Kitchens - anyone never had any problems?

[Sarcelle]

Hi

Has anyone used one of the mainstreams/chains for kitchens, and there were no problems?

Being a bit of a negative nelly, I fear the worse (hear bad things) but my DH say you never hear the good stuff.

Any good news stories and who were the suppliers etc.

We used wren and paid £8k for our kitchen including integrated goods excluding work top as we purchased oak separately for this..
The kitchen is beautiful however we did have a few issue and the aftercare was shocking!

I think your husband is quite correct. It's not in our nature to start a conversation (or online thread) just to say a product or service we bought for the price we were expecting was delivered / installed on the day we agreed, to the standard that was advertised. It's what should happen ....

I bought my kitchen from howdens, installed by my joiner. Absolutely no issues. He quoted a few options, we agreed on one. Howdens store is a mile away so he & I were easily able to pop in to pick up last minute change requests.

It's a perfectly good kitchen for what I paid, it's not as solid as a hand built, solid wood kitchen ..... but that's not what I bought. So no issues there.

The most difficult thing for us was getting quotes - nothing was transparent and it all got very stressful. We didn’t have a joiner or builder so that made it even more complicated.

We eventually decide on Magnet, including their installation. Once we had signed up we had no issues at all and we are really pleased with both the kitchen and the services of Magnet and their installer.

What about Wickes? Anyone used them for kitchen and installation?

Yes, Wickes did ours in May 2018. The designer was brilliant, really helpful, the fitter was great, kept to schedule and did a good job. The kitchen and fittings aren’t top of the range by any means but we’re pleased with it and get loads of complements on it.

A4Notebook
I'm glad you can recommend Magnet.
I wouldn't recommend them to my worst enemy.

IKEA kitchen was brilliant, didn't use their fitter though as dint like him! Ikea designed it all and gave us the plans

We used Wren, about £14k. Couple of missing items which were supplied quickly and without fuss. Great quality, no problems otherwise. DH fit the kitchen however (apart from worktops) as they wanted £4K to do so if I remember rightly. Even the saleswoman was at that.

Please do not touch Magnet with the proverbial shitty stick. Worst kitchen fitters ever and the company were a nightmare to deal with when we complained.

We've had 3 kitchens fitted in different houses in recent years. Howdens, IKEA and B & Q.

Howdens - best quality but dire service, lots of wrong items delivered and they ended up driving over multiple replacement items by car in the end. We were so cheesed off with all the problems.

IKEA - lowest quality drawers compared to the others, really thin bases, other items ok and I love the ceramic sink we got. Kitchen looks fine and they got the order right first time. I like that you can design it yourself online.

B & Q - quality somewhere in the middle, drawers very solid but our kitchen fitter says the doors aren't up to much. He thinks Wickes are better quality. Planning service was good and the order was spot on first time.

We used Benchmarx, great product and price but... lots of items delivered that we didn't need, and we had to go to the local branch to collect items we did need. Took a month before we had everything we needed. However, the price for a timber kitchen compared to the price for a MDF kitchen for the other companies (Sheridan and Howdens) and I love it.

IKEA from start to finish, including their fitters and no problems, except with an appliance not working. Refunded under warranty with no quibbles.