If you could buy a kitchen, where

[winkywinkola]

would you buy one from?

It's hard to tell which are really good quality and reeeeeeelly expensive versus crappy ones that still not v. cheap.

Plus fantasy kitchen stockists please. I like looking... ...

Hand made. But not from a designer brand like small bone which are not all that great to deal with, but a good independant.

I can recomend a very good company in the buckinghamshire/Oxfordshire area who has an excellent track record of fabulous quality bespoke kitchens at a fraction of the price of Plain English and the likes.

You get that real person from the start. You aren't paying for posh showrooms or brand name. You are paying for a quality bespoke product from real craftsmen

Ikea all day long. Can't fault it, my kitchen looks amazing and everyone comments on it. I did get quartz worktops elsewhere though.

Wren kitchens are nice quality IME. Not a bad price and the benefit of lots of large showrooms where there is a really good range on display.

Oh and they are not flat pack. They arrive ready built.

This chappie. They go from about £12k up to serious fantasy land. Was considering getting him over, but what I wanted in a kitchen from them would have blown the entire building budget.

Beaver, please tell me your recommendation.

I have a similar recommendation to beaver, but in Yorkshire.

I have a Cotteswood kitchen and would go back to them. Helpful, friendly, nothing too much trouble and they fit their own kitchens. No doubt there is cheaper but we needed a "name" kitchen as our house is lovely.

Gosh there's lots of places !
A lot depends on the style you want to achieve

• for slick modern style = German studio's ( some fab independents out there, selling Miele, Hacker, Nolte etc. to name a few)

-for country style = in fame style (English Revival, John Lewis of H, Neptune, Handmade of XChurch etc )

• family friendly and inexpensive = famous Swedish shop !

• opulent and Attention to detail = Christians, Mark Wilkinson, Smallbone

And loads in between !

Would be interested in your Oxon/Bucks recommendation please, Beaverfever2

pm'd

Yes. Please could you pm me too?

Tia

I've just got a gorgeous handmade completely bespoke one from a company called Oakstone Kitchens near us.
It's beautiful workmanship, fantastically detailed and a lovely layout and I don't regret it at all but they aren't the fastest or most organised which was a little annoying at times.

Your question has several dimensions to it.

If you want to go contemporary, I would always recommend German Kitchens. At the entry level end Hacker and Schuller are pretty good, but get some price comparisons on identical specifications as prices can very from dealer to dealer. There are several other suppliers of Germans kitchens, some better than others and some more expensive than others. PM if you need more info.

If you want the traditional look, you will get great value for a no frills joinery, but you probably wont get the design input from a good designer so while it might be a great kitchen, it may not be the best design for your requirements.

Showrooms certainly bring an amount of overhead to a product but if everyone was capable of buying from 2-D drawings and catalogues, without touching, feeling and experiencing what they might buy, catalogue shopping would be the answer.

Take your time with this decision as its one you will have to live with for a very long time.

I would also be grateful your Yorkshire recommendation Apparently!

In our last house we bought a ridiculously expensive handmade kitchen. In this house we have one from Ikea which hubby fitted which looks just as nice for a fifth of the cost. I'd buy another one from Ikea definitely.

Seriously? You think your IKEA one as good as expensive one? That's inspirational news. It's such a big decision. I don't want to mess it up.

I think it looks as good, yes. Whether it lasts as long remains to be seen I guess but it's guaranteed for 10 years I think at which point it's likely to be going out of fashion. I could buy five Ikea kitchens for the cost of our handmade one so it's pretty good value. When you buy a handmade kitchen you can have all the bells and whistles which you can't really have with an Ikea one - you buy off the shelf - but u honestly like it just as much if not more. The only thing I would change is to have more drawers instead of cupboards but that was my design choice so not Ikea's fault!

Apparently Please could you tell me your Yorkshire recommendation too? Thanks.

Sorry - just checked in again today. They're based in Colne, which is on the border of West Yorkshire and Lancashire. They're called Dovetail. Our kitchen is going in at the mo and looks beautiful. Fitted wardrobes have already gone in and are made in the same way and I'm v happy with them.

Erm- is it ok to give their details or should I have done pm's? I'm not connected to them at all.

I love Ikea. Just fitted my third Ikea kitchen and I farkin love them. It looks (blowing my own trumpet here) amazing - I know lots of people think white gloss is passé, but we have white gloss cabinets with wrap around wood worktops, mid level units in grey glossn

On one wall and it looks terribly mid century and cool. Our utility is plain, slightly cheaper Ikea doors too, and came in with 7 units (2 big ones) and four wall cabinets and wood worktops for well under £900. And we have a funky corner carousel :)

Money no object, here