Anyone had a new kitchen lately?

[BoosMaw]

I don't know where to start, could use some inspiration. Please tell me, where did you buy your kitchen, are you pleased with it, what in retrospect do you like and dislike, anything you would do differently? etc.

I hope to replace my kitchen, I would hope to do most of the installation myself to save money (apart from tricky bits like gas fitting and worktop shaping etc).

What matters to me most is build quality, and I need good bang for my buck, I think to analogise I'm looking for a Skoda kitchen, i.e. reliable, long lasting, good price, but not necessarily flashy. I will probably just go for white doors and drawers, so should be able to buy from anywhere. Actually make that a VW kitchen, I have aspirations...

Thanks!

[bacon]

Spend spend spend avoid any flat pack even if your builder raves about Magnet (cos the builders get massive discounts) The magnet kitchen here is utter utter rubbish - has a life of 5 years. Partical board doors dont hold the screws, the drawer fronts come off and the general you cant get the finish.

[bitzermaloney]

My MIL has a John Lewis kitchen and is very pleased with it indeed. It does seem better quality than my Magnet kitchen (we went via Magnet Trade with a 70% discount and our builder bought a kitchen for his mum at the same time so had an extra discount too - but it just shows you what a rip-off the retail prices are!). I think a lot of it is down to the fitter and how well they put it together, though - if you are doing it yourself you will know how good you are at that kind of thing!

I am v pleased with our kitchen on the whole - we had a limited budget and it looks much more expensive than it is. Largely due to the dark red glass splashback (rest of the kitchen is neutral) and granite worktop. The granite company was recommended on here and we went for their cheapest one but it still looks great. My other fave thing is the pull-out tap, which I use ALL the time, very handy. Under-cupboard striplights good too, as otherwise you tend to be working in your own shadow. Lots of drawers better than cupboards, I find.

[hobnob]

If you look at other kitchen threads you'll see me wax lyrical about my kitchen from Benchmarx (i.e. Wickes but their supplier and therefore cheaper).

Good luck, BoosMaw (great name).

[Mammonite]

Other posters have used DIY kitchens successfully and we are looking at them or a similar direct supplier. I have literally had my sample doors delivered today.

IME any careful person possessing a spirit level and a drill driver can install a kitchen but it's worth paying a carpenter to do the worktop.

If you are planning yourself think very carefully about storage and workzones, and don't get fobbed off with too-small or inaccessible cupboards just to fill the space up.

In my current (inherited kitchen) I dislike: too-small cupboards, inaccessible corners and base units, no workspace zone between sink and cooker. I like: pull-out shelves/innerdrawers, open wall shelves, things that hang up on hooks, taps that attach to sink not worktop. Also I am getting rid of wall cupboards above worktops. I am too short to reach them, DH is too tall to see the worktop under them!

You can also save money just by thinking outside the box a bit. Why buy an end panel? The outside of your unit is white. You can buy individual fittings from dozens of websites to customise the type of drawer, shelf, handle etc.

Ikea are good kitchen but you need a new house with straight walls, or the ability to cannibalise a few units if they have pipes through the back. But that depends on where your sink and water supply are.

[mrsbleasdale]

I'm going through the same. I;ve had 4 quotes with 2 more due this week. And a couple of other places to try if i'm not happy I have been to Wickes, Howdens, 3 independent showrooms and 1 joiner. The variation has been huge.

I thought I knew what I wanted, then one company brought door samples and I have possibly changed my mind - i thought oak would have been too dark in the kitchen, but seeing it in place it's not at all. Was always assuming we'd got for offf-white. So not sure what I'm going for. Have had online quotes for granite and visited local showrooms who think it will be cheaper.

I've had lots of designs done,along the lines for what i;ve asked for. But now i've thought about storage and use of the kitchen, it's going to have to change. They've plonked dishwashers nowhere near any cupboards for plates etc. My kettle would be miles away from teacups and teabags etc. So i need to have another rethink. If you're not moving appliances and keeping the same layout you're used to then it's much easier, but I'm moving hobs and losing worktop space....

[mrsbleasdale]

I;ve aslo found it surprising the time people have spent measuring. Ranging from 20mins to 2hours. The joiner opened my cupboards and to see what we had where and asked how we used the kitchen. Also said you have to be careful about american fridge freezers - we want one and one built in, but some have different openings and hinges so the unit would need to be built differently. Another company have asked about fuseboxes and state of electrics etc. Some have asked nothing and drawn me an overpriced fancy plan

[mrsbleasdale]

Sorry...another thought...shop online for the appliances. A few companies have told me straight out that there are so many good deals that it's not worth them even quoting me for their products.

