I think you can get diy kitchens for similar quality and there are similar price options.
IKEA is ok and not had issues in a flat I put one in circa 5 years ago, the stuff I had was all fairly budget tho (no pan drawers etc)
New Kitchen time.. feedback on Wren or others please :)
- Thread starter NickK
- Start date
IKEA is ok and not had issues in a flat I put one in circa 5 years ago, the stuff I had was all fairly budget tho (no pan drawers etc)
Soldato
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IKEA doesn't have a void at the back for pipework either iirc, which makes fitting potentially more awkward.
My fitter said IKEA was a nightmare. Can't remember exact reasons why, think it was to do with not being able to scribe the units in as they don't have gaps like you say.
I used Magnet in the new year sale offers a few years ago, really happy with it and was decent deal including all the appliances. In terms of kitchens they are all pretty much the same, its how good your fitter is tbh, would spend more time asking to see the fitters work rather than the kitchen units, After all its just a square box with a door on it.
More pics needed!! 
You're right on the fitter front, a decent one can make an middle of the road kitchen look very nice. Unit selection and planning is important also as kitchen 'designers' can vary massively.
I disagree on kitchens 'are all pretty much the same'. Possibly with most the high street Magnet/Wren/Howdens/Wickes etc, but for not an awful lot more you can get another huge step up in quality and finish if you step up to a decent German brand. A decent one will make the joiner's job far easier as every screw hole is pre-drilled in mm perfect location and everything is supplied ready to just put in place/level up and screw together with the supplied high quality fixings.
Love kitchen build threads, but need to pull my finger out and write up our one
You're right on the fitter front, a decent one can make an middle of the road kitchen look very nice. Unit selection and planning is important also as kitchen 'designers' can vary massively.
I disagree on kitchens 'are all pretty much the same'. Possibly with most the high street Magnet/Wren/Howdens/Wickes etc, but for not an awful lot more you can get another huge step up in quality and finish if you step up to a decent German brand. A decent one will make the joiner's job far easier as every screw hole is pre-drilled in mm perfect location and everything is supplied ready to just put in place/level up and screw together with the supplied high quality fixings.
Love kitchen build threads, but need to pull my finger out and write up our one
)Electrician was slooow.. but at least his apprentice has more experience. Also the electrician attempted to talk me into giving him money for the lights etc when his contract with the builder states lights+sockets.. only for the electrician to ask for a far larger deposit from the builder - sounds like the electrician is trying it on.
The plumber has virtually nothing todo but gas cert and soil pipe move for his share.
Thing is we’ve discussed this all ahead of time and had a BoM with certificates in the price to the builder.
The builder is a great/proactive guy - not your normal builder.
Ceiling plaster board up.. should have first plaster layers on today.
after today - sanding, paint and then finally the floor tiling.. before the final kitchen fitting which is now confirmed 7th.
The plumber has virtually nothing todo but gas cert and soil pipe move for his share.
Thing is we’ve discussed this all ahead of time and had a BoM with certificates in the price to the builder.
The builder is a great/proactive guy - not your normal builder.
Ceiling plaster board up.. should have first plaster layers on today.
after today - sanding, paint and then finally the floor tiling.. before the final kitchen fitting which is now confirmed 7th.
Builder here this morning to put next set of plaster on... on a saturday.
Two 'interesting' (read bitching) bits exist for our fit..
1. The soil stack comes down in about 30cm away from the back wall in the kitchen corner and then cuts 45deg in to the ground where base pipe sticks up 10cm or so - this causes a problem with the new cabinet in the area. We knew this at the point of design and it should be solvable now the room is bare. That corner has a magic cabinet where opening the door causes 1/2 the inside baskets to come out and the other 1/2 to slide along from deeper in the cabinet. We need 70mm in order to not cut the rear cabinet and stop it hitting the mechanism, and the 45 pipe join to be dropped down to stop it hitting from below (and the mechanism).
