Kitchen - any thoughts on Symphony or Sheraton via Buildbase?

warby68

We've never put a new kitchen in despite having 6 houses over 25 years.

We are about to bite the bullet - considered a few options but for business reasons we will probably be going through our local Buildbase (we have dismissed Magnet as too expensive and Howdens as the local rep is pretty useless)

Just wondered if anyone had any strong opinions/warnings/recommendations on these ranges?

Thinking of two shades of gloss doors with some wood effect boxing in/panels and trims and a quartz (or similar) pale coloured solid work top. Its a fairly big room at 7m x 5m but we will be keeping a corner for utility and another for dining.

Thanks in hope

Furts

Be careful with Symphony. On a plus side they have been around for decades. On a negative side they produce some really basic contract kitchens aimed at Council refurbishment and Housing Associations. They also produce other kitchens - I have been offered these historically but I am not up to speed with Symphony. So it depends what range you are looking at.

But if you are clued up it is the usuals - avoid vinyl wrapped doors, seek decent back panels, decent carcases, good runners and drawer boxes, good hinges - all run of the mill checks.

Doozergirl

Stmphony produce the full range of kitchens. They are a huge manufacturer. Their Signature range appears to have been downgraded now but having just installed one, it is lovely. It's a mix of two ranges with the same doors to save a bit of money.

They have screwed up on the delivery of the expensive pantry unit several times now. It was late and I still have pieces over and pieces missing over a month after it was supposed to arrive and donkeys since it was ordered. At least it is built now, just internals missing.

I chose Symphony as they had the right quality of pantry, but there's a lot to be said for in-stock kitchens.

Furts

Doozergirl wrote: »

Stmphony produce the full range of kitchens. They are a huge manufacturer. Their Signature range appears to have been downgraded now but having just installed one, it is lovely. It's a mix of two ranges with the same doors to save a bit of money.

They have screwed up on the delivery of the expensive pantry unit several times now. It was late and I still have pieces over and pieces missing over a month after it was supposed to arrive and donkeys since it was ordered. At least it is built now, just internals missing.

I chose Symphony as they had the right quality of pantry, but there's a lot to be said for in-stock kitchens.

An interesting observation. Decades back Symphony were light years ahead of their competitors by introducing a production system where all orders must be in by iirr six weeks before delivery. There after nothing could be done to alter, delay or cancel the slot - the kitchen units would arrive regardless. A double edged sword because if one wanted additional pieces, or damaged items replaced, then that too had to wait for six weeks. Volume builders worked with this, small developers fell out with Symphony over it. Makes me wonder if this ethos still exists?

Doozergirl

Furts wrote: »

An interesting observation. Decades back Symphony were light years ahead of their competitors by introducing a production system where all orders must be in by iirr six weeks before delivery. There after nothing could be done to alter, delay or cancel the slot - the kitchen units would arrive regardless. A double edged sword because if one wanted additional pieces, or damaged items replaced, then that too had to wait for six weeks. Volume builders worked with this, small developers fell out with Symphony over it. Makes me wonder if this ethos still exists?

I think so.

warby68

Thanks all

Glad its not a 'don't touch with a barge pole'

I'm a novice so can I ask is 19m gloss painted MFC any good?

The designer at Buildbase has given us a Sheraton kitchen design but we don't like the colours and its expensive so are thinking of switching to Symphony but he gave us the plan/price on Friday 2 mins before disappearing on 2 weeks jollies. I suspect I'll have trouble getting someone else to play about with his quote meantime and give us different versions.

Doozergirl esp, do you know if I can get a clue on prices or at least which ranges are cheaper/dearer than other ones online? I just have glossy brochures with no clue at all. I know they are a well guarded secret lol so everyone can apply their own pricing and discount structures but I just want to know relative prices at the moment IYSWIM.

I'm also interested in cheaper units for the utility and areas which will be decorative rather than getting heavy wear to keep costs down.

Its a minefield - they want to upsell of course and you want to keep costs down and quality up.

ryder72

If you are going to buy a British kitchen, Sheraton is one of 2-3 manufacturers that make a decent carcase and probably the only one that use a Grass drawer box. Its no surprise then that they are a little but dearer. Quality costs a bit more. But beware some of their doors are wrapped.

Furts

ryder72 wrote: »

If you are going to buy a British kitchen, Sheraton is one of 2-3 manufacturers that make a decent carcase and probably the only one that use a Grass drawer box. Its no surprise then that they are a little but dearer. Quality costs a bit more. But beware some of their doors are wrapped.

Mine is only an anecdotal response. We did the rounds about five years ago looking for a kitchen for our home. A reasonable UK kitchen was the requirement. We were at Buildbase just like OP, plus Benchmarx, Howdens, Magnet Trade, Wickes. It was a Sheraton kitchen that came out tops for preference, though for whatever reason (I think door style), we did not end up with it.

onomatopoeia99

Sheraton are an Omega brand. I have a kitchen sold under another Omega brand (Mackintosh) and I cannot fault the quality of any of it. The carcasses are very robust, I detected no flex when moving the 1000mm floor units around during installation or the full height (2300mm?) double oven units, the drawers and hinges all operate smoothly and correctly, there was lots of adjustability built into all the wall mountings for the wall units, so getting everything to line up was straightforward (not my experience with a kitchen from homebase 20 years ago). When installing it, it felt like thought had gone into making it as painless to do as possible.

Downsides : they are relatively expensive compared to those sold in the DIY sheds, they don't publish prices anywhere (you have to go into a retailer and ask), nor do they publish a catalogue with the dimensions of the units (you have to go into a retailer and ask).

warby68

I managed to find an online PDF of a sale flyer with a 9 unit comparison of price for most of the Sheraton/Symphony/Cucina ranges which at least lets me put the ranges we fancy in a sort of price order.

We've been quoted over £31k reduced to just over £20k for 'trade' - need to get down to £15k max. It was their first offer so hopefully with some concessions on our part (as we threw pretty much everything into the first design) and a better discount on theirs, we might get there.

Its tricky as while the £32k is broken down by units, appliances and worktops, the discounted price isn't so we can't see where exactly they are applying discounts. All deliberate I know to try and stop you going elsewhere for selected bits of the deal but not helpful when you're genuinely looking for compromises to enable you to do a 'one-stop' shop.

We really prefer a single supplier and point of reference due to limited time to project manage.

ryder72

£31k for a Sheraton kitchen?????

How large is the kitchen?? What make of appliances are you having?