Wickes Kitchens any good?

Emmalou

Just had a kitchen designer draw up a design for my kitchen. Ouch, afraid the budget is not up to that (nearly 16K, cream gloss, admittedly with neff appliances and granite worktops).
So, I am now looking for something a bit cheaper. Anybody had Wickes kitchens and would you recommend them?
I'm looking at the Manhatten cream gloss or the Calgary, depending on whether I have wood (manhatten) or cream tiles (calgary) on the floor. And for anybody who may recognise me from a previous post, no, I still haven't made up my mind!!

want2bmortgage3

hi emmalou
my aunt got her kitchen from wickes, it was called shaftesbury and is solid ash. the quality is very good, so highly recommended if you can afford it.
i got a quote for a cheaper range called montana but it was still too much for me and i am going to order from homebase when the 10% day is on.
i have decided to get the monza gloss white kitchen, its good value and modern looking. i checked out howdens but unless i want a cheap looking kitchen its pretty expensive!
hope that helps

looby-loo_2

Hi
We had a Wickes kitchen in the summer. They always have offers on so wait till the design you want has an offer if you can. We got something like 40% off plus if you spent over £2000 you could choose a free washing machine or dishwasher. Ours came to £5200 so I jokingly asked if I could buy the wall units and hubby buy the base units. He said yes and then spent quite a while splitting the order so as to look like two kitchens.

I had a Bosch 1200 washing machine and can honestly say the Electrolux 1000 is better. And even better being free! The AEG dishwasher is just a bad as the Bosch so perhaps I should buy dishes to fit and give up the big fat Denby which is not designed for dishwashers:rolleyes:

We replaced good quality kitchen units fitted in 1987. The Wickes carcases don't feel so strong and durable as the old ones and I think a good knock with a tin of soup could dent or take the edge off the laminate. However, having estate agents round and visiting other properties too, I now realise that most are only meant to last 5 years before the details say 'kitchen in need of modernisation ........' so does it matter?

We chose oak doors and are really pleased with the fininsh, the hinges are excellent and also the drawer runners, soft closings and other extras eg pelmets, plinths. None of the finish can be faulted.

We were advised by the Wickes salesman to find a fitter ourselves as Wickes were very expensive (something silly like £2400 - can't quite remember) Suprisingly he knew a mate who would do it for £1000 and he did do an excellent job. We chose work surface from another shop, laminate, £480 (granite would have been £5000) Range cooker £1200 from Trade Appliances, viynal floor £400, ceramic sink from the sink.co.uk (special £185 - just looked it's £315 now!), tap £120, tiles £2 from car boot, 1200mm cookerhood £90 from ebay.
Oh, and an inergrated fridge for £2 from MFI using Tesco vouchers!

I still haven't added that up (please don't) but I think Wickes did a good deal and great quality for the price.

zebidee1

Welcome to my world emmalou. :rolleyes: Someone told me it was good fun picking a new kitchen! Huh, were they ever wrong! The stress levels in our house have been elevated for weeks now!

After looking at other kitchens, (some too dear/some too flimsy) we too are now looking at the Calgary from Wickes.

The only issue that's bothering me a bit with that kitchen is the way the drawer fronts are joined to the sides and bottom. They just seem to sit butted up against the drawer box rather than fitting together iyswim. Some of the other kitchens we looked at had grooves where the base slotted into the front and they seemed better. The Calgary drawers had a slight space between the drawer front and the rest of the drawer. Although, to be fair, I think the whole kitchen display instore was put together by a 'that'll do' type fitter and I think a better result could be had by taking more care.

After ignoring the Wickes quote for a couple of weeks, we've just had a letter offering us 2 yrs interest free credit so that's tempting me a bit more. We can keep the money stoozed and earn some interest from it. I don't know if this is a standard offer or not but it might be worth querying?

