New kitchen: recommendations

trance

We want a new kitchen fitted.  The one we have is about 15 years old and was from Ikea.  We've been relatively happy with it, but it was a budget option and now we are willing to pay a bit more to get better quality.

So far, we've been to Howdens, who are coming out in 10 days to design the kitchen.  We designed the Ikea one and it was basically the same as the original kitchen, so we would like a fresh pair of eyes to see if it can be designed better. We know of a fitter with a Howdens account.

After that, we went to Wren - the cupboards seem to be decent quality. 
The salesman told us

• To go back when we have the Howdens design, and they will beat the price.

• That our own fitter will be a lot cheaper than theirs, so buy the Wren kitchen but use our own fitter.
• He also said that if we buy through Howdens, we buy through our tradesperson - and the tradesman is the one who has the guarantees - so if something goes wrong and the tradesman has left the country, or died, then we don't have the guarantee.  I'm not sure whether this is true or not?

The onto Magnet.  I had been led to believe that Magnet were top of the range, much better than the others, and I was prepared to fall in love with quality that I probably couldn't afford!  But they seemed the same quality as the others - in fact, the insides were identical to the Ikea ones we already have.

Salesman said that you pay extra for the quality of the fittings - Blum hinges, for example.

Reading a few old posts on here, Benchmarx have been recommended, so we'll go and see them in the week; and Wickes appear to be decent quality too.

The kitchen is a working kitchen, not one used lightly, so we need good solid quality that will last us 20 years or more if possible.

I've also read of DIY kitchens on here getting great reviews, but have been put off buying online after many issues a few years ago with a new bathroom that was bought online (we ended up with 6 damaged cabinets that we had to dispose of, and gave up in the end and accepted a sub-standard one.)


If you're a kitchen fitter, I'd love to hear your thoughts on who we should buy from, and why.

SootySweep1

Hi

Have a look at some of the independents around you to see what they can offer.

I actually found my kitchen through Ebay! We were having a lot of building work including a new kitchen and I had my heart set on a larder cupboard. So I was being nosy on Ebay & realised that there was a company local to me that built bespoke larder cupboards and I ended up buying my entire kitchen from them. Not the cheapest but not that much more than the likes of Wren etc etc but I got precisely what I wanted.

Jen

Green_hopeful

Quite a few kitchen places get terrible reviews, Wren, Wickes etc.

DIY kitchens are good because they are a fixed price so you can use their pricing as a benchmark against other companies.

We had a kitchen fitted for our aunt. We went with Benchmarx because that’s who our fitter liked. Sadly we had to cancel the units due to delivery issues during Covid. In the end we got the units from Howdens and everything else from Benchmarx. I found Benchmarx the easiest to deal with but Howdens were fine and price matched DIY Kitchens.  Howdens could order extra stuff pretty quickly and took the unused stuff back for a refund. 

So what we found was

Nearly all the kitchens were similar quality unless you go for some fancy handmade kitchen. 

Pricing varies a lot but most will price match.

See who your fitter likes because they will work better if they have a good relationship with the kitchen company. 

Read the reviews on Facebook. I think there are groups dedicated to reviewing specific companies. 

trance

SootySweep1 said:

Hi

Have a look at some of the independents around you to see what they can offer.

I actually found my kitchen through Ebay! We were having a lot of building work including a new kitchen and I had my heart set on a larder cupboard. So I was being nosy on Ebay & realised that there was a company local to me that built bespoke larder cupboards and I ended up buying my entire kitchen from them. Not the cheapest but not that much more than the likes of Wren etc etc but I got precisely what I wanted.

Jen

Thank you!

I've just researched local kitchen companies, and their gallery shots are all of massive kitchens, and they use the word "bespoke" a lot - so I translate that as "expensive"!

It might be worth giving them a call though, telling them our budget at the start so they can tell us straight away if they're out of our range - I don't want to waste their time, or ours!

