Wickes Kitchens any good?

cdjoa

Now there's a piece of educated input!! Thanks by the way. Mong...hmmm...

Anyway, you're right about the Kelmscott kitchen - it's far above any of the other ranges we have at the store. It was introduced as an experiment, as they knew it was gonna be more expensive than the rest of the kitchens we sell. But over the past few years the average price of an MFI kitchen has risen significantly, taking us out of the Homebase/B&Q bracket. The quality of the doors/frames is excellent, therefore it's one of our best selling kitchens!

You'll find that the amount of discount on the Kelmscott kitchen can be a lot more than on the Space range, as there is a massive margin on the Kelmscott, whereas there isn't anywhere near as much leeway on the Space ranges. One other thing to consider (you're probably doing this anyway-) is if you're going for branded appliances, purchase them over the net. Not only will it be cheaper, but when we sell appliances with the kitchen it drastically reduced the amount of additional discount we can apply because the margin is poor on the appliances.

Delivery - It's very rare that absolutely everything will get delivered first time without so much as a scratch, so make sure as part of the deal you either get the store's Ex-directory number (you'll get answered by the manager) or the sales person's mobile number. If you realise there are any bits missing you can call them directly, and the manager will arrange a courier to get the stock to you in 2-3 days from the delivery centre, rather than waiting 10 days. Just don't book your fitter in for the very next day after delivery, it's just not practical.

Hope that helps!

hollydays

amsure many people will thank you for these posts cdjoa-very helpful

Doozergirl

Thanks very much cdjoa, lots of interesting information there! Our salesperson had mentioned that if we did decide to buy appliances from them (you're right, I buy from the net most often) then to buy them in a seperate order because of the margins

^opm^

Hi cdjoa, may i ask you a quesion please?

I know most folk it seems say how bad MFI's customer service is and from what i read of your posts u agree-but am i right in saying that altho the customer service side is poor the actual kitchens are of a good quality?

Just that im after a new kitchen and just getting quotes done now etc so im eagerly reading your posts on here.

oh btw-what branch of MFI do you work at? pm me answer if you like as you may be local to me, if so i want an appointment with you so you can design me a kitchen.:D

cdjoa

That's right. I've tried not to 'big-up' the quality of the MFi kitchens too much on here, as I don't want to give the impression that i'm on here to try and sell them!! But in October last year we were taken over (yes, for a pound as we had outstanding debts) and it was a complete overhaul. They stripped the company down on paper and analysed every stage of the process, from the salespeople and managers (yup, they've still not cracked that one), to the product and delivery service. The board of directors, Merchant Equity Partners, sacked 16 sales managers within the first 4 months, as they simply weren't good enough! One got sacked on the spot for opening the store 5 minutes late!

Anyway, they changed the supllier of the carcases/draw packs/ hinges to a receive them from an American company. The reason being that this carcase was the best they could find, and at a reasonable price. 18mm thick, 12mm back panel, and more importantly the quality and ease of construction is top notch - hence fitters love them as it reduces installation time. I mentioned earlier that a few of our fitters also work for Magnet, whose product line is a lot more expensive, and they reliably inform us that it's a far superior carcase.

The quality of the doors is range-specific however. Our 'Space' range are our best sellers. You will find that on this range the end panels are expensive. As they are 28mm thick, but also give that look of quality. The doors are wrapped all the way around, so there are no edges that can be caught on, for example, clothing. Plus the gloss laminate is actually very tough. One word of advice though - if you have a dog with sharp claws, please don't go for Space black! They would take the top (clear) layer of the door's laminate off, hence exposing it and making it vulnerable when the light catches it.

(Leicester, by the way. But if you're not near, then we have a list of the top 300 consultants in the country, so i'll be happy to give you a name to ask for at another store).

Jon

Chief1975

cdjoa wrote: »

Now there's a piece of educated input!! Thanks by the way. Mong...hmmm...

The "educated input" part was concerning MFI's high failure rate of delivering kitchen orders in full on time. The mong part was just personal observation!

We booked a appointment with our local MFI to go through options on kitchens last November (bearing in mind it was a mid week appointment so they weren't exactly busy anyway), turned up with some idea's on paper with measurements etc, the guy didn't want to know, told us we would have to leave it with him & he would call us back in a few days. Did we get a call back, did we ar£e, hence we went to Wickes who have been excellent through out.

^opm^

Hi cdjoa - sorry im about 35 mile from leicester-my local store is stafford so if you can let me have a name of a top consultant for there please -i'd be much obliged :A.

The Kelscott oak range looks nice but i think a tad out of my price range from a qick look-i'd like a nice solid oak one but a chepaer version tho-which would you recommend? if i may ask.

Doozergirl

^opm^ wrote: »

Hi cdjoa - sorry im about 35 mile from leicester-my local store is stafford so if you can let me have a name of a top consultant for there please -i'd be much obliged :A.

The Kelscott oak range looks nice but i think a tad out of my price range from a qick look-i'd like a nice solid oak one but a chepaer version tho-which would you recommend? if i may ask.

The Malton Oak is nice. The units are white inside now though because they changed it to a Hygena - better for your budget though. I posted a pic of my current kitchen on this board somewhere in a conversation about granite

neilios

Try http://www.fitted-kitchens-uk.com/acatalog/KITCHENDK.html
and http://www.pjhdistribution.com/ for your white goods ,we are just finishing our kitchen and choose the gloss latte and gorenje applainces ,all the kitchens are very ,very impressive in real life ,ours just come in at under £10000 including sparks ,floortiling and kit fit.

We had an mfi kitchen before ,yes it was okay but these kitchens are lovely.

If we had the room the shaker winchester oak is very nice indeed.

I think the units came in at around £3500.


:T

cdjoa

I'll have a quick look for any useful people in Stafford for you, and let you know tomorrow.

Malton Oak is the only other shaker style solid oak door, and as it is a hygena now, the price is more favourable than when it was a schreiber. Think it's worth having white insides for the cost saving. Other option is Tazzetta - new range that looks a little like Kelmscott, but isn't a solid oak door. Good price, and blockwood interior for the carcases. Not sure about the handles though, but they can be changed.

Oh, and Chief, you reckon they should open up a permanent mystery shopper job for me? Whereby I could have the ability to sack people on the spot? That would be great!!

Sorry this post is a bit confusing as i'm answering three people. Aslong as we're all reading every post!

Jon