DIY Kitchens - anyone used them? Good or bad?

[Sandgroper]

Hi

We are doing large extension and need a new kitchen. So far had a few quotes from Magnet and County Kitchens, both more than DH wants to pay (typical). I really like the colour of the doors at County Kitchens (sort of mushroom).

Friend has ordered a kitchen from DIY Kitchens (yet to be delivered) after doing some research she told me it uses the same factory in Wales as County Kitchens but at a fraction of the price. Not sure if this is true, but it looks the same. Only drawback is you have to design it yourself... Oh and they seem to not have all the stock that County Kitchens does.

Wondering if anyone has used them and are they happy with the product. Did you have any problems with delivery etc? Any advice would be greatly appreciated before I go bonkers!

Thanks

[amazonianwoman]

Haven't used them yet but they have shining reviews on the moneysupermarket forum. I've spoken to them on the phone and they were very helpful, and knowledgeable.

You can view the Second Nature doors they sell in most local independent kitchen showrooms. I've had several different kitchen plans drawn up (still undecided in our extension & kitchen refit) and have priced them all on the DIY website - DIY have been significantly cheaper each time.

[fossil97]

I used them, I would give them a wholehearted thumbs up. They are based in Yorkshire and I can't imagine them not having anything in stock - the carcases are made to order and they have pages and pages of every imaginable cabinet and trim in the Second Nature range.

I ordered a couple of sample doors first and designed the layout myself on the Ikea planner. A person rings you up and talks you through the order to check they have everything right. They delivered on the exact day they said they would.

Even my mother was impressed with the cabinets and she is really hard to please, I think there's a picture still on my profile (the cupboard, not the mother ).

[Yorky]

To those of you who have DIY kitchens, from looking on their website I like the look of the broadoak painted range but they talk about the F&B colour chart and after reading of the problems people on MN have had with F&B paint I am slightly nervous about the practicality.

Can anyone offer me any reassurance?

Thank you

[amazonianwoman]

I'm pretty sure they spray them so I'd imagine they colour match with something acrylic? Give them a ring, they're very helpful.

[amazonianwoman]

They definitely won't use the F&B emulsion others are complaining about, not on kitchen cupboards!

[fossil97]

Information here. As I read it they use a commercial hard finish paint that is matched to the F&B range (I've seen this elsewhere, guess F&B licence out the colours or something). If you are still concerned ring up and check, or get a sample? Is there any guarantee?

My doors are Broadoak although I painted them myself because I was painting other furniture to match. They are really nice doors, it's quite painful covering up the lovely oak actually. There is just a hint of wood grain.

[fossil97]

I would suggest downloading the catalogue (bottom left of homepage), it's a big PDF but it has everything in their range including options for drawers, etc that you might miss on the main site.

[annalouiseh]

they just colour match it like bnq do to any RAL colour or a colour of a paint brand you like as companies do with the modern matt/gloss doors.
The paint they use is for hard wear and tear but its the same as anything it can all mark and chip if knocked the wrong way

[Yorky]

I didn't think it could be the same paint, nice to know I'm just having a blonde moment!
Thanks all for the reassurance :)

[Birgit1]

We ordered one pull out larder unit with the door fitted for which we paid a surcharge. The unit is brilliant: solidly built, with a smooth operating system. However, it arrived without the door. The day before its long scheduled arrival we were contacted to ask whether delivery could be delayed as another customer to our (out of the way) area had cancelled. We declined as we had to make complicated arrangements to have time off work. We were then called in the evening to inform us that the unit had arrived with a damaged door: would we like delivery without the door the following day or would we like to wait a week for the complete unit? We opted for delivery of the whole unit. It arrived the following day without a door. It took several weeks for the door to arrive, and of course it was a complete pain to fit. Getting a refund was easy once I'd rung the company. Email requests resulted in not even an acknowledgement. I shudder to think what it would have been like had we ordered a whole kitchen!






































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Experience smarter, informed

[terryc7372]

I ordered a complete kitchen late 2012 and they withdrew the complete amount of the kitchen TWICE and left me short over Xmas without telling me. Indifferent in the New Year. Refunded but told, you got your money back didn't you!!

Asked for and had to pay for another cupboard to finish kitchen this week, had to pay 100 pounds extra for special one man delivery, then they e mailed to say they will be sending FLAT PACK by carrier and doors from somewhere else. I paid for an assembled cupboard. Once they have the money they do not care.

[SparkyUK]

I used them and would whole heartedly recommend them and would use them again without a doubt as they are such good value. Very good quality, still, 3 years on. And I disagree that once they have your money they ignore you. Our builders messed up one of the cabinets which resulted in having to get a new one. They replace it free of charge and offered to either courier it, in which case they could send it out the next day flat packed or to use their delivery team the following week and send it assembled. That seemed more than fair to me!

[Wilfer]

I am in the final stages of fitting an IKEA kitchen and I'm really pleased with it. It's a very flexible system at a great price. I didn't like the door range much so I got basic doors & had them sprayed in a F&B shade. 19 cabinets including end panels, trims & paint was under £4k but looks like £££! Lots of that is down to a fantastic fitter.

