Ikea vs Homebase kitchens

[TerryWogan4President]

Just wondering if any of you have experience of either/both of the above kitchens? Any ringing endorsements or horror stories? Considering both the kitchen quality and aftercare of the company.
Have had both companies do us a plan. Fairly similar on price and style. Homebase are ever so slightly more expensive but did us a much more comprehensive plan which included some extra bits Ikea didn't. We're going to get our own independent kitchen fitter as both quotes we've had have been extortionate and each advisor all but told us not to bother with their installers as they're grossly overpriced.
So any reviews would be greatly appreciated.
TIA

[TalkinPeace]

love my ikea kitchen - pic on my profile

[RaisingSteam]

I should ask your fitter. I have seen the kitchen fitters forums whinging about both. Which Homebase "brand" are you looking at? In the MFI days, Hygena was pretty cheap and wobbly. Ikea would be better than them. Ikea and Schreiber would be about the same as the Ikea cabinets are self assembly but quite sturdy once fitted.

A lot depends on the design - if you like the extras in the Homebase kitchen (and they aren't just there to inflate the price) can Ikea add them too? Or can you buy them separately and get your fitter to add them in?

It's only when you start on a fitted kitchen you start thinking £30 is a good price for a cutlery tray!

Interesting comparison

[Mrsladybirdface]

love my IKEA too....all designed by me perfect for my needs complete and utter bargain.

having looked at homebase my kitchen looks higher standard and quality but some I did get worktops and handles elsewhere

[Mrsladybirdface]

**designed by me with input from Mumsnet!

[Iggly]

We have ikea and love it. Going strong after 2 years. We have the tall wall cupboards so loads of space.

The only thing to watch is that their floor cupboards are deeper because there's no space for pipes to run behind - they have to be routed underneath. This was no big deal for us but some people grumble about it.

[funnyface31]

Just had an ikea kitchen fitted and love the extra space as wall and base cupboards much bigger. Agree with pipes etc as we needed gas pipe moving.

Only other thing is the work tops are deeper so you cannot just buy from anywhere.

I compared all diy shops and found ikea to me best value and quality and was just as good as Cooke & Lewis etc

[TerryWogan4President]

Unanimous Ikea endorsement! Very interesting. Might pop back later this week and ask them to take us through the plans again, and tweak a few things.
And thanks for the link Steam. I'd not come across that site before. Very handy.

[RaisingSteam]

We didn't get our kitchen from Ikea in the end but nearly all our interior fittings, bins, wall hooks, plateholders everything else in our house is from Ikea because they're so cheap and so clever.

[TalkinPeace]

Only other thing is the work tops are deeper so you cannot just buy from anywhere.

I did.
My worktops came from an online bamboo supplier - the units are 60cm deep, same as all units

[mandy214]

I think the IKEA range changed earlier this year. They scrapped the Faktum range and replaced it with Metod which (off the top of my head) are something like 64 or 65cm deep so as someone says above, if you buy an Ikea kitchen now you do have to get extra wide worktops. I cant remember which suppliers we looked at, some do, some don't. Not necessarily an issue as long as you're away of it. We had an ikea kitchen in last house and loved it. Only reason we went elsewherwe this time is that we want to add to kitchen at a later date and thought it was be easier to do that if we went with "standard" sizes.

[TalkinPeace]

www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/S59024626/
Depth = 60 cm

FGS its the EU standard.
I get so bored of people making up stories about Ikea unit sizes.

When we bough ours I was told all sorts of horror stories about the sizes and the depths and the lack of utility space

it was bilge then and its bilge now

their own worktops - that overhang the base units - are 64cm deep
www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/50273795/

[CreamSubstitute]

We just installed a Metod kitchen. The cabinets are 600 mm depth and then you have to allow for the doors so Ikea recommend worktops that are minimum 635 mm.

We did have to search about for worktops that were appropriate depth as we wanted the worktop to overhang the cupboards. Ours are 650 mm.