Belenus

We had a Masterclass kitchen installed about 8 years ago and it is still in more or less perfect condition. It was supplied and fitted by Kingswell Kitchens in Waterlooville if you happen to be anywhere near Hampshire/West Sussex.

https://www.masterclasskitchens.co.uk/

See if you can find a local independent. They are often better and cheaper than nationals such as Wren.

The fitters are as important as the manufacturer so check out reviews etc.

trance

Green_hopeful said:

Quite a few kitchen places get terrible reviews, Wren, Wickes etc.

DIY kitchens are good because they are a fixed price so you can use their pricing as a benchmark against other companies.

We had a kitchen fitted for our aunt. We went with Benchmarx because that’s who our fitter liked. Sadly we had to cancel the units due to delivery issues during Covid. In the end we got the units from Howdens and everything else from Benchmarx. I found Benchmarx the easiest to deal with but Howdens were fine and price matched DIY Kitchens.  Howdens could order extra stuff pretty quickly and took the unused stuff back for a refund. 

So what we found was

Nearly all the kitchens were similar quality unless you go for some fancy handmade kitchen. 

Pricing varies a lot but most will price match.

See who your fitter likes because they will work better if they have a good relationship with the kitchen company. 

Read the reviews on Facebook. I think there are groups dedicated to reviewing specific companies. 

Thanks.  So I guess it comes down to which kitchen we like the best!  

And once we have the design from Howdens, input that into DIY kitchens designer, get a price and then go back to Howdens? 

Does the negotiation re price have to be done through the fitter, or direct with Howdens (I'm guessing that Benchmarx work the same?)  

Our fitter said Howdens, but I don't know if that's because he uses them for everything else.  I'm going to ask him if he has fitted any others and what he thinks of them.

I'd love a fancy handmade kitchen, but waiting until we win the lottery for that!  And I'll check Facebook - I never thought to do that!

trance

Belenus said:

We had a Masterclass kitchen installed about 8 years ago and it is still in more or less perfect condition. It was supplied and fitted by Kingswell Kitchens in Waterlooville if you happen to be anywhere near Hampshire/West Sussex.

https://www.masterclasskitchens.co.uk/

See if you can find a local independent. They are often better and cheaper than nationals such as Wren.

The fitters are as important as the manufacturer so check out reviews etc.

Thanks.  I always view local independents as more expensive, hence why I was sticking with the big brands.

The fitter we have in mind has done a lot of work for us over the last year, so we are comfortable using him, and he knows our house and all it's quirks (and ours!) well :-)

We're in Worcester so not close to Masterclass unfortunately.

trance

Belenus said:

We had a Masterclass kitchen installed about 8 years ago and it is still in more or less perfect condition. It was supplied and fitted by Kingswell Kitchens in Waterlooville if you happen to be anywhere near Hampshire/West Sussex.

https://www.masterclasskitchens.co.uk/

Just found we have some Masterclass fitters locally, so we'll check them out, thanks for the recommendation.

Green_hopeful

trance said:

Green_hopeful said:

Quite a few kitchen places get terrible reviews, Wren, Wickes etc.

DIY kitchens are good because they are a fixed price so you can use their pricing as a benchmark against other companies.

We had a kitchen fitted for our aunt. We went with Benchmarx because that’s who our fitter liked. Sadly we had to cancel the units due to delivery issues during Covid. In the end we got the units from Howdens and everything else from Benchmarx. I found Benchmarx the easiest to deal with but Howdens were fine and price matched DIY Kitchens.  Howdens could order extra stuff pretty quickly and took the unused stuff back for a refund. 

So what we found was

Nearly all the kitchens were similar quality unless you go for some fancy handmade kitchen. 

Pricing varies a lot but most will price match.

See who your fitter likes because they will work better if they have a good relationship with the kitchen company. 

Read the reviews on Facebook. I think there are groups dedicated to reviewing specific companies. 

Thanks.  So I guess it comes down to which kitchen we like the best!  

And once we have the design from Howdens, input that into DIY kitchens designer, get a price and then go back to Howdens?  Yes. I negotiated directly with Howdens but the order went through the fitters account. I just rang them up and said what I wanted and then told them what I wanted to pay. There is absolutely loads of flex with the prices on these things. 

