magnet kitchens

dander

I loved my Magnet kitchen in my old flat. I had it fitted by my own builders rather than the Magnet fitters. I was surprised at how reasonable the cost of the kitchen was compared to the diy sheds - with a half price sale at Magnet, there wasn't much in it (there's ALWAYS a half price sale at Magnet!)

However, the sale is usually just on the units/doors - things like pelmets and cornices aren't included and to my mind they are vital to make a kitchen look good. No point paying for Magnet quality and then leaving the details out to try and save money - it's a quick way to make your expensive kitchen look cheap.

However, I would never reccomend going with just what a "kitchen designer" in these places suggests - they have no idea about what you actually want and need. At least take the time to look through the brochure at the unit types and sizes and pinpoint what you would want in your perfect kitchen. If you're not confident about design, by all means let them figure out how to make it look nice, but only you can know what kind of storage works best for you.

CKdesigner

Hi All,

I have a customer that has had their kitchen designed by Magnet also, probably the St Albans branch. I think my 5 week old son would have done a better job of the design! There was no thought what so ever about the correct units to use, I wonder if they are given any trainning at all.

It is such a shame as if the customer had only gone there that's probably what they would have ended up with, a space that had been given no thought as to the processes that need to be thought of in a kitchen. It was the typical 'put some units against the wall and see what space was left at the end'.

It really doesn't matter how 'cheap' Magnet are because if its not designed properly its really not worth it.

nuttall_2

CKdesigner wrote: »

Hi,

I agree the FMB has its benefits. But and this is a big BUT - Going to a builder for a new kitchen? No its not right.

I am a kitchen designer within a kitchen specialist company that is owned by the other half and myself, so as an idependent kitchen specialist we would not build you an extension, because we are a kitchen company. So why go to a builder for a kitchen?

It is kind of typical of a builder to say 'We have accounts with Howdens and Magnet' With all due respect - so what! Mass produced average wooden boxes to store your stuff in. Go to a kitchen specialist for a kitchen that is individual to you.

We are builders but primarily designers. After 20 years experience of designing stainless steel and glass structures for major construction projects up to £8million in value.....I am not your typical brickie. Having worked closely with architects from design and conception through to construction (often 2-4 years in the planning) on large commercial projects I believe our credentials stack up against any kitchen shop. We design buildings, interiors, exteriors, lighting, orangeries, sash windows, complete new builds and then do the building work. Frankly, I pride myself on the designs that we produce because we don't just follow the latest trend as so many of the smaller kitchen boutique shops do. One of the biggest and flashiest kitchen firms with a fancy shop front in my town went bust a few months ago.

I would have thought there is probably room for both services, don't assume you know the type of work we get involved in is inferior in its' design content because if you did you would be very wrong!

Why go to a building firm to have a kitchen designed and installed? Because we do the whole lot, in house, same guys working every day of the week for us and, by the way, absolutely nothing wrong with Howdens or Magnet quality. We don't do image, keeping up with the Jones's, just well designed, tasteful, functional schemes that won't look dated in 5 years time.

Every job we do is individual to our customer, tailor made to suit their budget, lifestyle, requirements and, recently, special needs. We usually have at least 6 meetings with our client before the specification for the whole project is finalised.

Yes, the designers at Magnet may chuck wall units around like confetti, hence we always do our own designs and they would only perform the supply function, so I agree with you that they aren't the best designers in the world! If we don't do the job right you have recourse via the FMB. I mentioned the accounts with Howdens & Magnet to illustrate the comeback we have on them is so much greater than a retail customer has who has paid up front. They aren't our only suppliers!

premkit

victormel wrote: »

Magnet are ok kitchens but my advice would be go with howdens but the main thing is to find a top notch fitter, Its all to do with who is fitting the kitchen.

thats the best advise on this thread. if you buy the best kitchen there is then you will want the best fitter to fit it. 10k- 5k kitchen is a lot of money totake a chance on a builder or a mate from the pub.

CKdesigner

nuttall wrote: »

We are builders but primarily designers. After 20 years experience of designing stainless steel and glass structures for major construction projects up to £8million in value.....I am not your typical brickie. Having worked closely with architects from design and conception through to construction (often 2-4 years in the planning) on large commercial projects I believe our credentials stack up against any kitchen shop. We design buildings, interiors, exteriors, lighting, orangeries, sash windows, complete new builds and then do the building work. Frankly, I pride myself on the designs that we produce because we don't just follow the latest trend as so many of the smaller kitchen boutique shops do. One of the biggest and flashiest kitchen firms with a fancy shop front in my town went bust a few months ago.

