Kitchen recommendations

sliderm

Just starting a hunt for a kitchen and I'm bamboozled already! At the moment I'm looking at Symphony, Sigma 3 and Colonial. Anyone any recommendations? I haven't a clue as to which is better quality or which I should I avoid or how the doors/carcasses are made to know what to look for.


Am thinking of probably shaker style, either real wood (if we can afford - awaiting quotes) or I think they each do a vinyl wrap that has a wood grain effect.


Any advice?

ka7e

Check out diy-kitchens.com - they make a wide range of Shaker styles, with painted or timber finishes.

sliderm

Ideally I'd like to go with a kitchen I can get locally rather than ordering on-line. Otherwise DIY kitchens look good.

scumboss

sliderm wrote: »

Ideally I'd like to go with a kitchen I can get locally rather than ordering on-line. Otherwise DIY kitchens look good.

Another vote for DIY Kitchens. Superb.

FreeBear

sliderm wrote: »

Ideally I'd like to go with a kitchen I can get locally rather than ordering on-line. Otherwise DIY kitchens look good.

If you are any where near Pontefract, they have a showroom - https://www.diy-kitchens.com/about-diy-kitchens/showroom/
Ikea are another oft mentioned source of kitchens. Might be worth a look if you can work with the limited range of unit sizes.

A fitted kitchen needs a good quality installation along with good after-sales support. A poor install will make even the most expensive units look cheap and shabby. If after-sales support is nonexistent, then you'll struggle to get any issues resolved.

sliderm

Thanks for the info. I'm based in South Somerset.

ka7e

You could check out https://www.unitsonline.co.uk/ in Wellington. They have the same business address as Mayflower Kitchens that has a showroom on site.

cranford

Another vote for DIY-Kitchens. Its coming up to ten years since I put mine in and its as good as new. Plenty of size options, units that match the doors (no end of run panels needed) and good value pelmets, cornices and plinths. Like some other suppliers units come assembled unless you need otherwise to do modifications. Unlike when I bought I don't think they now supply solid wood doors, only wood frames but you can always ask and get samples sent to you for a small fee.
My solid wood doors are by Second Nature which you could purchase from https://www.larkandlarks.co.uk/kitchen-doors/natural-wood

sliderm

Any idea if the Sigma 3 or colonial kitchens are any good though?

andy_b_stone

Below is my review for them, which DIY-K reported and got suspended on Trustpilot - because I did not buy anything from them. Well, I could not finalise my basket and hence no order was placed. Three weeks of really bad communication and misleading "advice"... I am very disappointed with Trustpilot too: they claim that my review is "investigated" for breach of their rules, but no one contacted me (as their rules suggest) since I posted my review (a week has passed by now).

If you do not want to waste your time and get your kitchen project messed-up, just avoid DIY-Kitchens and do not trust Trustpilot!

***Disclaimer - I have not bought a kitchen from DIY kitchens but I have used their online services and interacted with their team with the aim of buying the kitchen, but in effect they made every effort for me NOT to place my order***

Like many others, judging by MOST RECENT BAD REVIEWS for DIY Kitchens (March-June 2019), I feel that I have to expose them for my very unfortunate experience in... preparing(!) my order: I simply cannot place it because of unbelievably poor communication system with so-called online "tickets", where responses take at least 2 (often more) days, non-existent support on phone, and what's more, the support staff *who is supposed to help* messing up your basket (being most likely overwhelmed by unbearable workload).

You do not need to read any further - DO NOT TRUST THEIR good PAST REVIEWS ANY MORE - just turn away and look somewhere else!!!

I spent about about a week, mostly nights, designing and planning my kitchen layout in their online planner (a few different variants, comparing prices etc), which is about the only good experience I had with DIY Kitchens... until I turned to preparing my basket and found out that the range I chose (Silsden Alabaster) is not any more available for delivery in time for already planned fitting in the end of July, which at the time would be two months ahead, and which was actually available for delivery wc 8-th of July, as was stated on their website a couple of days earlier.

For those who are keen having ill-spirited "fun" of reading through my hardly "live" recent ticket correspondence with their support, here we are (not from the very beginning, but clear enough; skipping the names - not be as merciless as their support).

Support (last Friday): Good Afternoon,

Thank you for sending over your plan to be checked,

I have taken a look at your plan which looks great although i would just advise for you to amend the below

Will you be using anything between the two 150mm open wall units?

Will you be using anything below the wall uits to the bottom of the plan ?