Our builder moaned a lot about installing the Ikea cupboards and kept banging on about Howdens. However I wanted the deeper Ikea cupboards and am not impressed by the Howdens pricing model.

[mandy214]

Talkinpeace - that's just not right. They're not 60cm units (they may have been when you bought your kitchen but they're not now).

I think most unit sizes (from other retailers) are 56cm or thereabouts, so when you add the door, a 60cm worktop will give you the "standard" finish of the worktop slightly overhanging the base units.

The new Ikea Metod range is deeper than the old Faktum range, and other kitchen retailers, and it does mean that a 60cm worktop won't be deep enough. If you look on the Ikea website (the detailed product information) it will tell you the assembled depth, which is more than 60cm (have just checked and the basic base cabinet I looked at was 61.9cm, I think that's pretty much standard) and their worktops are 63.5cm wide.

[TalkinPeace]

mandy
the links are to the current Ikea website.

and standard online worktops like these are 62 cm wide
www.worktop-express.co.uk/index.php?app=gbu0&ns=prodshow&ref=bamboo_2M_620_40mm_worktop&catname=wood_worktops&sid=o9e8685t17ei1qzlei337rita43877wk

Metod is NOT deeper than Faktum.
I have Ikea catalogues on the shelf by me going back 20 years.

Look at the links.

[mandy214]

Assembled size (base unit)

Width: 60.0 cm
Depth: 61.8 cm
Frame, depth: 60.0 cm
Height: 88.0 cm
Frame, height: 80.0 cm

Cut and pasted from IKEA current website

[mandy214]

I think we might have to agree to disagree! Bamboo might be different, and if that's what you had, and could get a worktop that was 620mm, great. Most 600mm worktops are exactly that, 600mm (I'm talking the likes of Durapol, Axiom, Prima etc) so they wouldn't fit.

[TalkinPeace]

Actually a lot of the solid wood online worktops are wider - for no known reason
when I was looking I had loads of choice - once I'd ruled out Ikea's own, B&Q, Wickes and the like.

THe cool thing about stuff like bamboo is that it has no front / back / top / bottom so is very forgiving on islands and corners and the like

[mandy214]

At least the OP is aware of the issue now

[Greenhrh]

Our homebase has just closed down I don't think they are doing too well as a company I think ikea will be around for longer if you need spare parts etc in the future

[LooksLikeImStuckHere]

We have Homebase, really pleased with the quality of it. Also I love my curvy cupboard

It may be more expensive for the extra bits but you can still utilise some of the ikea stuff in the Homebase cupboards.

Haven't ever had an Ikea kitchen so can't compare. Had a Wickes one in our last house (mix of off the shelf and their order only stuff) and would say it's on a par with the more expensive stuff from there, if not slightly better.

Do Ikea deliver? The thought of having to pack it all in a van would be a factor me!

[LooksLikeImStuckHere]

for me

[18yearstooold]

My homebase kitchen is 12 years old and still looks like new

Homebase are not going to shut any time soon
They are streamlining, reducing from 330 stores to 240 by reviewing their rental contracts and reducing the number of stores in close proximity but its cash rich and hanging on to every penny

My ex is a kitchen fitter -likes ikea because if there are any problems they can be sorted out straight away as they are stocked items where as homebase are ordered in specifically but he prefers the cabinet build

You do need to make sure the HB corner units are fitted properly though as they hinge differently to most other companies and he's done remedials where the fitter has fitted wrong

[CreamSubstitute]

Ikea deliver kitchen stuff. However not all of the door styles are in stock at the stores. Ours wasn't and it was annoying when some bits of the kitchen plan didn't work and we had to swap round doors.

[Trufflethewuffle]

We had Homebase over five years ago and people who just bought our house thought it was newly fitted. Had our own fitters as the hb quote was too high.

We want to redo kitchen in our new home and will happily use hb again.

[TalkinPeace]

Ikea kitchens can be ordered online and delivered