You need to do a bit of legwork but I would highly recommend the result.

[timart0207]

I bought a complete kitchen from them and the doors started delaminating one by one, they replaced the doors but I had to pay for someone to refit the new ones. This kept happening and finally after about 2 years they told me to replace all the doors, almost every order arrived with damage to some doors which had to be replaced and finally after refitting the last lot of new doors I have noticed that one of the doors has already started to delaminate. I have been offered no compensation for the extra labour costs and find there after sales staff un-sympathetic. I would nt touch these people with a barge pole.

[kmdesign]

A big part of buying a kitchen with foil/vinyl wrapped doors in the inherent risk associated with that type of doors. They are an appealing option and cost effective but they are cheap for a reason - if manufactured well they can delaminate from heat/humidity exposure. If poorly manufactured they require no external factors to delaminate. In either case, they are a disaster waiting to happen.

[InsertUsernameHere]

I my builder has just finished fitting a diy kitchens kitchen and we are happy with it. Haven't used it yet but they basically do the same doors as everyone else. (We have painted wood so the un-peeling of vinyl shouldn't be a problem) I found the planning and ordering a bit stressful because if it didn't fit it was my fault. Much cheaper than elsewhere. We went to visit the factory just to check they really existed and it was helpful to look at the showroom (actually ended up buying a kitchen version that isn't on website yet). Kitchen arrived okay and all in good nick. Bit of a pain trying to get an extra thing I'd missed of the order (but spotted before it was shipped). After a bit of to-ing and fro-ing all sorted and they shipped for before 12 delivery free if charge as they had messed me about. I'd be happy to recommend if you are happy to take the responsibility for measuring/choosing.

[TooMuchRain]

Just bought a kitchen from them and it has been bad, bad, bad! Their communications are terrible and they are totally unreliable. We spent 14 hours waiting for the kitchen and they just didn't turn up. We couldn't call them because their centre has shorter opening hours than the delivery hours. We had to take an extra day off work to wait for the kitchen to arrive the next day and then had to re-schedule the fitting so we had an even longer period with no kitchen at all - and they just refused to acknowledge that was a problem.

I would never use them again (and our fitter will say the same!). If I were doing it again I would hire a van and go to Ikea.

[mandy214]

How is the kitchen TooMuch now that it is in?

[msmorgan]

We'll be ordering from DIYKitchens soon. Slightly worried re the customer service, although found them very helpful when we visited the showroom.

TooMuchRain are you happy with the quality of your kitchen?

[MollyBdenum]

I've heard recently that although the quality is very good, the customer service has declined as they are struggling to keep up with demand. I have no idea how accurate that is though. I'll probably still take the risk of ordering from them.

[msmorgan]

I'm thinking as long as the kitchen quality itself is ok we'll still order from them as they are so much cheaper than any equivalent I've found. I like a couple of. Ikea kitchens but prefer DIYKitchens as they come fully assembled.

Luckily we're not moving into the house until it's been renovated so we can order the kitchen ahead of when we actually want it fitting. I'm pretty sure my measurements are correct and I've planned and had a kitchen fitted before so hopefully nothing should go wrong!

[mandy214]

They have been great up until delivery - just had delivery and although the kitchen looks great (not actually installed yet) there were a couple of damages which I raised with them on Monday (delivery 9pm Friday). Didn't get response until yesterday (Friday) and even then it was just to ask for a better photo of he damaged doors. That said, provided they get the replacement doors to us, the kitchen looks great. I think what a previous poster said is probably true - they're struggling to keep up with demand and whilst the kitchens are lovely, the after sales service is a little lacking at the mo.

[DaughterDilemma]

If you want to save money consider a simple design with few corners and pipes and wires that don't go all over the place.

We built our own from Ikea, I made a cabinet every night and dp fitted the rest. A good finish because of straight walls and simple pipes. Our waste pipe went into the rainwater drain which we corrected later.

Think of the practicalities first, then select your larder drawers and fancy bits. Ikea was good because when we needed more bits we could easily add. If we weren't close to them I would consider a range from a different firm.

Also their freestanding Islands are great and less trouble than non freestanding.

Put the cooker in the least busy area, not in the middle as all the kitchen designers tell you to. Look at ikeafans.com which gave me the confidence as Americans seem to design their kitchens much more uniquely and confidently. Have a snack making coffee making area.

[msmorgan]

Our kitchen will be L shaped, only one corner unit, and no wall units except for a dish rack and 1 double cupboard. The fridge/freezer, washer and dryer are going in the utility and the I'm having a range cooker so as the units come fully assembled it should be very easy for the joiner to fit.

It's in a new extension so we'll make sure we have plenty of sockets put in. The units, worktops, appliances and tiles come to around £5000.

I'll have to make sure I get the order right as it sounds like I could have problems dealing with customer services if it's not, and just hope nothing arrives damaged.

I looked at Ikea for my last kitchen and this one, I'm put off because of having to build the units, DH's DIY skills aren't great so we would have to get the joiner to do it.

[DaughterDilemma]

No fridge in the kitchen? ...Although ours is slightly out of the way next to the laundry too and isn't a problem except when the door is open and someone wants to get past...