Advice needed about buying a kitchen

[motheroreily]

I've never bought a kitchen before. I'm trying to help my uncle get a new kitchen fitted.

We've looked and b&q and homebase to get ideas. He really wants someone to come to his and measure up, make suggestions etc. Does anywhere offer a service like this?

Wren will come & measure up but you'd have to go to the showroom for the planning part. Also try smaller local companies as many of these will offer a more personalised service

According to July's Which? magazine, IKEA, Magnet and Howdens are best rated in their tests (though he'd need to find his own installer for Howdens, not sure about Magnet). Homebase was languishing at the bottom. B&Q was in the middle, Wren was rated more highly than B&Q.

I know IKEA has a design/planning service. According to the magazine it was rated highly for that service.

Thank you. I will look at your suggestions.

I think he imagined someone would come round measure it all and discuss what would work etc.

We've just had a kitchen installed by Wickes which scored highly with Which magazine. It's always a good idea to go to a showroom to look around and speak to staff. We had a home visit with the designer who did measurements and she talked through ideas and drew up a design which we saw in the store. She had good ideas to give us more storage space and deal with a tricky part of the kitchen and pretty much project managed it.

We're thrilled with the result and the way everything was handled throughout

Howdens you will need someone with a trade account to be able to purchase, is this something your Uncle could set up?

They will come and measure and plan; but hit or Miss with the suggestions offered and it felt like a slog to make changes to the plan, as often they make a change, send you the plan, you view and feedback and so on.

We are just about to install (starts tmrw!) a kitchen from DIY Kitchens (not the same as b&q) and they have an online planner that's really user friendly. Maybe have a go at popping your measurements in and have a play about, see if you can get a feel for a style you like. Some people get wren/Howdens to make a plan and use their measurements at DIYK (not saying that's right...but a suggestion)

My current DIYK kitchen was 4k cheaper than my last Howdens kitchen which was smaller too (old house 2y ago, so fairly recent)

HTH

www.diy-kitchens.com

Is he wanting a complete new design, or happy with the cupboards he currently has? If the latter, and the carcasses are still good- a change of doors/handles can be all he needs. We did this on a previous property. It updated the look at a fraction of the cost and people assumed we'd had a complete, new kitchen.

In our current property, we went to all the main kitchen suppliers- howdens, wickes, B&Q etc. Wickes, howdens and some independent places all came to the house to measure and provide advice on using the space we had.

He needs to start with the overall look he wants- modern, shaker, modern shaker, country, rustic etc etc. Also think about what he needs to fit in that space- fridge/freezer or Amercian sized one, dishwasher, microwave, washing machine, bin unit, pull our larder etc. Would he want an island, a peninsular or and island unit on wheels for chopping/storage that could be moved about? There is also the cost of the worktop, and what type/pattern/colour?

We got some ideas from the regular kitchen places, but ended up going with an independent supplier and our carpenter fitted it. The kitchen guy worked from his home, but had access to multiple suppliers/door/carcasses', designs etc. It cost less than the main stores yet the finish is high end.

He needs a complete redesign. The kitchen has never been replaced and he's lived there 40 years. There isn't a washing machine currently (which is what is spurring him on the get a new kitchen). So it all needs reconfiguring

Ask what his budget is OP.

My windowed aunt wanted a new kitchen. She assumed that prices since the 1970's/80's hadn't changed that much, and was completely unaware that installation was an additional cost along with the worktop, appliances, sink, taps etc etc.

I went to Wickes, took a basic room plan with measurements, position of window & door etc. They came up with a layout I liked (to be fair, small kitchen so not much room to manoeuvre) and a printout of all the components. I showed the layout and list to the kitchen fitter.

Look at local kitchen stores/joineries. The well known premium brands will do this of course, like Neptune, Plain English, Tom Howley, but there are local kitchen studios/joineries in every town that are much cheaper and offer full customer service. He might have to pay a designer fee first, which often then is subtracted from the final price.

Benchmarx are decent. Trade prices and can recommend you a local fitter.

His budget is around £10k which I think is probably realistic for the size of the room.

Definitely look at local firms. We used DIY Kitchens but for us, the local firm would have been similar in price to Howdens. If nothing else, you’d get a ballpark figure and can then see if it’s in the right area. They are more likely to provide the “service” aspect and for you to be able to speak to the same person each time, I suspect.

So independent kitchen companies will be more accommodating to visit and spend time with your uncle. We bought our kitchen from a local independent kitchen company in Buckhurst Hill, Essex. They were more than happy to come over and measure, they spent lot of time with us going over our vision and making changes as time went along. They visited on multiple occasions…however I would say if your uncle wants to really nail down exactly what he wants it might be worth making a trip to see the different doors and finishes they have to offer. Inspiration from the kitchen showroom. Saying they they do have samples they can bring to you.

We used Eden Kitchens www.edenkitchens.com
if your not too far maybe worth giving them a shout.

Good luck!