing.

Plenty of good advice here re different kitchen furniture companies, but you simply are too early in the process to order pull the trigger in my opinion. Most probably all these too good to miss offers will still be here(or in another company) in a few weeks.

Get the fitter to look at the flat first. Are electric outlets exactly in the right place of your design and comply to latest regulations ? How about gas pipes ? They will have valuable input in your design.

Please be clear if there is work for electrician/plumber as you need to organise this and they are not cheap. At the very minimum you will need them to do tests and offer certificates.

Then, start taking very detailed measurements and record constraints and get quotes from 3-4 providers and then get them to lower/match prices.

This is what I would do.

dimbo61

Please DO NOT order anything for the property until you have the keys.
You cannot do the work until you own the property so it can wait.
See what your builder can come up with ( price/style/design/layout)

TranceNRG

Guys it's a refundable deposit so if I change my mind then I can get the money back. Without the appliances I could probably get the kitchen for 3500 and that's including the Oak wooden work top. Is that still too expensive?
Also they are pretty flexible and kitchen can still be changed.

Angie_B

TranceNRG wrote: »

Hello everyone,
I'm in the last stages of buying my 2 bed ground floor garden flat in West London.
I'm going to renovate my house as soon as I get the key (hopefully within the next couple of weeks)

Can we infer from the fact that you do not know when you will get the keys and complete, that you have not actually exchanged on your purchase yet? In which case, DO NOT put down any sort of deposit, buy a kitchen or do anything in terms of booking builders until you have. I know you don't want to hear this, but things can and do happen. Purchases get delayed or fall through all the time.

Also, if you are buying with a mortgage, do not go spending large amounts of money (even a few hundreds on a kitchen deposit) on credit cards until after you have completed. Lenders can credit check right up to completion and if you have declared small or no balances on your credit cards at time of application and then suddenly have a large balance, lenders can pull your mortgage right before completion. Rare, but it does happen.

As a FTB not that long ago, I do understand how excited you are and how keen you are to get on with renovations etc, but a few extra weeks in the scheme of things is not going to hurt (whereas not waiting could).

The previous design was for a new layout in my flat (opn plan living and moving the kitchen and bathroom to where the current living room is) but I think I'm going to stick with the current layout (kitchen opening to the garden) as I don't think I'll have the 5-10K extra needed for the new layout plus the value of the flat won't necessarily go up much (this is what a couple of real estate agents said).

On this point, you say it is a flat. Have you read the lease? Are you even allowed to make changes to the layout? Are you even allowed to change the kitchen without permission? A lot of freeholders insist on you requesting permission (not to be refused unreasonably) prior to you starting work. If you change electrics/plumbing, these may need to inspected by the freeholder etc.

Make sure you are aware of what your duties as a leaseholder are before you start gutting your flat and get in trouble which could end up pretty expensive you for.

Waterlily24

We've also got an Ikea kitchen and are very pleased with it, hubby did the fitting himself apart from the electrics. He's in the trade though. We didn't buy any of the appliances from Ikea though and regret not buying the sink from elsewhere.

TranceNRG

It's a share of freehold flat and I have 50% share of the freehold and the other half is owned by the upstairs flat owner.

So I"m leaning towards not paying deposit/not buying after everyone's posts. I think I need to wait a bit longer until I actually get the key (which is not far away and could happen end of this week or next week). I can then consult my builder, get quotes from Howdens, Magnet and Benchmarx and hopefully they can price match.

Thanks everyone!

TranceNRG

Sorry just want to bump this to find your opinions on appliances. What brand should I buy? Are Zanussi, Electrolux and AEG the best? What about hotpoint, Indesit?
Or should I just buy something that's reasonable in price and has good reviews?

missis_amber

For appliances I found ao.com to be great value and great service. I have a tight kitchen and needed a standing fridge freezer that was less than the standard size and their prices were the best by far.

missis_amber

I think my fridge freezer and washing machines are both Indesit. Great value for money over more expensive brands. Had no issues whatsoever. Mind you it's just me and my daughter (aged 7) so the washing machine only gets used once a week!