Anyone had a new kitchen on the last couple of years?

[ColinRobinsonsfamiliar]

Can you tell me about it?
Did you get different companies in to measure up, price up, give you a design?
Was it painful? (As in, they stayed for ages…)
were you able to take pictures and measurements into a showroom so they could do it there?
Who did you go with in the end and why?
How much was it all in?
Theres some good interest free offers but I don’t know where to start.

Thanks.

Don’t be afraid to try your local independent kitchen showroom rather than the big sheds. You’ll be surprised at the prices and you’ll get a much better quality of service, aftercare, product and design knowledge than the chains.

Kuchenhaus. Process was easy but they didn't offer much advice. Do love the end result though.

Oh and a local joiner fitted it. It was approximately £16k all in BUT we had a whole extension built so it was part of that.

We had an independent kitchen designer. He was absolutely bloody brilliant, had access to any product you wanted whatsoever. He was a mine of amazing ideas/advice and experience. He designed the whole thing, sourced everything and over-saw it being installed. There was no snagging needed, it was all perfect from day one. We also tried to see if we could undercut him by going behind his back and noone could better his prices And he had exclusive access to places the general public can't get into like the depot where all stone is imported into the UK before it's distributed. We went with him and had the pick of everything. I think he was VERY reasonable. His fees plus everything was 18k. More than normal I know but it was a very big kitchen, 18M of marble worktops, solid oak cupboards & all the usual grey goods-cooker/fridge etc.
When he used to tell you about cupboard hinges, his eyes would glaze over with joy. He was in his element. Nice to have a job you love.

We used wren and I'm really disappointed. 3 years on the cupboard doors look awful and the end panels have come away. They are just a cheap plasticky covering and not worth the money at all. Cost about £6k for the kitchen and £4k for fitting.

We had used them about 10 years previously in a different property and the quality was so much higher then - and the price was much lower! That kitchen even though older is in much better condition.

I couldn't deal with the faff at all. So I went high end. probably paid far too much it was entirely project managed, only took a week and I'm still delighted.

I love cooking in my well designed kitchen and 4 years on it still looks good.

My top tips are lots of drawers!

We are renovating a derelict property and the last kitchen cabinet was fitted today!

Carpenter/kitchen fitter said to avoid wren at all costs. We went to B&Q, Wickes (I think they are benchmarxs), brewers- looked online at ikea and also several local shops. Some came out to give us a free design. Each gave slightly different ideas which was very handy. Look at the work triangle to ensure you aren't walking too far from fridge/sink/cooker etc. look online and think about what style you are going for? Shaker, modern shaker, modern flat, matte, shiny or the MANY other styles and options out there. Handless or handles? Have an idea of things you must have, nice to have and don't need. I knew I wanted more drawers so no bending to back of low cupboards. I also wanted an integrated bin drawer and floor to ceiling cupboards on one side to make use of the space.

If you have an island, where possible, don't have a sink or hob on it. It can be more expensive for electrics/exhaust fans etc, plus I don't like having either things in the sink to be washed up, or things drying on display in the middle of the island. Nor having a dirty hob. If they are on the side walls, they aren't right in the island nor as noticeable IMO.

We ended up going with a local man. No shop, works from home but has access to 100's of cabinets/doors/handles etc. We got various quotes from the mainstream places (no appliances or worktop) ranging from £15-£22,000. The independent guy came in at about £10,000 for solid wood doors and all the internal parts- like drawers, cutlery trays, pull out metal larder things and a fancy, metal full out corner contraption. The door we have- is the exact same one we liked in the most expensive shop too! Our worktops came from a local company. Including a large island and utility it came to £9,000 for quartz. Same size in granite would have been £14,000. They had cheaper options- we just happened to pick a pricier quartz apparently!

Buy appliances yourself from AO/marks electrical etc. Have a competent kitchen fitter/carpenter. Ours has been fabulous, but a friend had one recently walk out as they were too overwhelmed!

Another option we did years ago in a flat was to just have the doors redone- if the basic layout works for you. The previous doors were peeling so we replaced the doors and handles for a fraction of the cost of a whole new kitchen. People assumed we'd had the whole thing re done. It still looked great 10yrs on.

Designed it ourselves using the ikea online planning tool, and ordered all the carcasses directly from them. Local joiner fitted them. For doors, we used Custom Fronts. Sent them our ikea plan and they custom made the bamboo doors. Custom Fronts were a bit chaotic and incompetent to deal with, and a bit pricey, but the end result is fabulous. Worktops came from a local marble dealer who also fitted them.

This is ours which was completed a couple of months ago. We were a bit wary, but used Wickes, and honestly our experience couldn't have been better. They were so helpful throughout the entire process ! I took them chocs in as a thankyou. We are really chuffed with it. It's cost 24k but I plan on it seeing us out!! 🤣 attached pics so you can see, everyone loves a nose (well, I do!)

Had a new kitchen in January from Magnet. They were really nice and very patient. I would recommend.

We started by choosing the company we wanted to use (Wren) from recommendations and checking out the ranges available. Then we measured the room and used the measurements of units etc on their website, to plan out roughly what we wanted.

Then we made an appointment and went into the showroom where the salesperson translated our rough plan into a CAD. We tweaked the plan, resisted most attempts to upsell, chose units, worktop, sink, taps, handles etc.

