Kitchen dilemmas - IKEA/ John Lewis/ other?

[Cristiane]

hello, mumsnet kitchen experts, we have bought our first house and looking for a new house.

We have pulled up the carpet and lino and there are nice wood floors underneath, we will sand them. The kitchen will be open plan with a dining room. I also have some beautiful old swedish art deco dining table and chairs in an old swedish blue grey colour and a lovely matching dresser.

I am looking for a very clean looking kitchen, no ridges or lines on the cabinets. I will probably have no overhanging cabinets as i prefer the practicality of a couple of nice floor to ceiling narrow cupboard with shelves to store things, much easier to access i think and more efficient with space. So just base cabinets, a lovely worktop, probably in wood. Also an island that you can perch at.

The only ones i can see from IKEA are the high gloss ones which i don't think would go well with the furniture? John Lewis look to have more choice but i don't know how expensive they are? Are there other makers you know?

New KITCHEN doh

Ikea also have matt or low sheen slab doors.
JLP are a bit vague about pricing, I think you need to make an appointment.

I thought the matt IKEA one that i saw (applad) looked a bit plastic-y

John Lewis are a lot more expensive than Ikea and you have to pay for their design service.

Ok... Do they do any financing options? IKEA do 0% APR

What about Wicks Heritage Grey? Lots of people raving about it.

How about trying a local kitchen showroom, they normally do a range of budget to fancy kitchens and have a very wide range of doors they can order in.

Ok will have a look locally
Went to john Lewis today they gave us quote of £20k

Why not go for the Ikea one and have the doors sprayed in slate grey or matt navy or even a lightish grey? It's not very expenisve to have done.

Howdens are good. but they supply to trade only so you need to find a fitter

I have a wickes bathroom - I wouldn't have a wicked kitchen for all the tea in china. The sales staff are clueless and delivery was appauling.

Swedes2 I didn't know you could do that, very interesting!

Thanks for wickes warning and howdens recommendation. Dh wants to fit the kitchen so i think we will not go through a builder.

I have a Wickes kitchen (though I got it from Benchmarx, their trade arm, much cheaper) and it's fab, so don't necessarily be put off them. It depends who installs it for you. It's usually cheaper to get a 'little man' in than the Wickes people themselves.

We had JL to ours, you do pay for the design service but get it back if you order a kitchen. I guess if you need help with layout, use them to do the plan of where cabinets should go, then get the kitchen itself from spmeone else.