Spec me a kitchen

Merlin5

Merlin5

Merlin5

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Finchley, London
I'm really torn between ultra modern all black, or more warm birch colours with some black. Just can't decide on darker or lighter colours. :(

I took these pics while at Ikea yesterday. Which do you prefer? :) They're not necessarily the kitchens I'll go for, more of a guide for how they look in those colours. I'm still going to go to places like howdens, benchmark and wickes. I've got all the measurements I need on different elevations and need about 9 units. The black kitchens will likely show up fingermarks as you can see on the matt black ones, although there's many people's fingers on there, so they wouldn't get as marked at home. But then light coloured wood can get grubby too. I like the sparkle black work surface. Maybe If I had a black kitchen but some wood coloured work surfaces?I like the opaque glass in the birch cupboards, but then do I really want to see my baked bean cans. I do like the sliver handles on the matt black kitchen.

Birch and black

http://i.imgur.com/VcVLO.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/a7j9v.jpg


High Gloss Black

http://i.imgur.com/ikO16.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/zSc34.jpg


Matt Black wood

http://i.imgur.com/ulLs1.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/rih7l.jpg
 
I have this conversation with a lot of clients in work (im a kitchen designer) and the consensus is that black (especially high gloss) will date much quicker than most other finishes.

You also need to consider how much light your kitchen is going to have. Is the room bright does it have nice big windows? If not then all black my feel a little oppresive and really draw the room in.

The black high gloss looks lovely in the showroom but in reality it is quite a bit of effort to keep it looking shiny as it will show every mark and fingerprint. Having said that I have seen some stunning black kitchens.

Also consider if you are going to be selling anytime soon? Black can and does put people off as it is a bit of a marmite colour for a kitchen. If you are planning on moving in say the next 5 years or so I would play it safer and go with a more clasic style in wood.

My preference is for black worktops (not gloss mind) with lighter coloured worktops. Makes for a cleaner feel IMO. If you want to add a bit of a feature with black look at using the worktop for decorative ends and run them right down to the floor.

IIRC Howdens are in the middle of their big yearly sale period so woudl be worth a look. Im not a fan of the IKEA kitchens as they are odd sized units and there are no service gaps for utilities so these need to be run through the cupboards which doesnt look great.

Happy to answer any questions you might have.

/Salsa
 
I assume your married? A woman is an integral part of a Kitchen, not having one is kinda like browsing for a car without a driving license.
 
Salsa said:
I have this conversation with a lot of clients in work (im a kitchen designer) and the consensus is that black (especially high gloss) will date much quicker than most other finishes.

You also need to consider how much light your kitchen is going to have. Is the room bright does it have nice big windows? If not then all black my feel a little oppresive and really draw the room in.

The black high gloss looks lovely in the showroom but in reality it is quite a bit of effort to keep it looking shiny as it will show every mark and fingerprint. Having said that I have seen some stunning black kitchens.

Also consider if you are going to be selling anytime soon? Black can and does put people off as it is a bit of a marmite colour for a kitchen. If you are planning on moving in say the next 5 years or so I would play it safer and go with a more clasic style in wood.

My preference is for black worktops (not gloss mind) with lighter coloured worktops. Makes for a cleaner feel IMO. If you want to add a bit of a feature with black look at using the worktop for decorative ends and run them right down to the floor.

IIRC Howdens are in the middle of their big yearly sale period so woudl be worth a look. Im not a fan of the IKEA kitchens as they are odd sized units and there are no service gaps for utilities so these need to be run through the cupboards which doesnt look great.

Happy to answer any questions you might have.

/Salsa
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Pretty handy that you being a kitchen designer. :) Some very good points you made. Yes, lots of windows in a 16 foot by about 10 foot kitchen. Putting me off black kitchens is both good and bad. Bad because I love the look of them, but good because, yes, I might regret it and I'm almost looking for an excuse not to be tempted any further. :p I've already popped down to howdens but they won't give me any prices without my builders account details, since they're trade only, so we'll pop down there soon. If they're on their sales, I wonder if they do trade discount on sale prices. Probably not but I can hope! I'm not sure I totally agree with you about black finishes dating quicker. My mum's kitchen is black Hygena from many many years ago with square silver handles. She's currently about to sell her place and an estate agent was very impressed with the kitchen. To my mind, simple colours are timeless, whereas patterned designs which are fashionable for a while would date quicker. But you're the expert whereas this is just my opinion.
 
Merlin5 said:
I've already popped down to howdens but they won't give me any prices without my builders account details, since they're trade only, so we'll pop down there soon. If they're on their sales, I wonder if they do trade discount on sale prices. Probably not but I can hope!
Click to expand...

You'll get anywhere between 70 & 85% off rrp depending on the account any builder has, if it's their end of year then you'll get a good deal but don't hang around if you miss it by a day the prices go back up, Howdens are independent of each other, get a full list and send it to 3-4 of you local Howdens and get them to beat each other.

My chippy thinks Howdens quality has gone down or just not kept up with Magnet, try Magnet, same again you'll get 70% off rrp.

Don't buy appliances from Howdens or Magnet except any inbuilt fridge freezer as the doors will be a pain to line up, I didn't and now regret it as yes it works but looks odd when you open.
 
Sorry for butting in but I'm in the middle of sorting a kitchen and am stuck on worktops.

I want to have rounded units but have hit a snag with the worktops, I am told that in laminate only Durapool are able to provide a neat factory edge with others relying on iron on edges which will look tatty, however Durapool seems mega expensive for laminate.....true?

Also what's best value on stone worktops, corian,simstone , granite etc, the durapool works out over £2,000 so to my mind a bit more on stone might be worth it
 
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I wanted to avoid wood as I am lazy and don't want maintenance.

No idea on the concrete will look into that, cheers
 
maccapacca said:
............

Don't buy appliances from Howdens or Magnet except any inbuilt fridge freezer as the doors will be a pain to line up, I didn't and now regret it as yes it works but looks odd when you open.
Click to expand...

Don't buy an integrated fridge freezer either, they use some of the cheapest appliances going.
 
If anyone (in south England) are interested in Corian, then let me know. My family run one of biggest manufacturing and installation of Corian.

Depending on situation may be able to help with getting discount, but cannot undercut if you are using a Kitchen supplier we deal with.

Hope this isn't considered advertising, as at very least I can offer any advice or answer questions about it :). I basically grew up on Corian dust.
 
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