Anyone had a kitchen from Solid Wood Kitchen Cabinets.co.uk

[Nugentl]

Would really love a solid wood kitchen and this company seem very reasonable, but can't find many reviews apart from those on their site. Has anyone had any dealing with them, good or bad! :-)

www.solidwoodkitchencabinets.co.uk

[Gusthetheatrecat]

Hello, I think that this company is an alternative name of DeTerra, from whom we bought our kitchen. I would recommend them but with reservations!
The cabinets and doors and everything they supplied are lovely. Beautiful and lovely quality. I am sure we couldn't have got anything of a similar quality easily for a similar price.
But the downside to this is all the other stuff. Their customer service is ok. They do no design service whatsoever, meaning ordering feels more like doing an enormous online food shop (with a slight sense of panic that you've forgotten a vital ingredient) than ordering a kitchen.
The staff aren't enormously helpful. When I called to ask about a specific width and depth of cabinet, they told me they didn't make it. Fine.... except our kitchen fitter suggested we could instead order the Belfast sink cabinet which was the exact dimensions we wanted,
Our order arrived with a few bits missing (which were sent very quickly afterwards) and our second order for additional bits hasn't been processed so is taking twice as long!
Our kitchen fitter also complained that the cabinets arrived all confusingly packaged and not at all intuitive in terms of assembly. He was convinced for ages that loads of bits were missing, but then found them in a different box.
All that said, I love what we now have. The wood is beautiful. The doors are lovely. I think on balance I would do it all again, just for the lovely quality and the price.

[Nugentl]

Thanks Gusthetheatrecat, yes I think they are the same company, seems to be a few trading under the same name. Yes the whole ordering thing and doing your design is pretty scary, but as you say the price for what look like beautiful oak cabinets may well swing it for me too. Apparently they have just started to offer a pre-built cabinet service, for an additional cost, may take some of the pain out later.
Can I ask did you go for plain oak doors or painted, if painted what colour and are they as expected? My other dilemma is I initially wanted in frame which these aren't!

[Gusthetheatrecat]

We opted for Shaker style doors, and I got them in Manor House grey, which isn't one of their standard colours, but since they do all the F and B colours I just got a load of grey samples and tried them all out endlessly, holding them up against different worktop and tile samples.

The other thing we did was we waited for a really good kitchen fitter (who's done work for us before) to be available. He is a carpenter, so whilst we've waited longer and paid more for him, he's fitted it all beautifully, and where bits haven't quite worked he's basically made stuff for us and we are painting it Manor House Grey. I get the impression that a cheaper 'bog standard' kitchen fitter team might have baulked slightly at our kitchen.
I also lingered over in-frame, but in the end decided that I didn't care that much. Also one of our cupboards is quite small, and using an in-frame design it looked really hilariously dinky!
Actually, two of our neighbours have also had DeTerra kitchens fitted and I think their experiences mirror mine: a bit of a hassle, and some inconveniences along the way, but probably on balance worth it for a lovely product.

[Nugentl]

Really appreciate all the advice, we're a few months off getting the kichen yet (in the middle of an extension) but think you've helped me to make up my mind..... Just need to decide on design & colour now! :-)

[popcorn777]

Hi, I've just fitted a solid wood kitchen cabinets kitchen. So I have some input if this thread is still open?

[marlow11]

I would appreciate any other recent feedback on Solid Wood Kitchen cabinets please

[popcorn777]

I've just fitted a kitchen from SWKC.The end product is great but it was painfull getting there. As it was a renovation I had to have the units delivered flatpacked. You can have preassembled units. I had several shortages in the packs, which took 14 days to each to allow for painting. Doors were drilled wrong. The delays allowed some panels time to bow, needing replacements, which didn't match originals hence re-replacement. In total they delivered 5 times to us and the total install was 3 months not 4 weeks. Plumber came 3 times. The 8 piece worktop supply from WT xpress worked a treat (same company) DOS Ltd.

