New Kitchen

Jodun

I am looking to get a WHOLE NEW KITCHEN (excited!) in the next year, any advice at all? Not sure when we will be getting one, are the January sales good or will there be better sales later on in the year? Any advice on where to go? Want good quality that will last! :j

dreamypuma

Jodun wrote: »

I am looking to get a WHOLE NEW KITCHEN (excited!) in the next year, any advice at all? Not sure when we will be getting one, are the January sales good or will there be better sales later on in the year? Any advice on where to go? Want good quality that will last! :j

Hi Jodun. I'm getting mine in January too. I'm well excited as it's the last and probably the most expensive part of my house.

I can't tell you where to go as I'm thinking about using a local company. But there are a few things I have learnt during my quest.

Howdens Joinery - I think they used to manufacture the kitchens for MFI. Great Kitchens, but come pre built (unless your after the flat-pack range -I'm not keen on) Prices seem much cheaper than MFI, and you can Haggle them down. Only problem is that they won't sell to you direct, you need to be in the trade. They refused to even come out and offer a design until I had a joiner in place with an account.

I gave up on them, because it all seemed to much hassle, but well worth a visit.

18mm carcasses are the way to go, combined with soft close drawers and hinges. check the back panels on the cabinets, some seem very flimsy. Knock on them to check for movement. Check the bases of the drawers too, look for a nice thick drawer base.

I've heard that I need to avoid Moben like the plague. Unless I want a pushy sales man that doesn't listen to anything I want. Also I here there fitting is a bit dubious.

I've opted for a local business, who seem really friendly and are open to any suggestions I make. They seem good as the listen to what I want and ask me what I want rather than tell me. When I'm wrong they tell me the pros and cons and leave it to my judgement.

I'm usually quite weary of Sales on Kitchens. I mean if there really is 50% to knock off the price surely I could have haggled a similar percentage off out of sale anyway. I mean no one knowingly sells anything at a loss. So even at 50% discount they must be making something.

Check out the payment terms too. Be weary of any company that want too much up front. Why do they want it, are they worried about something?

The company I'm looking at want 10% up front then a further 30% on delivery of the Kitchen. Final payment is on completion.

A big plus for me is that they accept credit card. So I'm applying for the HSBC 12month 0% purchases Mastercard. This way I can make a bit of cash on my purchase. I'd also hope that this gives me some protection if anything goes wrong, ie: Section 75.

Also don't feel forced to buy appliances from the Kitchen company. I am providing all my own and they are fitting them. The company I am using wanted £290 for the cooker hood. I found exactly the same Baumatic hood on Pricerunner.com for £140. Have a Screwfix catalogue to hand. so you can check comparable prices for taps / sinks etc and so that the estimator gets the message. (Yeah Screwfix aren't always the best for price, but it looks as though you mean business)

I am however getting the kitchen company to fit a new mains board. Purely because they will have a sparky available and it saves me messing about with managing the sequence of events during installation.

Ensure that any company you use, issues you with the relevant certificates for gas and electrical installations. ie Corgi and NICEIC.

I hope you find the Kitchen you want and enjoy it.

Whits

As per the previous post, I would definitely advise 18mm carcasses.

MFI have a new range of kitchens out now which come with 12mm back panels and are very well designed.

Howdens used to be a part of the MFI group before MFI was sold last year. MFI has now sourced new stock from Italy and is using DHL to deliver, both of them using brand new purpose built warehouses.

I only say try MFI as my GF works for them and so I get told the differences between them and the competition.

No matter which company you go to, the relationship you have with your designer is key to getting what you want. At the end of the day, they are working for you so make sure they listen. If they don't listen, have some backbone and tell them you're not happy and will go somewhere else.

Good luck.