Which Kitchen company to go with? B&Q, IKEA or DIY Kitchens

Waterlily24

Our kitchen has stainless steel doors on the low cabinets and black doors on the high cabinets - I think it looks good but a bit of a pain with finger marks etc. The top cabinets are glass. We didn't buy the worktops from Ikea though.

Drawingaline

I adore my ikea kitchen. Such good value for money. My dad and husband fitted it. Yes the lack of pipe void was frustrating, but we just kept the bacs of those completely. One was the under sink cupboard anyone a corner cupboard so you don't notice at all. I planned it all in store on my own with no issue.

All the units/worktops/shelves together cost around £1900. The electrical work and plastering cost the most money.

OhhEnnEmm

Definitely the latter, going with DIY Kitchens doesn't just cut the costs a lot. But you can buy a DIY kitchen and find your own trustworthy and cost-effective fitter if necessary.

These all in one packages can be practical at times, but a lot of the time things aren't run very smoothly, which is a bummer considering the whopping surcharge for the "convenience" of it...

Just my opinion, but I do love DIY...

Doozergirl

OhhEnnEmm wrote: »

Definitely the latter, going with DIY Kitchens doesn't just cut the costs a lot. But you can buy a DIY kitchen and find your own trustworthy and cost-effective fitter if necessary.

These all in one packages can be practical at times, but a lot of the time things aren't run very smoothly, which is a bummer considering the whopping surcharge for the "convenience" of it...

Just my opinion, but I do love DIY...

You can buy a kitchen from any of those places and fit it yourself or pay your own person to do it for you.

Rosa_Damascena

Doozergirl said:

If price is your main concern then Ikea is going to be the winner.

They are flatpack, but if you don't mind building a few carcasses ready for your fitter, you'll save a decent amount of money there.

I'd like your opinion on DIY Kitchens, Doozergirl?

Ikea - just don't like their styles, neither is B&Q for me. DIY Kitchens seems to have a good range of styles and colours and seem very reasonable. I originally thought that I would be going with Howdens but was most uninspired by the design offered and am wary of their pricing policy, quite like Magnet but again have a suspicion the price could be better. Wren is not for me, their kitchens look great but I have just heard too many horror stores about what happens (or doesn't) after you have paid for them.

ka7e

I had a DIY handleless kitchen fitted in December and I'm impressed how robust it all seems. I  have the Luca range in a bespoke colour. The 22m doors and drawers fronts are solid and I opted for soft-close hinges and solid drawer sides. The ordering process was simple once I'd mastered the online planner, and queries were dealt with within 24 hours  using their ticket system. My fitter broke a component to a corner carousel 5 days before Christmas, but I received a free replacement in the first week of January. Make sure you check out the delivery options as they are only offering 2 at the moment, £99 with a 2-day delivery window and £250 for a specified date. There are also restrictions on how far they will carry it into the premises. As the units are fully constructed, you have to have space for them to be stored before fitting.

Doozergirl

Rosa_Damascena said:

Doozergirl said:

If price is your main concern then Ikea is going to be the winner.

They are flatpack, but if you don't mind building a few carcasses ready for your fitter, you'll save a decent amount of money there.

I'd like your opinion on DIY Kitchens, Doozergirl?

Ikea - just don't like their styles, neither is B&Q for me. DIY Kitchens seems to have a good range of styles and colours and seem very reasonable. I originally thought that I would be going with Howdens but was most uninspired by the design offered and am wary of their pricing policy, quite like Magnet but again have a suspicion the price could be better. Wren is not for me, their kitchens look great but I have just heard too many horror stores about what happens (or doesn't) after you have paid for them.

I've visited the DIY Kitchens factory and feedback on here has always been good, however when I tried to purchase, I found it incredibly difficult.  I'm a seasoned kitchen purchaser and just wanted to clarify a few things but would have to wait two days for a reply to something, then I'd go to the bottom of the list again a wait another 2 days for a subsequent reply!  I took to using their quote and getting Howdens to match it.  