[Cheery1]

Don't go near them! Avoid!!! As other have said they are a supply only company and this isn't made clear when ordering from them. The units turned up and our really experienced carpenter had to cut up the end panel supplied to make the sink unit useable - when he spoke to their customer services, they said it was a common problem yet they still send the same sink unit. The product looks nice but isn't fit for purpose and their only response is you should have got a kitchen designer - not mentioned at all at point of sale. Also, they didn't drill the grooves in the wooden worktop as discussed so we had to do this, again at more expense.

The company refused to take any responsibility for anything, including our kitchen being delivered a day late due their own administrative error (they sent it to the wrong depot) meaning we lost a day of labour costing £600. Such a stressful experience and customer service was dreadful. Really not worth it - avoid, avoid, avoid!!!

[user1469183064]

After spending over £9000 with Solid Wood Kitchen Cabinets on a new kitchen, unfortunately I cannot recommend this company. Generally the product is satisfactory quality, however some items I was sent were veneered and their rude and abrasive customer service is appalling. Taking months to issue refunds and weeks to replace items is unacceptable.

We had to spend hundreds on our carpenter re-installing replaced items!

My advise, buy your kitchen elsewhere.

[ShortLass]

Have a look at handmadekitchens-direct.co.uk/

If you do a search on Mumsnet, there are some good reports from people who've used them (or ask all afresh). I am planning to get my kitchen from them and have paid my deposit (slightly excited). You can view their kitchens in person in showrooms in Esher or Christchurch.

They have a sale on until Wednesday. You don't need to decide on cabinets yet, just book up your delivery slot and pay deposit to secure price. Beware their slots are currently booked 6 months ahead. You only need to confirm your design 7 weeks before delivery.

[howarth1000]

I have to agree with Cheery1 and user1469183064. The service is appalling.

Having delivered non-matching worktops, which wasn't discovered until my kitchen fitter was installing them on a Saturday, instead of taking responsibility for their error and refunding the worktop and delivery charge, they blamed me for choosing to get the correct worktop from B&Q myself instead of waiting for them to fix their error. I did try and call to find out my options but they were closed on a Saturday. They refunded and collected the incorrect worktop but I had to insist that they refunded the delivery charge and, over a month later, they still haven't.

They have a director of customer relations who should have arranged an instant refund, acknowledged the difficult situation that their error had put me in, and put in place a process whereby they spend 5 seconds checking that the worktops they are putting in or taking out of their van match. This would help improve their quality and avoid similar problems in the future as well as make me feel better about their customer service. However she did none of this. Either she is so busy because they mess up so many orders, in which case they seriously need to improve their quality, or she is not performing her role at all and needs to be replaced.

[wowfudge]

Sounds as though a mistake was made and they didn't get the opportunity to fix it though? Not their fault your worktop installation was on a Saturday. I have no knowledge of the company and no connection. Did you not check what was delivered?

[howarth1000]

I agree - everyone can make mistakes but it is how a business deals with it that defines their attitude towards their customers.

The delivery was to my tenant not me. The email from Solid Wood Kitchen Cabinets requested that the delivery should be stored in a dry place and checked for damage. It didn't say that you need to check that the correct items have been included in the delivery. My tenant is nearly blind and checked for damage by hand and arranged for dry storage as requested. Now, I know Solid Wood Kitchen Cabinets cannot be held accountable for his poor sight, but their warehouse staff and delivery team should be able to check that 2 worktops in one order should match. Neither myself, my tenant or my kitchen fitter had any reason to believe that one of the worktops was incorrect and, it so happened, that the incorrect one had been lent with its face against a wall with the correct one in front of it. They are bulky and I wouldn't advise individuals start shifting them about.

None of this is relevant though - it was the response from Solid Wood Kitchen Cabinets afterwards that was unacceptable. They should have acknowledged that their error gave rise to a problem, re-assured me that they care about their customer satisfaction, made steps to prevent similar occurrences, and refunded the cost of the incorrect worktop and delivery straight away.

Instead I emailed them twice with no response, then wrote to the director of customer relations who replied citing their terms and conditions and tried to shift the blame on to me. Having said they would refund the delivery fee over a month ago (after all, they didn't deliver what I ordered) they still haven't.

[OlwynW]

Any thoughts on the most reasonably price solid wood kitchen units? Eg Wren