New kitchen advice please - Wren, Ikea, magnet, something else?

[noodleaddict]

Looking to redo our medium sized kitchen. Like the wren stuff and they've quoted around £10k (though that includes £3k for the quartz worktop ) but have just been put off by some of the terrible reviews on here!

To be honest we were looking at more like a budget of £7k but we want good quality too. Is this unrealistic?

Any advice on who to go with, best designers/fitters? Is it best to source your own fitters or use the kitchen company's? Source worktop separately perhaps? What about appliances?

Any advice would be gratefully received!

TIA

Snickers. Your worktop looks lovely. Where did you get it from and is it easy to keep looking nice?

The worktop is Iroko wood from Worktop express. It looks nice but it's only been in for about 3 weeks.

DIY kitchens- we did our kitchen this year and we are more than pleased.

I've always had howdens kitchens. Always been very impressed

MorrissZap DIY kitchens have the F&B painted kitchens and they are £1000s less than Wren.

Our kitchen is quite small but the quotes were if I remember were

£11000 from Wren without fitting or white goods
Magnet I failed to locate a sales person
£25000 from a local kitchen supplier who used DIY kitchens under a different name
£2800 DIY Kitchens direct, £1200 for fridge freezer, washing machine, tumble dryer, dishwasher, oven, hob, extractor fan, sink and taps. Sourced from AO and Lidl and B&Q.

With fitting and quartz work top and handles it came to just over £8000.

Think the name in kitchen shops is Ultima if you want to have a look ateen DIY Kitchens . I might be wrong but that is what rings a bell from my dim memory

I wouldn't recommend ikea. We had one and it looked and felt cheap. Water got on to the cupboard under the sink and the door fell off through rotting the cheap mdf wood!! Called for a replacement but they discontinued the line so took ages for them to locate left over stock in Germany. Not in that house anymore. I would have hated to have had to do that every year at a cost of £50!

We have recently purchased from DIY kitchen (yes to it being an ultima kitchen). I can only comment on the larders as the rest has not been installed but would happily recommend it.(hope to complete installation within the next few weeks). There were a couple of issues with what arrived but these were quickly rectified. Units arrived ready built so installation should be relatively straightforward.
We plan to buy our work top else where, granite work top was approx 25% more expensive than elsewhere. Be careful if you're looking at a quartz worktop, check out resin content as it can vary widely.
I'm in SE London, feel free to pm me if you want to know more.

Also, we installed an Ikea kitchen in our previous house. Whilst we were happy with it, I think for the relatively little difference in price (wren, b&q magnet etc all a lot more expensive) the DIY kitchen was a much better option. The units being prepared built was a massive help.

HTH

Yes, DIY kitchens are a trading arm of Ultima Kitchens. They have a showroom in Pontefract if anyone lives up Yorkshire way.

Been following this thread with interest as were just starting out with planning our kitchen extension. Wren has been crossed off the list!

I meant to ask .. those of you who went with DIY kitchens, did you get a kitchen layout done at another store which you then replicated at DIY Kitchens? Or how did you finalise your plan and know what to order? (Sorry, kitchen newbie here!)

Sally- I used Independent designer on MN and she was fab.
Onehouzzplan- search her and I am not the only MNer who has used her and very happy with it.

Water got on to the cupboard under the sink and the door fell off through rotting the cheap mdf wood!!

That is exactly what happened to our kitchen. It was only about 7 years old and fitted in the house by the previous owners.

It's also worth noting that Ikea kitchens don't have a service void at the back.

I got lots of designs from various kitchen companies, but ended up using my own, which was just right for me.

whatashower your kitchen is AMAZING.

Do DIY kitchens do all the interior fittings for cupboards that Ikea do? I am a sucker for them!!

I wish I came here a year ago. Lol

I swear by howdens and as a developer get to fit the kitchens myself. I might give diy kitchens a go next time though. I get a decent discount as I use howdens for doors and replacements for my rental properties but diy kitchens seems like it would still be 10% or more cheaper after checking out their curved units etc.

Has anyone used both? How does the quality compare?