2. We have an 80mm 'luxury' laminate worktop which is a honeycomb construction to reduce weight. This may make it interesting to join with a mitre. Router + jig is the normal for worktops so it will be interesting to see how that works out! From what I read it makes it easier for the router too.
Two 'interesting' (read bitching) bits exist for our fit..
1. The soil stack comes down in about 30cm away from the back wall in the kitchen corner and then cuts 45deg in to the ground where base pipe sticks up 10cm or so - this causes a problem with the new cabinet in the area. We knew this at the point of design and it should be solvable now the room is bare. That corner has a magic cabinet where opening the door causes 1/2 the inside baskets to come out and the other 1/2 to slide along from deeper in the cabinet. We need 70mm in order to not cut the rear cabinet and stop it hitting the mechanism, and the 45 pipe join to be dropped down to stop it hitting from below (and the mechanism).
2. We have an 80mm 'luxury' laminate worktop which is a honeycomb construction to reduce weight. This may make it interesting to join with a mitre. Router + jig is the normal for worktops so it will be interesting to see how that works out! From what I read it makes it easier for the router too.
Will find out when it's delivered. However on the web (and the designer) mentions honeycomb but until it appears I can't confirm it.. should be here friday
Soil pipe now routed right.
Plaster sanded, defects sorted and undercoat applied.
Radiator removed temporarily.
Today sees - finalisation of painting, concrete board laid.
Issue we now have is that there is the stop **** is leaking so we need to switch off main house supply (bunged up with dirt) and then 20second job to replace the innards of the stopcock. Has to be done or or will drop water over floor being tiled.
Plan is a sequence of problems..
Plaster sanded, defects sorted and undercoat applied.
Radiator removed temporarily.
Today sees - finalisation of painting, concrete board laid.
Issue we now have is that there is the stop **** is leaking so we need to switch off main house supply (bunged up with dirt) and then 20second job to replace the innards of the stopcock. Has to be done or or will drop water over floor being tiled.
Plan is a sequence of problems..
We’re going to change the heating in the room.
Originally there were two rads - one single and one double, both 530mm square. So basically 1500btu and 2000btu which is fine for the kitchen (3700btu but dining room is recommended as 5000btu depending on heating from the cooking).
We’ll put in a single 1800x534 vertical double that can push out 6200 btu and fit a TRV valve to adjust the output.
This means downstairs is approx 13000 btu between living room and kitchen/dining room. Upstairs has probably the same in total but sits on trvs set low for sleeping comfort.
The boiler is a 32cdi with 24kw (81000 btu) max.
Originally there were two rads - one single and one double, both 530mm square. So basically 1500btu and 2000btu which is fine for the kitchen (3700btu but dining room is recommended as 5000btu depending on heating from the cooking).
We’ll put in a single 1800x534 vertical double that can push out 6200 btu and fit a TRV valve to adjust the output.
This means downstairs is approx 13000 btu between living room and kitchen/dining room. Upstairs has probably the same in total but sits on trvs set low for sleeping comfort.
The boiler is a 32cdi with 24kw (81000 btu) max.
Wren delivery driver + mate appeared this morning - all components appeared accounted for. Little concerned with the manhandling of from the truck on a couple of things. Hope the Bosch oven is ok as it was handled a little heavy. One of the units you could hear the mechanism bang as they moved it off the truck.
Ticked off 90% of the stuff whilst they were there. However they wouldn’t wait to check the last couple of items.
Meanwhile the builder is behind tiling - I know getting measurements is difficult (tiled flooring myself) but having a cold made it slow work for him.
I bought myself a GCL 2000 and the laser lines made the entire process far easier. Recommended for floor, wall and ceiling work
So the delay means we have to 1/2 tile the kitchen, install units to make space and then tile the other half after the kitchen is fitted.
Not entirely what we’d expected but a work around that works.
Ticked off 90% of the stuff whilst they were there. However they wouldn’t wait to check the last couple of items.
Meanwhile the builder is behind tiling - I know getting measurements is difficult (tiled flooring myself) but having a cold made it slow work for him.
