Diy kitchens - worth the trip?!

[AnnieAnoniMouse]

I'm putting in a new (small) kitchen.

I'm torn between slab white gloss & slab matt/painted (I don't want shaker style). I do like the gloss white kitchens (so far benchmarx door is the best I found) but I actually think a painted/matt look would suit the house more. Trouble is, I can't find a nice matt white door - they all look really cheap.

I live 4-5 hours drive from DIY kitchens, is it worth the trip up there?

They send out sample doors for about £20 which is refunded when they are returned. I did this rather than do the journey there. The kitchens are fab. So much better than the Benchmarx and Howdens ones I looked at in terms of quality and so much cheaper. My tip is to get someone from Howdens to come and do a design then send the quote you get to DIY kitchens and they will do their quote based on that. It's hard to know all the little bits like filler panels etc that you need if you aren't a professional.

Sorry, I should have explained more, I was just trying to avoid it reading like War & Peace!

I've done the whole Benchmarx, Howdens etc designs & I know I can get doors sent from DIY, but I really want to see the overall look of the doors on the cabinets. I've seen a few doors that looked ok, but when I've seen them on a run of cabinets they didn't look good :(

The other thing is with work & kids on summer holidays soon, this weekend might be my only chance to get up there and I need to choose soon because I want it installed as soon as the kids are back at school.

I travelled about 2 hrs to get there and it was worth it but we ended up going with howdens any way as they price matched it. Was good to see a lot of different options and all the cupboard sizes though!

We went twice but it's only an hour away from us. I'd say it is worth a visit though, the bit with all the different cupboards they do is worth it if you are designing the kitchen yourself

Get a quote from a Scheuller dealer for a matt kitchen - not as pricey as you may think.

Jennifaerie. What made you choose Howdens over DIY?

Iheart. Which one did you go with?

Out&In. Thanks, I'll go and have a look at their website.

We went to the showroom twice - once so DP could see the quality and the second time to sit down and go through the design and our order basket with them. Well worth it on both occasions though we are only an hour and a half away.

We got the Welton in frame effect in oval room blue.

We're moving into a new build so it was easier to buy howdens with it being local and they needed less advance notice of order. We've gone for light grey gloss with white quartz tops. Being delivered today

DIY have some real slab door examples here if they can give you a better idea?

wow what did you end up buying?

iheart oh I bet that will look fabulous!

jenni how exciting! I hope it goes well!

Ramona. Yes, I've spent a long time looking at their showroom online, but it's not the same really.

I have the matt white handleless doors in my new kitchen. I can send you some photos of what they actually look like in-situ

Where do you live?

We have the Harewood painted in alabaster - we want traditional as it's a period house. Quality seems very good. The tiler wanted to know where we got it from!

Btw there is a kitchen there where they demo different cookers, etc. Time it right and you can have lunch for free prepared by the in house chef.

Do they have an induction demo @wowfudge?
Wondering when I should go to time it right

suzyrut. That would be great. I'll pm you my details 😊

wow. That sounds nice. I'll have more small doors & small drawers than large & I just think that in this kitchen a shaker style will look too cluttered. Nice in a bigger kitchen though. Good to know your tiler was impressed. Hmm might see if he'll do me dinner if I go up today 😊

🤣 I'll check out the times for tomorrow if I go up.

I'm secretly hoping Suzy lives nearby & doesn't mind me going to look at hers 😊

The chef is a she - tbh not sure whether it's just a service for their showroom visitors because lots of people must travel long distances to go there. If you smell food cooking it puts you in the mood for a new kitchen?!

I spoke to her about induction hobs and she likes them and there is one there. I think the appliances in the chef's kitchen are the ones they sell. We weren't interested in getting appliances from them so it was just an excuse for DP to fill his face with steak and ale pie and roast new potatoes .

Annie what is it you dont like when you see them in a run of units?
Boring? or....

Excuse the mess! It was finished in Feb and I love it. I am never moving house as if miss the kitchen too much! It was a labour of love to design it but worth the time and effort

A couple more

We live down south and trekked up to the showroom last weekend. We booked two nights in a hotel in Leeds so we could at least enjoy a bit of a weekend away! I found it really useful visiting in person. We changed our minds as to what we wanted when we saw it in the flesh, so to speak... They also had loads of handles and worktop samples so that really helped build an overall feel of how the kitchen would look. Hope that helps!

That's a good point about helping you decide. The first time we visited DP stood by one of the displays and said he liked it and thought it would work in our house so that made things easy.

I'm not going to go up this weekend, but I've swapped a few things around so that I can go up next weekend if I stilll want to.

iheart. Thanks for the photos 😊 I can see why you wouldn't want to move!

wow. Do you lend your DP out?

🤣

Isee. I'll be coming up on my own. I was hoping to stay a bit closer, but might stay in Leeds if I can't find anywhere. I'm hoping to find a few other places to look at while I'm up there, that we don't have down here (different places for taps, worksurfaces etc). I'm glad you made a nice weekend of it.

*User...700'. It's not easy to explain especially without offending anyone. Some of the doors look ok when you've just got a single door but just look really 'cheap & nasty' when they're together on the cabinets and I don't like it when there are gaps between the doors creating a dark surround. It's all especially noticible on Matt doors, but I'm 99.99% sure I'll go with Matt now as in this small kitchen I think the reflections will drive me batshit and I think (if I can find the right ones) the Matt will suit the house better. For example Magnet do a gloss one called Integra, I LOVE it in blue (but it won't go with the rest of the house) but I really don't like it in the white. To me the gaps between the doors just look awful & it looks cheap, whereas in the blue it looks vastly more expensive than it is.

OP - have you phoned them to check they do have a run of units in the style you are looking at for you to see?!

Captainholt - beautiful kitchen!

They have an online tour of the showroom so you can easily check what is on display.

We were talking yesterday about how South and West Yorkshire are a Mecca for solid surface worktops so visiting other kitchen suppliers is a good plan OP.

DP is on gutter clearing and minor plumbing duties. After he's watched the rugby of course. This is the man who thinks bright yellow or blue bar stools will work in our new kitchen. His tastes are either very conservative or just plain wrong!