Just ordered my new kitchen from DIY Kitchens (Linwood Cornflower Blue), and worktops from Worktop Express (Iroko) after refitting my utility room last year with the same.
We actually went on holiday to York a few weeks ago so we popped into the showroom and I actually changed some of my units to fancier ones (tambour, wire pull out baskets) after seeing them in the flesh.
The quality is excellent and the fact that they come ready built is such a bonus, my husband and I am fitting it as he found it quite easy in the utility.
Definitely recommend both companies, their customer service is great too, you can email them questions and they reply really quickly, we have made some adjustments to some units after contacting them.
Having had a previous wickes and howden kitchen, I can say that DIY kitchens quality is way above them, I liked the ikea ones but I prefer the choice available from DIY kitchens.

whatashower I love your kitchen! Is that a stainless steel worktop? Which hob have you gone for? I had been convinced by the Ikea voxtorp but now I'm seriously considering the diy kitchens options as I don't like the non Ikea integrated dishwasher solution which has some bad reviews...
Did you design yourself or go elsewhere first? What did you do for the ovens? Are they 2 full suzed plain ovens or is one a microwave too? Very inspiring!

Same question that Sally already asked - did everyone who used diy kitchens have a professional to measure and do the plans so know what to order? Or did anyone do it all themselves and how easy was it?

Also having an independent kitchen designer sounds expensive! Anyone have an idea of the rough cost?

Newdaddie- sorry, can't make your name bold. We've just taken out a Howdens kitchen to put in a diy kitchen one. In my limited experience of my new one, I'd say it's much better. The one we took out was only in for 5 years max (we only moved a couple of years ago and know it was refurbished max 3 years prior to that). We weren't being wasteful in replacing it, we are doing a big extension so the old kitchen didn't work but actually, it was starting to look past its best. The plastic coating on the cupboard doors either side of the oven were melted and a mess.

Sally and noodle- As for ease of measuring up the kitchen, it was easy enough if it was done with a kitchen planner (online tools are available). Remembering to include spacers and not having work tops coming right up to doorways were important for me too.

Checking and rechecking measurements ( and rechecking again 😄), and marking our on walls where units were expected to go also helped.

We had a design from Magnet that was recreated, with some tweaks, using DIY Kitchens' units. I hadn't realised just how expensive Magnet would be. They wanted £30k for what cost us around half that in the end, inclusive of fitting including tiling, flooring (not included in Magnet quote), Tristone island top, etc.

I think OnePlan charges £250-£300 ish. But a clever design can actually save you money when it comes to buying the actual kitchen.

I knew exactly what I wanted but had the designs done to find out the cost.

One design showed me what one wall of the kitchen would look like and it prompted me to have a narrow full length window added.

I used the design to make sure I ordered the correct cupboards

Side note to bigger job of kitchen design - small things that give me pleasure in the kitchen that I'm glad we did - strip of led lighting under the only above counter row of cupboards. It highlights the worktop where we have the toaster, kettle etc. Only light left on in the evenings and it's bright enough for tea making etc. and I know it's not costing much.

Second thing is the 200mm wide pullout spices/oils cupboard. It wasn't in the original design (done by Howdens) but we realised we could fit in a little extra and went with this. Don't know where we would have put all those items if we didn't have this!

I don't particularly like my Magnet kitchen, the fitters were awful, but...it has lasted...and lasted. Just make sure you get full backs to the units, not just half backs....apart from the backs the carcasses, fronts, hinges and handles are excellent.
We can't remember when it was fitted...at least ten-fifteen years ago? And it looks as good as new!
-much to my annoyance!

Magnet after fitting service was dreadful.

Regarding professional designers, no we haven't used them, it's me and some graph paper!
I did use the ikea planner for the utility but for my new kitchen (I'm having a large kitchen diner extension), it's been graph paper and cut outs of units. I have had to remember end panels and fillers etc. But we've ordered it now, drawn where all the units are going on the bare plasterboard and I think it's going to look great!
Our builder was going to get howdens to design it and then we were going to use that but it's really not as difficult as you think.