Does the negotiation re price have to be done through the fitter, or direct with Howdens (I'm guessing that Benchmarx work the same?)  Benchmarx we just went into the shop. We found them nicer to deal with than Howdens. They were really careful with my 82 year old aunt who was a bit funny with making decisions. 

Our fitter said Howdens, but I don't know if that's because he uses them for everything else.  I'm going to ask him if he has fitted any others and what he thinks of them. Good idea. Howdens were better for sending missing stuff than DIY Kitchens so easier to deal with. Although there was an issue with a couple of the drawers. I actually got Howdens out to look and they didn’t have a skooby. In the end I got a different fitter out to fix the problem. 

I'd love a fancy handmade kitchen, but waiting until we win the lottery for that!  And I'll check Facebook - I never thought to do that!  I have had three handmade kitchens. Two were dupes for Smallbone kitchens. Smallbones were actually lovely when I rang them for a quote in 1998 and they said about £60,000 when my whole house cost £120,000 to build. They suggested we find a local joiner to build a similar kitchen. We paid about £10,000 for our copy. Our carpenter was fantastic and made it all from scratch. We had plywood carcasses which were sent out to be polished. 

Our current kitchen is rubbish off the shelf carcasses with hand painted doors. It’s 20 years old and the carcasses are showing their age although we had it repainted 5 years ago and the paint has really help up well. 

You might find people locally that can build something you like. Good luck. 

FreeBear

trance said:

• That our own fitter will be a lot cheaper than theirs, so buy the Wren kitchen but use our own fitter.
• He also said that if we buy through Howdens, we buy through our tradesperson - and the tradesman is the one who has the guarantees - so if something goes wrong and the tradesman has left the country, or died, then we don't have the guarantee.  I'm not sure whether this is true or not?

The onto Magnet.  I had been led to believe that Magnet were top of the range, much better than the others, and I was prepared to fall in love with quality that I probably couldn't afford!  But they seemed the same quality as the others - in fact, the insides were identical to the Ikea ones we already have.

Reading a few old posts on here, Benchmarx have been recommended, so we'll go and see them in the week; and Wickes appear to be decent quality too.

Wren are correct if your fitter purchases the units from Howdens, the guarantee remains with the fitter, so he would be responsible for any defects. If you purchase from Wren and use your own fitter, it gives Wren room to wriggle out of honouring any warranty (blaming poor fitting etc).

Magnet - I refuse to deal with them ever again. I had a quote from them and provided an email address to send renderings & prices over with the explicit instruction not to use it to send "marketing" emails. After a couple of weeks of getting marketing spam from them on an almost daily basis, I ended up going back in to their showroom and ripping a strip off the "salesman" in front of several customers (they were in the middle of doing quite a large design).

Wickes, like Benchmarx, are part of the Travis Perkins group. So anything Wickes supplies can also be sourced from Benchmarx.

Once you've done the big name suppliers, do have a look at some of the small local independents - I had one that was quoting quite a bit less for a utility room makeover than the likes of Howdens.

SootySweep1

trance said:

SootySweep1 said:

Hi

Have a look at some of the independents around you to see what they can offer.

I actually found my kitchen through Ebay! We were having a lot of building work including a new kitchen and I had my heart set on a larder cupboard. So I was being nosy on Ebay & realised that there was a company local to me that built bespoke larder cupboards and I ended up buying my entire kitchen from them. Not the cheapest but not that much more than the likes of Wren etc etc but I got precisely what I wanted.

Jen

Thank you!

I've just researched local kitchen companies, and their gallery shots are all of massive kitchens, and they use the word "bespoke" a lot - so I translate that as "expensive"!

It might be worth giving them a call though, telling them our budget at the start so they can tell us straight away if they're out of our range - I don't want to waste their time, or ours!

The company I used offered a range of options from the absolute top of the range bespoke kitchen where everything was made to measure through to more standard ranges. There's no harm having a look ! 

Jen