New Kitchen and Bathroom time- any recommendations?

Youstolemyname

Youstolemyname

Youstolemyname

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As the title really. We are in the process of upgrading our kitchen and bathroom. Both will need building work as we hope to knock through a wall in both rooms to create bigger rooms.

We are looking around different shops at the minute and it's a minefield. Every kitchen place claims to be the best with the strongest carcasses, every bathroom place has the best double dipped chrome taps.

So I guess I am after any recommendations from folk who have used any chains or DIY stores/trade stores to get their kitchens and bathrooms done. Or, an alternative suggestion to purchasing from a chain/DIY store.

Neither of us have any interest in fitting it ourselves....
 
All of the big kitchen places will be overpriced by many thousands. Suddenly you'll then get a massive discount, then a special discount again, valid for today only. Just crap sales technique trying to force you to buy overpriced carcasses immediately:


E.g.
Initial quote: £19.5k.
With super discount: £9.5k
One day special super duper (DFS) sale: £8.5k.
DIY-Kitchens price & then fitting (+ better appliances ordered from AO and worktop locally): £7k.

Check out DIY-kitchens as they are highly regarded, come pre-assembled and are cheap in comparison to the mainstream sheds. Get some quotes from the big guys with their designs, then plug all those units into DIY-Kitchens and see how much the carcasses should really cost you.


From my research with the GF recently for her house:

Howdens
Do good enough free CAD/design work but they sell their kitchens at trade price to your fitter who then decides what discount you actually get after his cut of the discount. Get a trade account and get the 70%+ discount yourself to bring them back down to the realms of good value.

Wren
Some nice kitchens, units are good quality all with softclose. One of the company's who play the silly massive price discount game, appliances arn't great value for them, but if you can deal with the price jokes then haggle back some more, you can get a nice kitchen. A guy I work with will be installing his Wren one this weekend, so I'll see what he thinks when I'm back in the UK next week.

DIY Kitchens
Seem well regarded by people who use them on the web, prices are good and the website is great. A bit daunting at first, but have a good play around and you can get a really nice kitchen from here after you've had some designs done for you and you've put your own input in.

Note: Look to go for larger carcasses rather than 2 smaller ones (1200mm vs 2x600mm), as you get more space and they won't cost an awful lot more than a single 600.
 
We've just had our kitchen done, including some building work to knock through a new door and to brick up a window. Our recommendation is to find a small local independent, that has been in business for > 10 years, willing to project manage the whole job.

The fact that a small independent has been in business for a while suggests that they're pretty good at it; but check them out through testimonials and word of mouth!
 
Avoid Shaping Homes!

Attention all, who is in process of choosing a kitchen-fitting company, based in London. Don't use company called Shaping Homes! They have developed a certain strategy of fooling people: they send designer, then ask for substantial amount of money deposit, promising to refund in 5 days in case of cancellation, then... just keep promising refund, lie about electronic transfers and posted checks endlessly. Please share this message around, may be this will save people from fraudulent activity of this nasty liers.
 
Another recommendation for DIY Kitchens, ours was put in recently and the quality is really good. If you're not up for fitting it yourself you can probably find a local kitchen fitter who will help you order the right bits and obviously fit it all.

As for bathrooms, bath empire are very well priced. Again find a local fitter and discuss what you're planning to order, get it checked then they can do all the fitting.
 
Guzel said:
Attention all, who is in process of choosing a kitchen-fitting company, based in London. Don't use company called Shaping Homes! They have developed a certain strategy of fooling people: they send designer, then ask for substantial amount of money deposit, promising to refund in 5 days in case of cancellation, then... just keep promising refund, lie about electronic transfers and posted checks endlessly. Please share this message around, may be this will save people from fraudulent activity of this nasty liers.
Click to expand...


Seems legit
 
pattojones said:
Howdens kit is good quality for not very much money.
Click to expand...

In my opinion, Howdens kitchens are crap that they sell to builders.

Every single howdens unit I've seen has NEVER been square.

I have a Howdens kitchen....Never again.

Find a kitchen manufacturer.

What area do you live in?

I got a plan done by Howdens for my last renovation. £4k they wanted to supply only without the solid wood worktops (I have a trade account and it was at the time of a sale too)

A better Kitchen and utility supplied and fully fitted for £3k by a local indy manufacturer
With Sink, Taps and Dishwasher and solid wood worktop that was £400 on its own





 
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We had wren units with ikea wooden tops - the builder said they were both great to work with and from our point of view they were a good price, look great and very functional!
 
Love the look of that matty however...If you've got the oven door open don't you stand a good chance of damaging it with the kitchen door there? Seems kinda bad design to me!
 
100% DIY kitchens, i think the parent company is Ultima Furniture. I will be using them for every house i do. 18mm carcass and you can pay £80 to have them built and glued for you.

I had a quote from a few places, Wickes for example. £1,700 for worktops & units from their budget take away range then £1,700 to fit. Checked against DIY Kitchens and it came in at £1,800 with far superior cabinets and doors. I believe Wickes kitchens, the mega money ones they have on display when you go in are actually Ultima Furniture?
 
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Dis86 said:
Love the look of that matty however...If you've got the oven door open don't you stand a good chance of damaging it with the kitchen door there? Seems kinda bad design to me!
Click to expand...

Only if you leave the oven door open and try and walk into the utility.

But leaving an oven door open lets all the heat out.:D

Same could be said for almost any opening. If you leave it open the your likely to knock it off.

As for design. There wasn't anywhere else to put an oven as we didn't want to spec an under counter oven when we were targeting young families.
 
I am thinking of replacing the kitchen of the house we are buying (no change to layout) using DIY Kitchens

Would it just be a simple case of scoping out all the cabinet sizes and spacers etc to get the right pieces (and obviously finding a fitter)
 
I buy the carcass in and just make the face frames, doors and draw fronts. Whereabouts are you, might be able to point you in the right direction
 
Just fitted diy kitchen units in kitchen and utility having spent time shopping around. Trust me they are the best
best! One of the fitters who work for a wood fabricating company is ordering his through them now!!
 
I'd echo getting in some local places to quote.

I priced up diy kitchens but a local place came in under it fitted from the same manufacture. Plus I didn't have the hassle of effectively project managing it, just left the company do it all. So much easier. Mine was just before Christmas so got an awesome deal I'm guessing.
 
Howdens are meant to be good if you have an installer that gets a proper discount and is happy to pass it onto you.

DIY Kitchens get very good feedback.

We looked at the above and all the local sheds and ended up going with B&Q with a tradecard. Was very keenly priced and as for strength, well I plonked massive sheets of granite on top and it's still standing :) Other than the worktops we did all the fitting ourselves.

For built in appliances, VFM and warranty and I ended up with Ikea gear all round, 5 year warranties manufactured by whirlpool and bosch from what I remember and very competitive on price for what we wanted.

Still undecided on tiling the walls or not.

As for bathrooms I can't really offer any suggestions other than check your local screwfix for taps :)
 
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