Can someone talk me out of an in frame kitchen?

[vinobell]

I have been planning my kitchen for nearly a year and read every single kitchen thread here going! I have fallen in love with in frame - and want that Martin moore/devol look on a budget - done to death right?

Trouble is my kitchen isn't the biggest and I have to have a couple of 400 wide units in there to make the space work - I'm worried about the frame width making these too small. On top of this the range I'm looking at don't have butt hinges (DIY kitchens) - so would the standard blum hinges take up even more space? Would this be too impractical? what about the 600 drawers? are these reasonable?

This isn't my forever home - we plan to be here 5-7 years, and i want it to be re sellable. My main choices are between DIY kitchens hemsley or Norton (the plain shaker - not inframe). I definitely want V grooves and a painted timber finish. The other option was DIY welton which would sort of give me the look of inframe but its a smooth painted finish and i would prefer the woodgrain.

Argh! i can't decide whether to go with a plain shaker as its more practical, and whether i'll ever be happy with how it looks. Or If I'm going in frame are www.unitsonline.com - the baystone or burbridge ranges much superior? From my maths these ranges are 25%+ more expensive than DIY Kitchns.

Please some one save me from this cycle of indecision and turmoil!

If you want v grooves, neither the Hemsley nor the Norton has them.

We have the Harewood inframe kitchen and the frames don't make a huge difference to getting things in and out of the cupboards - in fact there is no lip of frame at the bottom of any of the cabinets because of the design and the frame on the other three sides protrudes less than an inch. On some of the narrower units the frame is completely outside the opening so it looks like inframe but the frame doesn't protrude. The frames can be removed if you ever needed to. The hinges with soft closers are fairly bulky, but you only need one per door.

We replaced an old painted MDF inframe kitchen with butt hinges with the DIY one which is so much better in terms of quality and look.

We were going to go with an in frame kitchen from DIY. What changed my mind, though was the availability of cabinet types: way few cabinets offered as in-frame. In the end, I went with non-in-frame shaker fronts as they do look smart but aren't awkward and we were able to get all the cabinets we needed.

wowfudge it was the harewood that i meant actually - apologies they had all merged into one! but yes definitely the harewood. i haven't had a chance to go and look at it yet but will be going to the pontefract showroom. so on the smaller units of the harewood there isn't actually a frame - just the inflame effect? that could work - but what size units? just 300 and below?

wowfudge are you happy with your choice? anything you would change?

and jojo do you mean the range of units was less flexible? as far as i can see they have everything i need in the harewood apart from one which i hope my joiner can cut down.

did anyone bother buying the butt hinges separately and using them instead?

If they've got what you need in the Harewood, then that's perfect. I think the carcasses stay the same and just the fronts are given the in-frame look so you won't have a problem with unit widths.

I love our new kitchen @vinobell. I'm not bothered about not having butt hinges as I really like the soft closers. The kitchen is in an extension to an Edwardian house so it kind of nods to the age of the house without trying to look slavishly Edwardian. I wish the curved units had more than one, fixed shelf but that isn't going to be an issue if you don't have them.

I was talked out of inframe kitchen cupboards because they are difficult to clean. To be fair though I rarely clean my kitchen cupboards so I'm not sure how important that really is 😳

The only thing I hate about ours are the 300 cupboards, they're too narrow to store anything properly and you can't retro fit pull out baskets.

JT05 how are the 400 cupboards? more reasonable? and what do you think the narrowest useful drawer width is? 400?

wowfudge thats great feedback thanks, how long have you had the harewood if you don't mind me asking? and what colour do you have? what size drawers?

so useful! thanks to the amazing MN wisdom

It was fitted in April. Alabaster. 1000mm! The drawers are brilliant. We have three sets of 1+2 pan drawers.

HI,
I'm also trying to learn about in frame kitchens but all the posts are quite old. Does anyone has an experience with the Shaker Kitchen Co?
I know that their carcasses are made of MDF....

We are planning to live here for about 7 years so wouldn't be our forever house.
Maybe someone can advice on a good joiner as well?
Thanks a lot!!!