Recommendations for where to buy my new kitchen

Butterfliesarepretty

If you want a free-standing kitchen try the varde units from Ikea. I built mine myself and the quality is fab.

lisap4123

I got quotes for a new kitchen from DFS. It was I think £3000
In the january sales there was a great DFS offer on the same kitchen advertised in the daily mail (maple cupboards, black marble effect work surfaces) for £999 including the inbuilt electric oven and gas hob.
I called to buy the kitchen and the sales staff on the phone were trying to talk me out of having it saying it wouldnt be suitable for general use as it was a cheap kitchen and tried to talk me into upgrading to a more expensive one. I wouldnt be talked out of it and had in the end to insist on them placing my order for the kitchen.
It arrived and was fine and 3 years later is still looking pretty good and the oven still works fine too ! Best of all it was a steal at less than £1000.
The january sales are only round the corner - keep an eye open in the press for offers

triton_2

For the amount of money ur looking at spending Wickes and Howdens are the best

I have checked the quality of all the big boys and builders merchants as i send customers to them who can't afford our bespoke products

Howdens do flat pack and rigid (they have a few discontinued that are a steal) People always think they are trade as they proport to be just tell them ur a devolper and watch them pass on all the discounts etc.
Wickes flat pack only ( there sale starts tomorrow I imagine upto 50% off) these are probably the best units i have come across by the main market sellers (b@q not as good, mfi and magnet skanking !!!!!!!s who play with margins, homebase hmmmm)

The biggest one is to make sure the designer knows there stuff, I have a friend who has just started for one of the big boys (thats a loose term) one of the best designers i know but i'm sure he's suffering as he has to refer to pricelists for customers. Don't be put off by this aslong as they can tell you:

Some questions to ask

Cabinet thickness including backs all carcases should be 18mm for the best, backs can vary but accept no less than 15mm on the back panel the sides must be 18mm if its ur own kitchen so ask the thickness

Soft close are they gas hinge (wickes do unsure of howdens but they must be now) or buffers little grey or chrome plugs mounted next to the door (not as good). Is this an optional extra or included as standard (they can cost quite a bit)

If ordering a solid wood kitchen are the plinths cornice pelmets veneers or mfc (must be veneers or will stand out like a sore thumb in a year)

in corner cupboards storage options carousel or magic corner (obviously it depends on your budget) Carousels are round and go into a square, magic corners are square and go into a square. As you can imagine carousels IMO are a waste of time a magic corner utilises all the space but is a little bit more. If you can't afford the magic don't have anything the things i find is carousels allow pans to drop over the side and jam the mechanism and also don't utilise the space properly (waste of time)

If your designer trys to push you on any of these they are a liar or not good at there job IMO

And finally alot of peeps seem to know this but if doing laminate worksurface the best surface imo and i sell granite, composite, marble and limestone (disclaimer must be signed on marble and limestone this stuff is real s**t)) wood, corian, glass concrete and pure quartz (the best lookin but effing expensive). Avoid and avoid Gloss laminate its like stainless steel looks good for aweek then full of scratches. matt laminate looks cheap but they nopw do etched (axiom laminates are the best) costa bit more but well worth it

My rant

triton_2

For the amount of money ur looking at spending Wickes and Howdens are the best

I have checked the quality of all the big boys and builders merchants as i send customers to them who can't afford our bespoke products

Howdens do flat pack and rigid (they have a few discontinued that are a steal) People always think they are trade as they proport to be just tell them ur a devolper and watch them pass on all the discounts etc.
Wickes flat pack only ( there sale starts tomorrow I imagine upto 50% off) these are probably the best units i have come across by the main market sellers (b@q not as good, mfi and magnet skanking !!!!!!!s who play with margins, homebase hmmmm)

The biggest one is to make sure the designer knows there stuff, I have a friend who has just started for one of the big boys (thats a loose term) one of the best designers i know but i'm sure he's suffering as he has to refer to pricelists for customers. Don't be put off by this aslong as they can tell you:

Some questions to ask

Cabinet thickness including backs all carcases should be 18mm for the best, backs can vary but accept no less than 15mm on the back panel the sides must be 18mm if its ur own kitchen so ask the thickness

Soft close are they gas hinge (wickes do unsure of howdens but they must be now) or buffers little grey or chrome plugs mounted next to the door (not as good). Is this an optional extra or included as standard (they can cost quite a bit)

