Schmidt kitchens

[Sipsmith]

Has anyone heard of this brand.
We went into a showroom today and one of the kitchens on display is exactly what I imagine my dream kitchen to be like.
But they seemed a bit pricey, twice the price of Howdens units.

Might see what their planning serive is like.

[Gozogozo]

I looked at Schmidt & thought that they seemed sturdier & better quality than howdens, also far more customisable. They made a big thing of how they reduced plinth size to incorporate 4 drawers instead of 3 & had glass drawer edges as standard, which I did end up paying extra for as I went with Hacker, a similar quality German firm. Hacker had the finishes that I preferred, otherwise would definitely gone with Schmidt over Howdens.

[Gozogozo]

Forgot to say that you must negotiate! Should easily get 20% plus off!

[melomal]

They make really good kitchens, sturdy and tough but again it's on the pricey side however saying that the kitchen is about longevity and as always you get what you pay for.

Saying that any kitchen that is German made will always be strong, I'm yet to come across a German kitchen company that doesn't build units which go together perfectly.

Do a search in Google before you commit to Schmidt as there are lots of other firms that specialise in German kitchens. But being honest, don't expect the prices to vary too much, they tend to float around the same prices.

Just think BMW, Merc and Audi and imagine they make kitchens, pretty much the same thing.

[Thisissomething]

I have a Schmidt kitchen. It was installed 5 years ago and I am still very happy with it. The appliances are great as well and it's easy to clean and solid. We dismantled the island a few months ago and were a bit nervous about putting back but it was fine.

Only complaint was the tap. It cracked within a few months, they replaced it no problem with the same model which cracked again. Sorry I can't remember the make of the tap. Hth.

[EmGee]

I think it is a French company. I am in France and have just ordered a Schmidt kitchen and the guy told me they have branches in the Uk. All made in France - they make a big point of selling that to their customers here.

We have just had a kitchen designed with them for approx 17k€. The guy did a good job designing it and was quite helpful re choosing units, appliances etc. The units (viewed in showroom) looked sturdy and classy. Drawers etc opened smoothly. The final design they showed us looked like a real-life photo - I was amazed at how realistic it was and hope the finished result looks like that

Anyway I hope this is the same Schmidt as the one you are talking about!!!

[Sipsmith]

Thanks for the replies.

Yes, they are French, despite the German name!

I'm going to see their planner to see what they can do and how much it will be.

[TheMums]

Avoid at all costs.
They are all about business.
They do not care about the customer at all.

[flappy888]

Sorry to wake this zombie thread again but I have to agree with TheMums. Whatever you do avoid them. The actual equipment seems good, but the service that we have received from the Barnet store is nothing short of shocking. The problem is that each store is a separate franchise. Some may be good and some maybe bad. When I have reached out to Schmidt directly they are not interested and tell me to contact the store. So they are only as good as the store and their fitters. There is no big company backup at all.

[N20family]

Unfortunately I have to agree with the most recent postings Re Schmidt Barnet. We have had a horrendous time and wished we had never chosen them to do our new kitchen. A year later we have a fabulous looking kitchen but the stress to get here was horrendous. The quality of units is excellent but.......
A list of what we experienced;
Delays, poor measuring, inability to adjust plans to fit correctly, completely awful communication, demands for money upfront even when delivery is not happening, threats of fines if money not paid despite nothing arriving, extra charges when alternative units needed because Schmidt wrongly measured and no refund for units that no longer fit due to mismeasuring/ non measurement. Multiple fitters with varying competence levels. Damaged goods were replaced but after months and a lot of agro.
Beware!

[deekurbee]

I've had schmidt kitchen for over 25 years and it's still going strong the units are factory built so no self-assembly brilliant

[AliBarnard]

I know that this is now an old thread however I am so incensed by their lack of service i felt compelled to write something!
We got our kitchen from the Dorking branch. After going through the design and full consultant I was really pleased with how attentive they were and the kitchen design was everything I wanted. It was pricey, more than I thought I would pay but I thought it would be worth it.
The kitchen was fitted in October. The first problem was the the sink which was the wrong one, ok that's not much of an issue, they replaced it (took 3 weeks, washing up in the bath! but fine) The next thing was the under sink bins wouldn't fit because the manifold for the underfloor heating was there, after that was the tumble dryer which wouldn't fit because of the pipes leading to the boiler( all on the plans!).
These points should not have been an issue since they did a site visit to check for exactly this type of thing. Well it turns out that they were unable to communicate with the designer and subsequently charged us £300 for a new unit and to this date we have no tumble dryer.
To add to this list: I spent ages trying to contact them to discuss this, when I did I was told that its our fault! I'm still now trying to get the finishing touches sorted and it's now February! We had bits left in the kitchen for weeks, the filter for the tap didn't arrive, no tap was sent for the utility, the motors for the wall units weren't connected, still have no covers... it's just a catalog of things that built up a really bad picture of this company. They were all about the communication when we were going through the design but once we had paid it was downhill from there.

I certainly would not have paid them the full £35,000 had I known I was going to have these sorts of issues. I really thought I was paying for a great kitchen and service.

I am sure there are companies out there who would provide a better service and feeling than this one. They will not have my business or recommendation again.