I'm also tempted by hearing that MFI price matched an Ikea quote. Ikea are very competitive price wise and there's an MFI kitchen I like so we might consider that too....but the VERY poor reputation MFI has is putting me off.

Good luck with your decision. I might still be making my mind up this time next year.:rolleyes:

bigdave77

zebidee1 wrote: »

I'm also tempted by hearing that MFI price matched an Ikea quote. Ikea are very competitive price wise and there's an MFI kitchen I like so we might consider that too....but the VERY poor reputation MFI has is putting me off.

I wouldn't be put off by MFI, admittedly I have only had one dealing with them when I bought a kitchen for my last house about 3 years ago but I will certainly be considering them again in the next few months when I will be buying a kitchen for my new house. I found their designer (sales person) very helpful as they gave me a few ideas which I'd not considered in terms of layout etc and I could take the drawings home (which is handy if you have a kitchen warehouse nearby and want to source your own units and worktops;))

I would not recommend the prices they quote for fitting which adds £££'s to your kitchen cost but have nothing bad to say about them really.

crazy7

I had one done by a local firm,but alot of my friends ones a time served joiner say Ikeas are really good quality, and at the right money they have planners on sight and they sat down with them for 1-1/2 hours and talked them through, not sure myself as i never fancy going there but there must me 3 or 4 different people in as many weeks mentioned them to me

Tricia_Mc

We have had an IKEA kitchen for over 10 years, we're happy with it, it has lasted well, we were also happy with the price. It was a fairly top of the range one (but still a good price, and none of that annoying haggling and discounting which always leaves you suspecting that you could have paid less), the only problem is that the doors and side panels are birch finish but the carcasses are white, so it is never going to look like a top class very expensive kitchen.
IKEA kitchens are deeper than standard, this gives you more cupboard and drawer space, and they have a great range of fittings available, especially the pull-out wire basket shelves which are strong enough to hold tins and jars. Drawers are good quality too. We got independent fitters.
Fitters don't like IKEA kitchens though, because all the wiring and plumbing needs to be run underneath the carcass, behind the fascia, rather than along the wall, behind the cupboard back, as is usual. Also, be prepared to make a couple of runs back to the store until you get exactly the right items to match your order.
We got their wood worktop (the cheaper thinner one) which looks great for the breakfast bar but is not suitable for heavily used food preparation areas or round the sink.

andrew-b

Wickes kitchens themselves are good..just don't use their subcontracted installers.

Andy

kymrob

anyone know about homebase kitchens? any good?

Emmalou

Ha Ha Zebidee 1, your post made me laugh. I've been looking forward to chosing a new kitchen for months, but now the time is here I am having a nightmare making up my mind. I thought that there couldn't possibly be a person as indecisive as me!
Thanks to all for your useful comments, anybody else with anything to add on Wickes kitchens?
I believe the interest free thing at Wickes expires on 14th Feb - no chance of me making up my mind by then!

hollydays

We ordered ours ( York)in the jan (40%? off sale) then negociated another 10% off that.Our order was about £2000 ish.We got him to draw up a plan (he didnt have much idea) but I knew what storage I wanted.This was just the units,we will order worktops,taps from ebay,ceramic sink from sinks-taps.com ,appliances all seperate.,using Hotukdeals and Pricerunner.To give an idea the cooker we wanted was £1500 with them-we got a bargain in the sales ,same one £850.Their taps seemed a bit flimsy,and their ceramic sinks not the best quality.A word of warning-our planner said i needed about 8 "worktop end support units" .They are about £70 each.These are the fancy grooved panels that go on the outside of units to make them look higher quality.He said we needed them either side of whhere the cooker,dishwasher etc slotted in.I checked with 2 other branches and they both said they were uneccesary in those positions!.We ordered and paid on the proviso they could hold that order at that price for 6 months in case our house sale fell through,with a full refund if so.To save £250 i also didnt have the carousel unit-I am going for all the other fitments from Ikea.