I have fallen in love with this kitchen

[middleagedspread]

www.tomhowley.co.uk/kitchens/contemporary-shaker-kitchen/

I suspect it might be beyond my budget though.
Any comments?

[ILikeBirds]

Are the cup handles not really annoying?

I've always found that it's harder to open drawers because you can't grab the handle from above

[Lavenderloves]

Funny that they are local :-) but good.

Look at the website for my other company though if just for ideas. The butchers block inlaid in the island looks lovely.

[TheRealFellatio]

No, the cup handles were lovely. But what were an absolute pain in the arse were these kind on the cupboard doors, don't know if you can see them clearly or zoom in on them, but they are like a dinky little door knob with a latch that goes into a return. on the opposite door.

I moved heaven and earth to source those from the states, and they cost me a bloody fortune, but they lasted about a week before I got the fitter to take them off and replace them with plain knobs, because they were so fiddly to operate with wet, messy hands, and so difficult to keep clean. Nice for cupboards that get opened occasionally, but an absolute mare in the kitchen for everyday use.

[TheRealFellatio]

I've tried to post my photos but I can't get them to work.

[californiaburrito]

I can second the recommendation above for handmade kitchens direct. I have a kitchen from them, although in slightly more modern style than the Tom Howley kitchen. I'm hopefully going to be moving house in the next year and I would use them again if I need a new kitchen and I always need a new kitchen.

I think they're in Dorset as well or somewhere SW-ish

[bushbabyblues]

For anyone looking, Farmer Bros in London's Fulham Road carry all the handle styles the spenny kitchen designers use, and they can order in for you too.

Cup handles and the ones that look like chandlery are also available at Nu-Line on Westbourne Grove.

[Lavenderloves]

The plain english site is lovely. God i love kitchens without the fitted look.

Quite looking forward to repainting now.

Who did you source your handles from therealfellatio?

[Lavenderloves]

Ew cross post, thanking you kindly.

[Bunbaker]

I have a Shaker style kitchen. It looks lovely, but I am always having to clean the inserts at the bottom of the doors and drawers as they are a real grease and dust magnet. My next kitchen will have completely flush doors for this reason.

[TheRealFellatio]

I googled exhaustively! And then emailed the company direct and asked for a one off order to be delivered to the UK as they were a trade supplier in the states. I had to pay through the nose for them but I am sure you can probably get them reasonably easily in the UK now. It was 6/7 years ago, and Plain English had just started doing that style but not many other mainstream companies had yet followed suit. I am sure most decent ironmongery companies will have added that style to their range now.

[timidviper]

I had a kitchen made by a local company which is not dissimilar to this but not in-frame as I preferred the doors on the front of the carcass and it has curved end cupboards. It is painted in F&B cream and a pale greeny colour, black mottled granite worktops with pewter knobs on cupboards and cup handles on drawers. I love it, it is absolutely perfect. Having the big island and seating makes it more useable as a living space rather than just somewhere to cook

The best tip I was ever given was from here. Draw a plan of your old kitchen and label with what is in each unit then draw the new kitchen and label that. That way you can see what storage you need and where you need cupboards, drawers, etc.

[fossil971]

I put in a Shaker kitchen last year and so it was my specialist subject for about 18 months . In the end we were too pushed for budget even for the lovely Handmade Kitchens. I had a plain Shaker door and oak effect carcase from DIY kitchens, and styled it with shelves, a freestanding larder and painted it all in Little Greene. We also don't have much space and there's no getting away from it, in-frame kitchens don't often make good use of it.

I looked at one place in Leicester that made beautiful bespoke kitchens, they made all their units with veneered board or plywood and were definitely worth the money. OTOH my friend has a lovely looking Devol kitchen but IMO the design is so bad it's toxic - appalling storage, inaccessible sink, no workspace where it's needed and full of dust traps.