I would have thought there is probably room for both services, don't assume you know the type of work we get involved in is inferior in its' design content because if you did you would be very wrong!

Why go to a building firm to have a kitchen designed and installed? Because we do the whole lot, in house, same guys working every day of the week for us and, by the way, absolutely nothing wrong with Howdens or Magnet quality. We don't do image, keeping up with the Jones's, just well designed, tasteful, functional schemes that won't look dated in 5 years time.

Every job we do is individual to our customer, tailor made to suit their budget, lifestyle, requirements and, recently, special needs. We usually have at least 6 meetings with our client before the specification for the whole project is finalised.

Yes, the designers at Magnet may chuck wall units around like confetti, hence we always do our own designs and they would only perform the supply function, so I agree with you that they aren't the best designers in the world! If we don't do the job right you have recourse via the FMB. I mentioned the accounts with Howdens & Magnet to illustrate the comeback we have on them is so much greater than a retail customer has who has paid up front. They aren't our only suppliers!

Hi

I think we will have to agree to differ on this one.

You mention all the diverse design and build jobs you have done. That was exactly my previous point. We have electricians, plumbers, carpenters, tilers etc. We could build a customer a whole house but we don't. That is because we specialise in kitchens (we do the whole job as well) because when done properly that is more than enough to do, after all the kitchen is the most important room in the house!

If you truly knew about kitchens, I mean properly know about quality kitchens then you would know that Howdens and Magnet are low end and poor quality products, with no individuality at all because all they can offer is around 30 door styles each. For instance every kitchen I design is completely individual and that is helped because we offer an infinite number of door styles, no limit to colour or material. We have no standard sizes as everything is completely made to measure so if we need a unit 1135 mm wide then that is what we make.

Talking about previous projects - I have also worked on multi million pound projects, built by the likes of Charles Church, million pound plus apartments looking over the Thames. Charles Church use contract kitchen specialists to design, supply and fit kitchens, basically because they know that is the right thing to do!

Good luck with what you do.

Let_Down_2

My husband and I after much research picked Kutchenhaus in Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands to design (Jay Mason) and install our kitchen.
In July 2010 the items were delivered, the following day the fitters arrived and confirmed that the sink and tap had not been delivered and the countertop had been measured incorrectly by the fitters who had done the survey.
They left our old sink in and fitted the countertop which left a gap of 2 inches where we prepare the food, so lots of food has slipped down the gap which we couldn't reach to clean up. 2 drawers, the fridge/freezer cabinet, and a corner unit were all damaged, we are not sure if this was in Germany or by the fitters.
We are unable to open the microwave door fully as it buts against the boiler cabinet. We had to ask the fitters to lower all the cabinets as I could not reach the second shelf, at 5ft 1 I'm small and the designer did not take this into account even though he met me at the showroom, the cabinets were fitted so high the bottom of the boiler stuck out of the bottom.
We had planned to keep a small bin under the sink but the fitters were unable to correct the water pressure when they moved the water meter, so now we are stuck with a bin in front of the back door, god help us if we have a fire and have to get out that way.
That was July, it's now Oct and since then we have made probably around a hundred calls to Jay Mason the designer, Matt Ashby the installations manager based in Manchester and Alison Elston in customer services trying to sort this out.
We finally had the countertop, tap and sink delivered last weekend, we got up early for the fitters booked by Matt on the Saturday and no-one turned up, we called them on Sats and was told it would be Sunday. Finally at 10 am Sunday the fitters turned up, without the promised new microwave, they fixed the damaged doors and left without fitting the countertop as their tool broke.
This weekend some new fitters turned up, fitted the countertop and sink and tap. Low and behold the microwave is still no where to be found. Before they left we tested the tap and the water came out in a trickle, we had been sent a high pressure tap for a low pressure system.
　
The customer service levels of this company is nil, no-one wants to own up to the many many mistakes that have occurred. No-one at any time has come out to talk to us in person or to apologise. No compensation for having a half fitted kitchen for 3 months is likely, they refer their customer compliants to an ombudsmun!
　
Whatever you do, do not get your kitchen from this company!
If anyone has any suggestions as to what we can do about how we have been treated I would welcome your feedback.