Thanks for reading what turned out to be a longer rant than expected!!

[Treet0ps]

Hi Camberley1

Can youbket me know how it turned out with schmidt camberley? We are getting a quote from them so would be really interested

Thanks!

[Sunny1986]

Hello all - I realise this is a very old thread but wondered if anyone had an opinion on Schmidt Camberley? We are finalising our design with them at the weekend and I'm now a bit apprehensive after reading this thread...! Any stories appreciated!

[waivisuals]

Hello Sunny 1986,

we are dealing with Schmidt Oxford. You can read my review of them by googling "Schmdit Kitchens Oxford"

I'm sure if everything goes well, you'll have a good kitchen, however if any problems arises you could be in for a long, long, long period trying to resolve this and no compensation will be honored as I quote from their customer service:

"Concerning the compensation of 100 euros for each week late, it's an agreement we can credit you if the complete order is delivered too late. In our situation, the showroom is not obligated to do that compensation. "

There customer service is pretty crap too. We went through proper channels of inquiry. They did kick start Schmidt Oxford to do some work but we are waiting for finalisation and compensation. Since their email above, we haven't hear from the Customer Service in over 5 months so I finally did a review and posted on their face book page.

I would echo similar problems experienced byN20 family& Alibarnard. There's also rumors of some one else who had spent more than N20family having similar problems.

All in all, Our kitchen was meant to be finished at the start of Dec 2017, so we could decorate finish it and celebrate Christmas. Didn't happen though. We are still chasing stuff today mid August 2018.

It's a flip of a coin whether you get a honorable or dishonorable shop and would they resolve problems if any popped up?

[dwillsvn]

Hi, so this post regards schmidt Camberly, but I regret choosing them so this is my review and Im sharing everywhere I see the discussion. NO one should require legal assistance in order to get what they order....
I am beyond disappointed to report our hideous experience with Schmidt Camberley. I will keep this Brief but do know we have 2 A4 Pages of issues documented throughout this traumatic experience.
We opted to go for what we believed was a high-end company, as we wanted one great experience with the bells and whistles they acted like they could provide. We have had endless problems with wrong items being sent, many items missing, and then fighting to get what we had asked for when we ordered. I am sad to say that whilst most issues were resolved, this has only happened because we had legal help and our legal advisor was in full contact with Schmidt. We genuinely believe without his legal help, we would not have our kitchen. Our kitchen is not what we had ordered. Compromises were made in order to get close. We wanted the cooker hood with spice rack and they sent a different one. We wanted the pedal bin, and this had to be a different brand retro fitted with fitting costs at our expense and no offer to cover this cost.
We have had no apology for our trauma and we wanted nothing more than to celebrate our dream kitchen. Instead we have a daily reminder of the heart ache and worry that has occurred for half of this year. We placed our order in November. We still don’t have our final shelf up as we are having to wait for our fitters to come back due to Schmidt being so delayed in rectifying issues (we only had the shelf delivered in the last few weeks). I will add, I was told this suspended shelf was something they could do, and it was all in hand…. the reality is that we have had to source our own suspension gear.
Please be aware that these cowboys are actually called Luxor kitchens. This was not on any paper work. As a result, SCHMIDT head office have been difficult and not helpful. I have had only 2 phone calls from head office in regard to this issue and those were long after our legal advisor had stepped in and hunted down the UK representative of Schmidt and spoken to her.
Whilst Schmidt have seemed to be in the background on this matter, it has not been enough to reassure us, and we are worried sick should we ever need to initiate the guarantee on anything.
I strongly advice you look elsewhere for a kitchen. I feel I would have done better on eBay!

[putthatdown]

yes but don't recommend. They are a franchise so no guarantee what service you will get. My experience was shocking - parts delivered damaged, worktop stained, cabinets not load bearing. Awful. I'm about to take them to court!

[Lily7050]

This is the first place I found negative reviews about Schmidt kitchens. Everywhere else I looked almost 100% reviews are 5* positive.
I wonder if anyone has had negative experience with Schmidt Fulham?

[ghislaine]

I'm looking into buying an ex-display Schmidt kitchen but am already nervous given these experiences. Anyone with recent experience?

[orange11lily]

Anyone recently had schmidt kitchen from barnet? I saw good reviews in trust pilot during the lockdown. But I really do not want to get into the mud. Any updates would be helpful!!

[bury4nest]

Hello all. I am reviving this thread because I am taking Schmidt to court. I have a hearing soon and I refused mediation. Every single negative remark made in this thread applied to me. Months of stress and agony and thousands of pounds (35K+). No formal avenue of escalation as you all figured probably too late that they are all franchises with no HQ to hold accountable. I asked them to compensate us for the pain, they refused. So I filed with a court.

The most interesting thing is that they have appointed a lawyer with billable hours to fight their case against me than offer me a partial refund for my pain. THATS what you might be dealing with ordering from them.

My branch was Schmidt Fulham and my designer was Ammara. I cringed when I typed 'designer'. She most definitely isn't in my opinion.

If only I can turn this in a class action and take these guys to the ombudsman so they can shut each of them down on unfair contract terms and poor customer treatment.