AIBU to ask for help with kitchen woes

[CannotWait]

Please help, oh wise mumsnetters. We are getting new kitchen and work to start taking down walls starts imminently. I have thought far too much about the colour and style of the kitchen and have now convinced myself I only want a Neptune kitchen. Only I don’t really want to pay for a Neptune kitchen so I found DIY kitchens. They looked great, had the style I wanted, would colour match to any colour and could deliver in six weeks. I have spent hours / weeks on their kitchen planner designing everything in and went to order this afternoon only to get a message saying they now couldn’t deliver until January 2020. Who orders a kitchen eight months in advance!?
I am so disappointed! While I look for some perspective, can anyone recommend another, reasonable priced company that sells in-frame bespoke painted kitchens?!
Thank you!

Ugh - I have no advice but wanted to sympathise because the same has happened to me. We've had our whole re-wire and re-plumb based around this kitchen design and now I might not be able to have it...and in the meantime I have no kitchen....ugh!

www.paintedkitchensdirect.co.uk/

"only to get a message" - have you called them and asked? It may be something like one specific item is on backorder until 2020, and you could swap out that wine rack for a different one and get it on time.

I wouldn't recommend The Shaker Kitchen Company.

Kitchens are lovely. Just read and take heed of the Google and TripAdvisor reviews.

second nature is one of the biggest kitchen suppliers in the UK, but only to trade. they supply the parts to most joiners, and then the joiner can put it together. So if you like anything on their website, then go with that.

we had a second nature kitchen with customised doors (different colours), again all arranged by a local joiner and cheaper than having a brand name kitchen.

@PutTheBassInYourWalk - it’s so frustrating isn’t it. What are you going to do?
Yes, I’ve spoken to them. It’s definitely the whole order. They’re having a new paint line fitted so can only do about four ranges and no bespoke colours.
Thank you for the recommendations so far, I’ll look them up.
Really @StandingOvulation ? I keep seeing FB ads from Shaker Kitchen Co - thanks for the tip.

Thanks for this thread - I was at the DIYK showroom last week and although they mentioned the paint restrictions, at no point was I told the units would be restricted as well! Just went to check the timeframes on our preference and lo and behold it’s showing as Nov, which considering we need it for August is not a goer.

Now looking at Howdens and Units Online and contemplating the bleakness that is starting again 😞

My friend just had a lovely bespoke kitchen done by a small local company, maybe do a google search and see if there are any near you?

@WorrisomeHeart - I can’t understand why they don’t have a huge sign on their kitchen planner - I guess they’re relying on people waiting. Good luck finding somewhere else. I saw unitsonline too, kitchencollection.co.uk and looked at the recommendations above but they don’t offer bespoke colours which was important to me.

Completely agree, it seems really deceitful.

Lots of angry messages on their FB site about orders being cancelled and delayed and turning up with missing parts too. They are not having a good time at the moment.

@Cannotwait I've ordered a few sample doors from different DIY ranges with shorter lead times which is annoying because we already visited the showroom, which is 3 hours each way for us, and chose the one we wanted and also annoying because the newer ones are more expensive than the one I originally chose.

I am thinking about going back to Howdens or Benchmarx to be honest (although I don't like their kitchens as much as the one I chose from DIY) as I've lost a bit of trust in DIY but we've designed the whole thing around having one of their walk in larder units and I don't know how easy it is to get one of those elsewhere without spending a lot of money.

I found the customer service from DIY Kitchens absolutely appalling so maybe you’ve had a lucky escape!

The delivery dates have adjusted now on the website - the range we want is now a possibility again, so might be worth checking again?

zgaze can you tell us more about your experience please?

We are in the phase of wanting a new kitchen but not liking anything we've seen so far. I think I'm being far too picky to be honest. We did see a lovely kitchen in Magnet, plain slab door, matt paint. Pulled open a drawer and there was a chip on the paint, put me right off as I can't imagine it would be hard wearing.

We bought a kitchencollection.co.uk kitchen at our last house a few years ago and seemed fine - no problems with service or quality of units. Now looking for a kitchen and utility room for our new house. I was looking at diy kitchens but the long lead times on this thread are putting me off. I am thinking of an Aldana sage green which is made of ash with veneered centre. This coming up similar in price to a sage green in bedale on diy.com, also timber with veneer panel. The kc one might be a little more expensive but there is not a lot in it and their lead time is about 6 weeks. Neither have sage as a standard colour. The Howdens quote is more expensive, maybe about 50% more, but it's very tempting for the convenience of not having to fill an online shopping basket. Wondering whether to try to manage without end panels to save cost - just get some tongue and groove and paint it myself maybe. Any tips on this appreciated.