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Original poster

Symphony Kitchens - any good?

22 replies

Ang0505 · 14/08/2014 10:09

Hi, I'm looking for a new kitchen and have fancied one from the Symphony Gallery range - New Haven Ivory. But after reading reviews of the Symphony range I'm not too sure anymore! Looks like they aren't that great - very poor reviews. Does anyone out there have a decent Symphony kitchen? Should I look elsewhere? Thanks.

OP posts:

pickles184 · 14/08/2014 10:14

They are cheap and cheerful, the reason they are used by most national house builders is the very cheap costs. This is of course reflected in the quality so I guess it depends how long you want your new kitchen to last?
They are no worse than the basic Ikea, B&Q and Homebase type kitchens and are easier to install.
There are a wide number of kitchen suppliers who do an in-frame ivory door, what sort of budget do you have and how big is your room?

Original poster

Ang0505 · 14/08/2014 10:26

Hi, my budget is around £7500 and the room is apox. 5mx4m . Self- building. Looked at Howdens and B&Q but I got the impression that Symphony was better quality? I may have been wrong then! Does it depend on who fits the kitchen?

OP posts:

pickles184 · 14/08/2014 10:50

Howdens and Benchmarx would be better quality than Symphony, your fitter will make a huge difference to the overall finish yes.
Symphony are not terrible quality, they are just cheaply made and will show signs of wear quicker and easier than something with better quality components if that makes sense.

A good fitter can make the cheapest kitchen look and last better than an expensive kitchen fitted badly. A good fitter will have happy customers who you can speak to and usually let you look at some examples of their work. You want to look at the details like the cornice and pelmet joins, how neatly end panels/fillers are finished where they are used, do all of the doors and handles run correctly in line (you'd be surprised how often they don't) and the quality of the join on the work surface.
Does your budget need to cover installation and appliances as well or is the 7.5k purely for the furniture and worksurface?

HaveToWearHeels · 14/08/2014 10:56

I have a Symphony kitchen in my new build. It is white gloss and I have heard horror stories of the gloss peeling. Not mine, looks just as good as it did on day one.

AntheaHarris123 · 14/08/2014 11:00

Morning! Just saw this post, one of my girlfriends was in the same predicament a few months ago...she wanted an in frame kitchen, but her budget wasn't huge. She saw a company advertising in the paper selling kitchens (I think they dealt with excess stock or something along those lines) and she ended up with a Magnet kitchen for about £3k! I don't know what the range was but it was definitely in frame and its Ivory coloured. She had it put in about 2 weeks ago and it looks lovely :)
I could find out what the company were called if you're interested?
I haven't heard of Symphony so no idea what they are like, but if they have poor reviews I would steer clear!

HaveToWearHeels · 14/08/2014 11:00

Should also say mine is 5 years old.
I do agree on the fitting too, our house was delayed by 6 months due to the recession and we were coming close to pulling out as our mortgage offer was due to expire. Two site managers had been sacked and I think they brought in the best to get the site finished. He was brilliant and got rid of a lot of shoddy workmen. The finish in our house is far superior to our neighbours (even they have commented). Our Kitchen looks amazing compared to theirs but it was a different fitter, and our tiler was also different.

FlossyMoo · 14/08/2014 11:09

I used to work for them in the factory that made the doors/cupboards. I was QA.

They are good quality for what you pay. My mum has a gloss white finish installed 12 years ago and it still looks the same. No peeling & no discoloration.

Original poster

Ang0505 · 14/08/2014 11:38

Thanks everyone! Looks like I need to find a good kitchen fitter then. My 7.5k is for the furniture and worktops only...

AntheaHarries123 -Would love to know where your friend got her Magnet kitchen for 3k!
Good to hear that Symphony aren't that bad then. But I think I'll go to have another look at the Howdens range... Before making any big decisions!

Any advice is very much appreciated! x

OP posts:

AntheaHarris123 · 14/08/2014 14:38

Hi Ang0505, I asked my friend and she got it from a company called NATK-B. She sent me their website, it's www.natk-b.com
From what I can gather they are a company that buys up surplus stock from big companies and sell it on at big reductions. I think the only down side was that they didn't have the full Magnet range, they just had what they had....but she managed to get the one she wanted anyway so she was happy!
Hope that helps. Good luck! x

pickles184 · 14/08/2014 16:57

October is the best month to buy a trade kitchen, Howdens started the trend with their period 11 sale and it has filtered through to most of the others. You can easily save a few thousand, if you aren't in a rush then don't be afraid to hold out to the final week for the best prices. Although if you want to start fitting this side of christmas it is better to get in early rather than waiting for them to run out of key parts.
Had a quick look at the website Anthea mentioned, if you can make a decent design with the bits they have left then looks to be a good saving off Magnet trade on their ivory in-frame door versus their trade prices and a lot less than their retail prices so worth a look

Mendeleyev · 14/08/2014 17:06

Our kitchen in our "new build" is 17 years old and symphony. We have been very pleased with it. Just starting to peel on one cupboard above the hob. We are starting to think about replacing it, but mainly because it is not that well designed. The cupboards themselves are still sound.

kmdesign · 14/08/2014 21:17

Is your budget of £7500 including worktops and appliances? If so, look at benchmarx. Its pretty decent for the money.