He gave us the price (£12,000). I had to take my H for a coffee to recover from the shock. We went home and I shaved nearly a grand off the price by sacrificing a few fancy things and ordering our own cooker and fridge from ao.

Once we’d confirmed, the company sent out a surveyor and allocated a fitter who also came round to do his own checks. The fitter organised the electrician & plasterer which we had to pay for on top of the kitchen quote plus we paid the fitter for some extra plumbing work, which pretty much came to the £1000 I thought I’d saved.

We had to wait 6 months between order and fit - the fitters are very booked up.

Had ours fitted last December.

We went to IKEA, wren and howdens - howdens is who we ended up going with. I preferred his design and I didn't feel like he was pushing for a sale like the wren designer. IKEA I just didn't love any of them enough

units came to 14k, quartz another 4k

Appliances close to 15k - could have easily saved money here but I wanted the fancy range and matching extractor fan. Quooker Tap was non negotiable for me also ( would never be without it now!)

Flooring was another 5ishk and I'm not sure how much the plastering/electrical/plumbing /fitting cost asDH paid that to the builders as part of a large reno.

My best advice would be get as many big pan draws as you can fit in and like I mentioned already the boiling water tap - I HATE waiting for the kettle to boil when we visit friends now 😂

Second IKEA, we got 3 years' interest free credit so hardly noticed paying for it. We paid for them to measure up & they worked around the double oven we wanted, made good suggestions.
They fitted it too, it was done in 3 days & no issues since.

I got Mereway units (said to be the manufacturer for John Lewis kitchen), much cheaper under their own name! They sell through local independent kitchen shops so I used the local one of those. Have to say the guy was better on knowing about kitchens than on the fluffy customer service stuff but I am delighted with the end result. I do have pan drawers too & they're v useful! My kitchen is in an old cottage and the kitchen people said it was nice to do something other than grey! (I went for light blue doors and wood-effect laminate worktops). I love my Fired Earth country animal tiles too!

In a previous house I used IKEA and they were great but the kitchen fitter I got was only ok & there were a couple of things that didn't look good. There I discovered the world of personalised splash-backs and put in a beautiful sunset picture behind the hob. Also had a Neff slide/hide oven door like on Bake-Off which was fab!

howdens. Good experience. Probably had 4 other quotes and designs. All much of a muchness apart from magnet who were way more expensive as their fitting costs were extraordinarily high. In retrospect I think she’d made an error.

had a lovely kitchen fitter we already knew. Used him, he bought the kitchen on his account, had complete sight of all the costs from him. He suggested a couple of changes and howdens took a couple of units back.

We were getting extension built so had electric contractors and plumbers on site.

it was £27k including all appliances and qooker . quartz worktop we got elsewhere and I can’t remember how much that was. .

I had a new kitchen last year from a local supplier. Great quality, good design, quick sorting out of problems and they recommended a fab local fitter.

Top tips are to do your research so you know exactly what you want. I knew I wanted loads of drawers and pullout units. I hate wasted cupboard space so now everything is accessible. Sourced my own appliances but everything else from the local supplier. My fitter did the measurements for me and everything was perfect. Total cost about £12k and it's exactly what I wanted. Brings me joy every day.

There's a planner that's often recommended on the property threads here who comes up with genius design ideas - have a look there to see if you can find her details. I was going to use her but she had a huge waiting list so I designed it myself in the end.

We used howdens, they created the room on a screen and allowed us to create it! Great experience.

Hi how long did it take to install and did they remove existing cabinets etc. ty

One of the reasons I liked DIY kitchens was that we could skip the whole traipsing round showrooms talking to designers thing. But that only works if you like being hands on and are happy to read round lots for advice on the best unit combinations etc.
Best advice: drawers not cupboards.
Only thing I would have done differently: had the peninsula fitted 10cm further to the right.

Aristocraft kitchens and bathrooms.
£5,500 (without fitting which would have been extra £2k there abouts) we opted to fit ourselves

We measured up and made appointments with several kitchen designers. Some let you keep the designs, others don’t. We kept going until we settled on a good designer.

She then came out to measure up properly with a kitchen fitter. This was where we got very lucky because he was phenomenal. He took enormous pride in his work, had tonnes of experience, and suggested a few modifications to the designs.

With hindsight, if I were doing it again, I’d ask to speak to other clients and maybe to see the finished work if possible. Design is one thing, but the fitter’s skill is what makes the difference at the end of the day.

I’m not in UK or I’d share the details.

Got designs and quotes from howdens and mkm, but used DIY in the end. Saved about £8k.

I absolutely love my ikea one.
Transparent pricing and Very deep units so much more space, and affordable so can splash out on high end worktops and taps.
Ikea have a good design tool but you need to either use their fitters or find a chippy who's used to fitting ikea as they have no void at the back for services.

I've heard very questionable things about wren.

Had a howdens fitted at work. It's ok but I don't like the pricing model/ 'discount' for certain people.

DIY kitchens worth a look if you have a good fitter.

My sister used IKEA to supply and it was a nightmare. Over 8 months and consistently wrong or late deliveries or broken. She raised a complaint which is not yet resolved.

Was this during covid @Grumpycatsmum ?
We couldn't get a delivery for Ikea for MONTHS (and the models we originally wanted kept selling out) so bought online and hired a van to do click and collect, so we got it the next week.