I hear during lockdown that Wren were about the only people getting kitchens out!  Lead tine was about 3 weeks.  

Just to get an Ikea delivery of anything was a 2 month wait a couple of weeks ago, and that was based on current stock levels, so if it wasn't in stock on the day of purchase, you'd not be getting it in 2 months either.  All good fun!   They still haven't refunded the £2,000 they owe me, don't answer the phone and ignore twitter even.  

Rosa_Damascena

Doozergirl said:

Rosa_Damascena said:

Doozergirl said:

If price is your main concern then Ikea is going to be the winner.

They are flatpack, but if you don't mind building a few carcasses ready for your fitter, you'll save a decent amount of money there.

I'd like your opinion on DIY Kitchens, Doozergirl?

Ikea - just don't like their styles, neither is B&Q for me. DIY Kitchens seems to have a good range of styles and colours and seem very reasonable. I originally thought that I would be going with Howdens but was most uninspired by the design offered and am wary of their pricing policy, quite like Magnet but again have a suspicion the price could be better. Wren is not for me, their kitchens look great but I have just heard too many horror stores about what happens (or doesn't) after you have paid for them.

I've visited the DIY Kitchens factory and feedback on here has always been good, however when I tried to purchase, I found it incredibly difficult.  I'm a seasoned kitchen purchaser and just wanted to clarify a few things but would have to wait two days for a reply to something, then I'd go to the bottom of the list again a wait another 2 days for a subsequent reply!  I took to using their quote and getting Howdens to match it.  

How recently was this? Was it during the last 5 months or pre-pandemic? (In which case I'd be more than a bit concerned). And did you let DIY Kitchens know they had lost the sale because of their poorly accessible CS? 

Janeyfs

I bought a DIY kitchen 18 months ago. I couldn't work out the planner(I'm hopeless with tech stuff) so drew what I wanted on a piece of paper and took it to the showroom. The design crew there sorted it out for me and I arranged my own fitter who said he really rated the quality of the units. I needed extra bits that I forgot the first time and these took 3 days to be delivered. I'm really pleased with the kitchen and would use them again. I found it hard to compare their pricing which seemed much cheaper initially than Wickes(on half price sale) but came out just slightly cheaper than them by the time it was done. Much better quality than Wickes I think, but alot more faff sorting design and fitting though. 

Doozergirl

Rosa_Damascena said:

Doozergirl said:

Rosa_Damascena said:

Doozergirl said:

If price is your main concern then Ikea is going to be the winner.

They are flatpack, but if you don't mind building a few carcasses ready for your fitter, you'll save a decent amount of money there.

I'd like your opinion on DIY Kitchens, Doozergirl?

Ikea - just don't like their styles, neither is B&Q for me. DIY Kitchens seems to have a good range of styles and colours and seem very reasonable. I originally thought that I would be going with Howdens but was most uninspired by the design offered and am wary of their pricing policy, quite like Magnet but again have a suspicion the price could be better. Wren is not for me, their kitchens look great but I have just heard too many horror stores about what happens (or doesn't) after you have paid for them.

I've visited the DIY Kitchens factory and feedback on here has always been good, however when I tried to purchase, I found it incredibly difficult.  I'm a seasoned kitchen purchaser and just wanted to clarify a few things but would have to wait two days for a reply to something, then I'd go to the bottom of the list again a wait another 2 days for a subsequent reply!  I took to using their quote and getting Howdens to match it.  

How recently was this? Was it during the last 5 months or pre-pandemic? (In which case I'd be more than a bit concerned). And did you let DIY Kitchens know they had lost the sale because of their poorly accessible CS? 

Very much pre-pandemic.  I didn't tell
them, it would have taken 2 days for a reply!    Ridiculous system to send everybody back to the end of the queue even if you're mid conversation.