New Kitchen, how much?

System

A good fitter can make a cheap kitchen look like more than the sum of its parts, similarly a bad fitter can ruin a top end kitchen.
You seem to be putting too much emphasis on the price but not understanding what you are paying for - you don't need a kitchen designer from each place, all you need is a plan of what you want and where then they will tighten up the design after confirming site sizes.
It's been said numerous times in this thread about the best way to achieve a decent finish at a reasonable cost but you insist on not listening and pursuing your original ideas of getting companies like magnet to quote, then complain that they are expensive and rubbish!
Find a good fitter, find a kitchen that you like the look of and get it done otherwise you'll still be here next year complaining that the latest national company made a mess of the survey/design etc.
Surely by now you have a good idea of what you want and the types of units you want?

FreeBear

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

After a fiasco with Magnet (inefficient if being charitable, worse if not being charitable) and a hugely inflated quotation figure.

Prompted by this thread, along with a dislike of the tired & tatty kitchen I've got, I decided to get some ideas/quotes. Magnet is on the way to work for me, so that was the first place I called in to. Gave the guy a detailed and fairly accurate plan of the room, told him what I wanted in the way of layout & appliances. Got a plan & quote through this morning. Went back this afternoon with a couple of changes in mind, and he quickly did a revised layout & quote.

Found this representative to be helpful and eager to please. Don't like the quote though - Ten units with free cooker/hob for £4,700 - And that doesn't include the worktops or fitting..... Now that I have a better idea of what I want, methinks it will be ebay later in the year.

glasgowdan

Money...Widen the net and look for kitchen fitted/joiners more than a ten min drive away ☺

moneyistooshorttomention

FreeBear wrote: »

Prompted by this thread, along with a dislike of the tired & tatty kitchen I've got, I decided to get some ideas/quotes. Magnet is on the way to work for me, so that was the first place I called in to. Gave the guy a detailed and fairly accurate plan of the room, told him what I wanted in the way of layout & appliances. Got a plan & quote through this morning. Went back this afternoon with a couple of changes in mind, and he quickly did a revised layout & quote.

Found this representative to be helpful and eager to please. Don't like the quote though - Ten units with free cooker/hob for £4,700 - And that doesn't include the worktops or fitting..... Now that I have a better idea of what I want, methinks it will be ebay later in the year.

Multiply that figure several times for how much Magnet quoted me:eek:. I've been told since that "some" places (naming no names...) deliberately overcharge vastly for more "modern" worksurfaces (eg my Silestone I'll be having). Reason being they figure that consumers have a darn good idea what laminate worksurfaces cost and can see for themselves that they are a "minimal effort" type of worksurface to do and no templating or the like involved. Whereas consumers don't tend to have much idea of what they are expecting to pay for one of these more "modern" type surfaces.

I could follow that reasoning and think that may be what happened with them - ie a deliberate attempt at ripping me off. But....unfortunately for them...there are quite a variety of websites on the Net that a consumer can read and get a pretty good idea for themselves as to what they expect to pay for it. I wouldnt use Wren Kitchens, for instance, but I could/did price out a kitchen on their "price estimator" page and therefore have a pretty fair idea of what that says - and the worktop price for quartz/granite on my size/shape of kitchen said £2,000. Hence I know it could cost me, say, £1,000 more than that for the worktop for instance. However, I also know there is no way that worktop would cost me over £10,000 ....

moneyistooshorttomention

glasgowdan wrote: »

Money...Widen the net and look for kitchen fitted/joiners more than a ten min drive away ☺

:rotfl:A friend here yesterday said to me "At this rate you'll be looking in Cardiff or your home city for your kitchen:rotfl:".

At the moment - I am rather veering in the direction of a particular local kitchen place that is coming here soon to "size things up" and I think there is a good chance they meet my standards and I'm somewhat resigned to I might have to think "HOW much?" and have them.

I'll see.