I suppose some places just have more overheads than others. I think the worst offenders are the DIY places like Homebase and B&Q, they have such a paltry limited selection of units, and often very cheap carcases when you see on DIY-kitchens or something what the full range is and how inexpensive a very solid kitchen can be.

Also don't underestimate design, I am a designer for work so I was OK working it out and drawing it up, but not everyone is up for doing that.

[pootlebug]

Our kitchen is from Higham. The carcass quality is a million miles from the Ikea carcasses in our utility room.

[EleanorFarjeon]

That is very, very similar to my kitchen which is from Howdens! (Burford Grey with cup and knob handles ) Our floor looks identical too.

[TheRealFellatio]

Kitchens where the door is hung in the frame, on proper hinges rather than laid on top of it so you cannot see the frame beneath (which is how most mass produced kitchens are) have carcasses of a totally different and much more solid construction type. but they are much more expensive for that reason as well.

[Jacaqueen]

This is also my favourite subject at the moment!

We have looked at Neptune/Kit Stone but our local stockist provided really bad customer service so this put us off. I have since heard that the quality of the doors and carcasses isn't very good. I think it looks the part though it only comes in a limited range of sizes so not bespoke.

I was so dissapoined to find out that Harvey Jones use chip board. Sure it is really thick good quality coated chip board but if I am paying £30k for a kitchen I want it looking good internally as well as externally. Apparently Mark Wilkinson, Smallbone use the same.

I coveted a Tom Howley, Martin Moore, Plain English kitchen. But even then there are things about each that I don't like. Also we are in Scotland and hundreds of miles away from the nearest showrooms.

I have managed to find a local cabinet maker who is going to make it all for me. We are designing it together, taking all the aspects that I like and using his 30 years of experience. Hopefully it should be good.

He uses a mixture of tulip wood, plywood and veneered mdf. It should last a life time.

[Lavenderloves]

A friend told me that chip board is the next asbestos

[Reastie]

lavender really??? why??

[middleagedspread]

Jacaqueen , you & me both.
I drool over Plain English, Martin Moore et al. But really I know that it's the marketing that I admire.
I too looked at Neptune. The standard cupboards & single colour I'm so shallow put me off. Having said that, my architect rates KitStone for the price.
I went to my local show room today. Sure enough, most of the doors are made by Second Nature, as someone said on here( I think I rather surprised the assistant by asking probing questions about frames, chip board & kick boards). None of them looked very sturdy, at least I know what I don't want.

[Lavenderloves]

SorRry rl getting in the way!

Its due to the formaldahyde used in the boards. Mdf also very suspicious. Some australian research on it i think.

I know i'd rarther avoid it.

[Lcy]

A mumsnetter posted this a while ago and I am in the process of doing similar

aubreyandlindsay.blogspot.ca/2012/09/kitchen-reveal_26.html

[bushbabyblues]

Middleagedspread: Plain English have started doing a carcass + door system called British Standard or somesuch. Their product for your builder to install. I saw it whilst walking through Shoreditch the other day and it looked very impressive.

My MIL had an entire kitchen made in solid timber with real oak doors - all from scratch and totally bespoke for £10k last year. This was in the NW. If you can find a carpenter and a joiner it can be done for far less than a branded inferior product.

Having said that, I've never actually come across an affordable joiner in London so that option's probably not as straightfoward as it sounds .

[UtterflyButterfly]

middleagedspread if you're anywhere near Bristol i can recommend Cadbury Kitchens in Yatton. Had ours done by them and it was just beautiful and excellent quality. Was really sad to leave it behind when we moved - it still looked like new after 6 years.

[sybilwibble]

I too fell in love with that exact picture a few years back and actually got TH round to measure up and quote. I never heard form them again, the cheeky bleeders. I even chased up the quote, nothing. I found someone independent locally to build me a in frame shaker kitchen and I absolutely love, love, love it. I'd really recommend them - Teddington Kitchens, if you are in sw london.

[Brugmansia]

If you don't mind me asking sybilwibble, what were Teddington kitchens prices like?