I bought myself a GCL 2000 and the laser lines made the entire process far easier. Recommended for floor, wall and ceiling work
So the delay means we have to 1/2 tile the kitchen, install units to make space and then tile the other half after the kitchen is fitted.
Not entirely what we’d expected but a work around that works.
About 2/3 of the tiles down, enough to grout and unpack the most of the kitchen units. The other 1/3 is the dining area that is used as part storage. It's fun because the bulk of the packs reduces, you get more space back and the things looks closer to being finished.
The slow electrician has double booked their job with a job in Manchester. He accidentally texting the wrong job comments to the builder he was sub-contracting after telling him he had "personal emergency" ... and it appears the plumber also has exactly the same "personal emergency". Everyone not impressed with the work ethic of the electrician and plumber..
Impressed with the Infinity Plus units (same as infinity I suspect). Very solid and well put together so far (they come completely assembled except a few bits such as shelves or some interior cages on the sliding mechanisms. The entire set of units comes with a plastic wrap to keep them clean. The mechanisms are solid metal, including being framed in metal and not relying so much on the unit chipboard. The sides of the draws are frosted glass.
The units have about a 4cm gap behind for utilities, enough to get wiring or a 15mm gas line behind.
I've confirmed that the worktops are Egger units. So the top, bottom and edges are laminated chipboard but sandwich a honeycomb matrix which makes them lighter but far more difficult to join.
Oh.. the extractor fan duct is 150mm so coring will be fun.
The slow electrician has double booked their job with a job in Manchester. He accidentally texting the wrong job comments to the builder he was sub-contracting after telling him he had "personal emergency" ... and it appears the plumber also has exactly the same "personal emergency". Everyone not impressed with the work ethic of the electrician and plumber..
Impressed with the Infinity Plus units (same as infinity I suspect). Very solid and well put together so far (they come completely assembled except a few bits such as shelves or some interior cages on the sliding mechanisms. The entire set of units comes with a plastic wrap to keep them clean. The mechanisms are solid metal, including being framed in metal and not relying so much on the unit chipboard. The sides of the draws are frosted glass.
The units have about a 4cm gap behind for utilities, enough to get wiring or a 15mm gas line behind.
I've confirmed that the worktops are Egger units. So the top, bottom and edges are laminated chipboard but sandwich a honeycomb matrix which makes them lighter but far more difficult to join.
Oh.. the extractor fan duct is 150mm so coring will be fun.
So yesterday we had a massive session - electrician, plumber and unpacking etc.
We unwrapped all components last night and reviewed the state - a couple of bits of damage on corner/edge, photos sent to Wren.
We have lights - all the spots work, only the electrical sockets. oven and consumer box to go..
We have the water plumbing done - we only need the gas for the hob done.
The next issue we found is the Bosch cooker hood (DWB96DM50B) was supplied with a 200mm ducting kit. So the diamond bits over ~160 mm are really a no-go (specialist) and end up being a £200/hole. Looking at the bosch documentation the cooker hood is 150/120mm ducting. The airflow rates are 360m3 and 580m3.
Today has seen the rest of the tiling done.
We unwrapped all components last night and reviewed the state - a couple of bits of damage on corner/edge, photos sent to Wren.
We have lights - all the spots work, only the electrical sockets. oven and consumer box to go..
We have the water plumbing done - we only need the gas for the hob done.
The next issue we found is the Bosch cooker hood (DWB96DM50B) was supplied with a 200mm ducting kit. So the diamond bits over ~160 mm are really a no-go (specialist) and end up being a £200/hole. Looking at the bosch documentation the cooker hood is 150/120mm ducting. The airflow rates are 360m3 and 580m3.
Today has seen the rest of the tiling done.
Associate
- Joined
- 6 Sep 2017
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- 256
Any photos of the process?
Any photos of the process?
Oh yes - will make a better start to finish thread with photos.
The vertical rad (537x1800) at 43kg lucky the rad will sit on a block wall.