Getting a kitchen in this area is difficult - with so few firms to choose from, etc. I've now got 3 other people watching progress here - as they also want a new kitchen and are following my research with interest. I have a feeling that, if I'm pleased with my eventual kitchen, that I'd better keep the kettle permanently on the boil for drinks for a while - with the number of people that are likely to want to pop in and examine it (to see if they want to use the same firm).

trailingspouse

I asked 4 companies to come and quote - all were free.

Magnet - nice guy, came up with some interesting design suggestions, but ultimately a bit pricey and I wasn't so blown away by the choices that I wanted to push the boat out.
Local independent - way too expensive, but his shop is just down the road from us and we're still on speaking terms!
Tesco - obnoxious greasy little man came out to do the quote and informed me that they wouldn't take the order until OH could also be present. Mr Spouse would have been interested I'm sure, but he was working abroad at the time so it wasn't going to happen (shame - the conversation between OH and obnoxious man would have been good...) Not that cheap either.
Homebase - I had to do the measuring myself, but I was OK with that. The woman doing the design was a gem. Couldn't fault the fitting team (in fact we employed them privately to do the utility room a couple of months later). And I got triple Nectar points!!!

leveller2911

trailingspouse wrote: »

I asked 4 companies to come and quote - all were free.

Magnet - nice guy, came up with some interesting design suggestions, but ultimately a bit pricey and I wasn't so blown away by the choices that I wanted to push the boat out.
Local independent - way too expensive, but his shop is just down the road from us and we're still on speaking terms!
Tesco - obnoxious greasy little man came out to do the quote and informed me that they wouldn't take the order until OH could also be present. Mr Spouse would have been interested I'm sure, but he was working abroad at the time so it wasn't going to happen (shame - the conversation between OH and obnoxious man would have been good...) Not that cheap either.
Homebase - I had to do the measuring myself, but I was OK with that. The woman doing the design was a gem. Couldn't fault the fitting team (in fact we employed them privately to do the utility room a couple of months later). And I got triple Nectar points!!!

With all of the above companies you would be paying 3x the fitting cost than you would by employing your own fitter and the products are not the best . At the end of the day though if you are happy with the product and service then thats good and if looked after should last 20yrs or so.

moneyistooshorttomention

Research now concluded as to who to use. I've checked out two possible contenders this morning.

It has boiled down to "Mr Possibly Expensive (oh I do hope not....):eek:", a local firm that a friend has used successfully and a "wild card" contender of handmade kitchens.

Today's shufty resulted in one of the possible firms (ie a local one) might be possible and ruling out another firm as being too old-fashioned to cope with what I've decided on (might do for a starter house kitchen - but too "basic" and old-fashioned for a lifetime house owned by someone pretty up with latest trends) - ie "Wot?!!!!! no quartz worktops....wot!!!!!" and no latest laminates (eg Minerva) either. I'm buying my kitchen in 2017 - not 1997.....

Personally - I do NOT do old-fashioned....

What I have learnt over past week is that there must not be a "gap" the consumer can fall down into - ie of being careful about the interface between firm A and firm B if one has two different firms involved in this. With any job that a couple of different firms are involved with - there is the possibility that if things go wrong - both firms will blame each other and the poor consumer is left wondering how to sort things out. I've decided on a particular "added extra" for my kitchen and it's not available in this area and there is the real risk of me ordering it from "elsewhere in country" and getting it done by a local firm and that being followed (if things go wrong) by both firms denying responsibility for it. I'm going to cover myself against that - by choosing a local firm and commissioning what I want specially from A to Z from the local firm and then it will be quite clear where responsibility lies.

Saverule

I got the quote from the local company. £4,800 for the units only. Doesn't include work surfaces and this was with 30% off.
I've been be recommended Howden's, anyone used them?

DO NOT DO OLD FASHIONED! Unless like the grunge look or flares, they're coming back in fashion. Next, we'll be having those farmhouse vegetable wallpapers again. Anything old fashioned, even smeg fridges, make me want to cry!

Davesnave

As with many things, I think there's classic and there's fashionable.


One of these is likely to go out of fashion.