I've looked online and the things I want come to around £1800, Howdens own brand come out at £2.5 for the same type of appliances...

[PinkOlives]

I second online appliances you can find amazing the deals , all great quality brands for a reasonable budget, this is includes taps sinks etc

[PinkOlives]

Come to think of it even my light switches plug sockets whatever I could avoid getting from the shops I ordered online because I like things to be as unique as poss.
Keep thinking how you want to use kitchen and pros and cons of existing one.
There is a lot of design inspiration out there on websites and magazines and they always have lots of tips for kitchen planning.
www.housetohome.co.uk/kitchen
beautifulkitchens.wordpress.com/#!/cover

[ettebel]

This is an update to an earlier post with a bit more flesh on it.

This relates to an Innsbruck kitchen bought from Magnet Lichfield branch in Staffordshire.

We had a good start with magnet. The Sales staff were pleasant and helpful and after 3 iterations we got the design exactly as we wanted it.

We opted for the Innsbruck kitchen. We did want the Studio White but this was £2,000 more expensive.

We paid a total of £7,169.

They asked us to pay all the money up front which we weren't happy with, but did because they were a large and supposedly reliable national firm. We had a magnet kitchen before but a friend fitted it - this time we had moved area so this option wasn't available and we went with their Magnet fitter to get the guarantees.

With hindsight we would never pay up front again even with a big national because once they have your money there is no incentive for them to put right any snagging items.

The fitter's first efforts weren't good. The worktop wasn't fitted right, end panels also not right, doors not adjusted properly, and the worktop had both manufacturing marks and tool marks in it, two of the doors were warped, plus other minor issues.

After that fitting it took 8 weeks to get the same fitter back in - after 2 further site meetings and numerous phone calls and e-mails badgering them to get it sorted out. So we lived with all our kitchen stuff in the dining room for 8 weeks. this was because the worktops were coming out and new ones were being fitted, which meant a lot of disruption. No point putting all our stuff back in at that point.

The fitter wasn't known to the branch but recommended from another branch because our branch (Lichfield, Staffs) had a lot of response to the sale offers. We debated with our contact at Lichfield whether to have him back for some time, and eventually decided (with misgivings) that we would give him a chance to rectify the faults.

Then when the guy came back he offered no apology for the standard the first time around, blamed everything else but himself and STILL didn't do it right. In fact we had some different issues after he left to the first time!

Another site meeting and snagging list later, numerous e-mails to fix a date which never arrived, people going on leave without doing what they promised first, a visit from a new fitter (a good one this time), then a visit from the customer services manager, and then the fitter back for the last time to provide an adequate solution. All in all from fitting to resolution took over 3 MONTHS.

There have been some plus points. We got a good design. We opted for Magnet because they did the extra tall wall units in many of their ranges, and having a small kitchen meant extra storage was really important. Using the extra tall units also gave us the ability to use the space over the doors with 300mm deep top boxes, giving even more space and making the kitchen feel much larger.

So the kitchen achieved the storage and look we wanted, but it should not have taken 3 months to achieve it. It is only because I would not give in that we got where we are now. However it has been stressful and depressing at times, and what annoyed us most of all was phone calls not answered, calls not returned after messages left, poor communication between staff and e-mails also not replied to.

We even got to the stage of threatening legal action and contacting the local paper to see if they wanted our story.

Magnet offered £400 towards the cost of finishing off the kitchen as a goodwill gesture. Welcome as it will pay for much of the tiling but it's a bit 'too little too late'.

I would not recommend them and will never use their service again. If you like their ranges I would do what we did the first time and det a design, then have a local fitter (who comes with a local recommendation and can give references/photos) buy it trade and install it for you.

The last time we did this we got a better quality kitchen for a larger kitchen installed for £2,500 less than we paid this time round. And it was done in less time even though our friend had to do most of the work at weekends.

[MrsB123]

Have read your post with interest as I had been in discussion with Magnet in Lichfield also, so glad I didn't proceed after reading your experience. I thought they were a bit condescending - the sales guy asked me how much I was thinking of spending, well your not going to tell them your full budget are you, so I said in the region of £12-£15k he said for that money I would have to look at their cheaper ranges, cheeky so and so.

In the end I went for a Second Nature kitchen supplied by Kitchenco also based in Lichfield - totally delighted with it.

[SeasonsGripings]

Very similar to our kitchen experience with Magnet only it took nearly 2 years to resolve all the problems in the end I still wasn't happy, the finish was awful but I lost the will to fight and we were selling the house....never again.