If ordering a solid wood kitchen are the plinths cornice pelmets veneers or mfc (must be veneers or will stand out like a sore thumb in a year)

in corner cupboards storage options carousel or magic corner (obviously it depends on your budget) Carousels are round and go into a square, magic corners are square and go into a square. As you can imagine carousels IMO are a waste of time a magic corner utilises all the space but is a little bit more. If you can't afford the magic don't have anything the things i find is carousels allow pans to drop over the side and jam the mechanism and also don't utilise the space properly (waste of time)

If your designer trys to push you on any of these they are a liar or not good at there job IMO

And finally alot of peeps seem to know this but if doing laminate worksurface (the best imo and i sell granite, composite, marble and limestone (disclaimer must be signed) wood, corian, glass concrete and pure quartz (the best lookin but effing expensive). Avoid and avoid Gloss laminate its like stainless steel looks good for aweek then full of scratches. matt laminate looks cheap but they nopw do etched (axiom laminates are the best) costa bit more but well worth it

My rant

vansboy

Ikea.

Download the FREE planner from their site, bit fidly at first, but works really well.

We'll be ordering our 3rd kitchen from them really soon, no problems, good quality & lonnnnnng guarantee on the units, easy to build & all the bits arrived!

VB

shona_2

vansboy wrote: »

Ikea.

yup - I'd agree

We just fitted our own and it's great!

I would say you need a certain amount of tools and skill though to do it yourself...

Kaz2904

B&Q do some good deals if you can get a 1/2 price or 70% off kitchen.
I agree with the pp who said not to get a carousel. I have one and from the second it was fitted I wanted DH to put the shelf in. Such a waste of space.
Don't get a gloss work top.
Spend the money on tiles to finish the look.

becs

IKEA DEFINATELY!!!!!!

We've just done ours in ulriksdal oak units and it looks fantastic! Their units are now guaranteed for 25 years so can't argue with quality. My husband and I are relative novices at diy but with help from the father in law we managed to fit this ourselves. I built the units and they are so easy to put together! Everybody thinks it looks fantastic and an awful lot more money than it was! The planner that you download online is fantastic. Yes it's a bit tedious drawing out the room initially but once that's done you can play until your hearts content with all sorts of design layouts. The plus side of this aswell is you can see it in 3d and it prices it for you!
The only thing I would say can be a drawback is the units don't have space behind them for pipes etc but this can be overcome easily by either building the units slightly off the wall (alot easier in some respects than dealing with walls that are never straight!) and order deeper worktops or run pipes etc under the units if you're having plinths or worst case scenario inside the units themselves. We've built one run off the wall because I wanted an extra deep worktop anyway and another run where we have the dishwasher and washing machine either side of the sink. This wasn't a problem as these are flexi hose connections so we have just drilled holes from either side out to the appliances.
All in all I couldn't recommend them highly enough!

salbot

Thanks for all the advice,

Now, just need to make a decision, I am based in the North and I don't think Bench Marx Joinery deal with us up North so going to try Wickes, B & Q and Ikea.

Had the man from Howdens out last weekend, wasn't very impressed at all. Don't think I am going to go with them, he looked like he didn't even care!

Have just found out I need to repair my sash window so may only be able to buy half a kitchen...............

Salbot

hairydog

becs wrote: »

... are now guaranteed for 25 years so can't argue with quality...

Huh!

In 2001 I bought two office chairs from Ikea. They were £175 each, so we're not talking cheap and nasty here.

By 2005, one of the chairs' seat cushion cloth cover had worn through. The other one was fine, despite getting the same amount of use.

Last year (2006) I was in Ikea and I asked whether they could supply me with a replacement seat cushion. Seems not, but the very helpful chap said that the chair had come with a 10 year guarantee, so they would replace it. He rummaged around and found the catalogue with it in, and sure enough, there was the 10 year guarantee in black and white.

So the next week, I found the original receipt, squeezed the chair into the car, drove to Ikea once more, and queued for well over half an hour in the queue for returns.

When I get to the front, I'm told that there was only a 3 year guarantee. I told them what had happened the previous week, and they simply refused to believe me.

I don't like being told I'm a liar, particularly when it is combined with someone swindling me.

If IKEA says there is a guarantee, remember to keep clear documentary evidence of that, because you very definitely cannot trust them to stick to their word. And you can't depend on the quality of their products

If I were you, I'd buy elsewhere.

Iain