If not, I am sure you can do a lot better than Symphony.

Some of B&Q's ranges are made by Symphony. Its a kitchen, thats it. Quality is mediocre at best. Dont expect miracles and you will be fine.

natkingswoodbarnes · 16/08/2014 13:35

Hi guys ...first post on here:)...I was just about to buy my kitchen from Magnet, I really love their Kuta range. I saw your post Anthea, and followed your link and soooo glad I did:) !!!!!!!! I spoke to them and I can get nearly every unit I need - still need to buy a magic corner and a pull out larder thingy, but he has given me a price which isn't bad at all. If I decide to take the plunge I will save over £4,000!! (thats just on the units!!) on what I was about to spend. However my builder still keeps trying to push me towards Howdens but I can't help feeling he is pushing me there for some reason...he has already given me one price which was cheaper than Magnet's but no where near natk-b, he said he would try to get a better price over the weekend but if they can drop as much as they need to get my business why didn't they do it in the first place????Have looked at Benchmarx too it was ok but seemed a little 'cheaper' than Magnets. I will keep you all posted with what my builder comes back with on Monday:) x

natkingswoodbarnes · 18/08/2014 10:04

Right the scores on the doors are in: For units, Magnet were quoting me £8,985. Howdens were quoting me £8,213...this magically dropped to £7,213 when I got another quote. The winner is NATK-b.com £4,800 - and the best bit is its a Magnet kitchen which is what I wanted in the first place Thank you Anthea for your post!!!!!!:D

Quodlibet · 08/10/2014 20:50

Isn't it a funny coincidence that your name is nat kingswood barnes and you are plugging a company called nat k b?

bauhausfan · 08/10/2014 21:00

What the hell is wrong with all these kitchen people????

poorbuthappy · 08/10/2014 21:08

Obviously trade is slow at the mo!!

goodcitizen · 26/07/2016 10:48

Hi www.natk-b.com website is not active anymore. Anybody know if company is still active.

snodgrassperrywinkle · 03/04/2018 15:51

well just to say I purchased a load of doors, plinths etc from Symphony kitchens and half a dozen were damaged, I have since been in touch with Symphony and one of the new bosses referred my email back down to the guy who refused to give me his email address. (you cannot hide your email address from google)
I did have occasion to quote them their statement of "outstanding service" !!
watch this space and lets see just how good they really are.

Not a happy bunny £3000 and that was just for doors and plinth grr

wilkinsona · 07/02/2019 11:27

2019 Symphony update, we bought a house last summer and it came with a Symphony kitchen. It has a cashmere gloss door finish and it looked great when we moved in. The reason we chose this kitchen was because we had a new kitchen fitted from Wren in our last house exactly the same colour and it was fantastic so we wanted the same again. Unfortunately I'm sorry to say the gloss door quality is not great with symphony, it chips very easily whereas the Wren doors didn't. The cupboard carcasses are also of a lesser quality with thin coverings that have peeled off after 6 months in hot area's. I may be comparing different price point kitchens but all the same the carcasses should not be this intolerant to heat. On a plus side our house builder is great 'Story Homes' and they have made sure Symphony have been back to rectify the faults. This can only last for so long and I suspect in 5 or six years the kitchen with look tired and worn and we'll be looking to do something about it. If we had been given the choice knowing what we know now we would not have had the symphony kitchen fitted in our new house but installed a better quality kitchen that I know would last such as the one I bought 5 years ago at Wren.

Pthep · 14/02/2019 20:25

Symphony have at least three ranges of kitchens. The cheapest are not the best. The ones in new builds may not be the best. Don't judge them by their cheapest range. (And do try to use a good fitter)

Missnearlyvintage · 15/02/2019 13:29

@Wilkinsona - thanks for updating this thread.

I have recently seen a showroom display of a symphony kitchen and while it looked fine from afar, (it was their premium range), closer up it was much worse quality as far as I was concerned than the Sheridan kitchen that was also in the showroom. Such a shame as the designs look nice.

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