Other than the above there is nothing else which i would advise for you to amend, Please just let me know if you will still be making amendments to the plan or if you are ready for this to be added to a basket through the main website as you are not able to place an order through the planner.

Kind Regards
[Name]

Me (last Friday): Dear [Name],

Thank you for looking into it!
Regarding your questions about my kitchen design/layout, yes, we do have something in mind for both the (lower-right) corner and the adjacent wall with empty space between the two open shelves. The space by that wall is our sitting/dining area [some details]. The empty space on the wall will be filled with some decorative elements [details].

My main concern right now is what kitchen (door) style/range should I go with, as I have a provisional agreement with my builder to do kitchen fitting on the last week of July. As you probably noticed, the design I created in the online planner is based around the Silsden Painted Alabaster range. When I was creating the design/layout, the earliest delivery date for the Silsden Painted Alabaster range shown on the web-site was in the beginning of July (I think it was wc the 8-th July). However, when I was just about to place my order last Friday, I found out that the dates for many ranges were moved further in time, and Silsden Painted range became unavailable by the end of July. Currently, the delivery dates for the Sildsden Painted start on 26/08/2019 (according to the web-site).

We did come to the showroom and tried to switch the design to the Conistone range, which [another name] helped us with. Unfortunately, after the first iteration of correcting [their] mistakes (in basket ID #1), [they] stopped answering my requests in the ticket [they] created for that basket. On Tuesday I saw that the delivery dates for Silsden Painted moved back to 22/07/2019 (I have two screenshots - taken in the morning and evening). Since [another name] was not replying, I though I could switch back to Silsden in that basket and order, but again unfortunately not all the Conistone items could be auto-converted back to Silsden, so I got stuck with that basket being mostly Silsden with a few Conistone items. Meanwhile the delivery dates for Silsden were again moved forward to 26/08/2019 on Wednesday.

The above explains why I created yet another request for checking my final design in the planner, which brings us back to you looking into it, form scratch again.

By now I have actually created a second basket (ID #2) where I tried to reconstruct [another name]'s Conistone set of units for my design, but I could not find all the items which [another name] somehow managed to convert from Silsden to Conistone, and I cannot remove doors from three wall units that are supposed to be open shelves, i.e. without doors.

I think now we have two options: either to create yet another basket based on your own revision of my design, or take one of the existing baskets and finalise it properly for me to place an order.

Please! - I desperately need an advise as to which range to choose: Silsden Painted Alabaster (my initial preference) or Conistone Alabaster (our second choice)? - Is there any chance for me to get the kitchen in Silsden Alabaster by the end of July? If it is out of question, I would go for Conistone Alabaster with some units converted from the Silsden range.

Many thanks again.
Kind regards
[my name]

On Sunday I tried and fully restored and corrected [another name]'s original basket where one particular unit was a *confirmed* combination between the two ranges in question, of which I duly informed [name and managers who supposedly were monitoring my tickets].

Support [name] (Monday):
Good Morning [my name],

Thank you for sending over your below support ticket,

I can see you have amended the basket so this is now all in the Coniston kitchen range,

I have spoken with our suppliers although i am afraid we are not able to offer the internal curved doors in the Silsden, They also do not offer the L shaped corner units in this kitchen range so you would need to be looking at a straight corner unit option.

I can confirm the end panels are finished on all sides and edges, If you plan to use the base end panels in place of the dresser end panels this would mean you needing to return the pelmet back to the wall as this will not have a panel to run into so you would just need to increase the quantity of pelmet to two.

We do not drill or fit the handles for you, these will need to be drilled and fitted by your fitter as each person has their own preference.

I have added the Corbels and the flying shelf to your basket for you which you will just need to also check is correct.

Kind Regards
[name]

The result is my basket with a *previously confirmed* compromise solution is destroyed, and what's more, some units which were (and are! - acoording to the website) readily available in Conistone range suddenly became *no more available* to order, i.e. I have to redesign my layout, on which I worked for more than a week, accommodating further compromises plus uncertainty as to what unit(s) might become unavailable later on.

Thanks, but NO THANKS

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I do have all the correspondence and the necessary screenshots and printouts (in pdf format) to fully support this review.

ed110220

I'm having an awful time with diy-kitchens.com too with their delivery and they have reported my trustpilot review. Basically they gave me incorrect information about delivery resulting in me not being able to take the delivery, then offered a solution to the problem they created and are now blaming me because the solution they offered wasn't suitable (to them). Very unhelpful. Avoid unless you want a lot of stress.