DIY kitchens - Helmsley anyone?

[Lambrilittlelegs]

Hello
We think we have decided on a Helmsley kitchen from DIY kitchens. Has anyone else got this one and if so would you mind posting some pictures? It’s not available to view in the showroom so we are buying offline without seeing it (although I will order a sample door).

Going for a F&B painted finish.
Any advice/tips/pics most welcome! Thanks

We got our kitchen in the January sales and they also ran 10% off some types in October. I've seen good things about Topsco for quartz. We've gone for Roann but haven't had ours fitted yet. For granite costs varied from £5800 to £2700! So try as many as possible including local companies that may offer a cash in hand deal

This is taking over my life! Have never done any house renovations before and don’t think I ever will be again. It’s all consuming!

I feel your pain, every single day I seem to research something house renovation related. So time consuming.

Can someone please tell me whether I need to budget in for drawer boxes for every single drawer from DYI kitchens? Are they are must? I see the prices are 30-40 quid per drawer and will add quite a bit to the cost as I plan to have mainly pan drawers. Are there any other add ons I need to budget in?

Check out @dreambound1974 her Hemsley kitchen is an absolute stunner!

That kitchen is indeed beautiful!
aisteb - I have no idea. I hadn’t even thought about this but you’re probably right. I’ll try and find out.
Does anyone know if the wood grain shows through with Helmsley? I’m not sure why I’ve suddenly decided this is potentially an issue.....
I now need to decide on things pretty quickly for various reasons so need to get a move on!

To throw something else in the mix, I've just had a really good chat with one of the guys at Units Online. He was incredible helpful and told me their prices are pretty identical to DIY. They have loads of Helmsley like kitchens though some are shaker rather than inframe, but all style wise, very similar. He will do a plan for me free of charge etc so I'm going to see what happens with that. I had pretty much decided on Helmsley but I will just see where this goes before making my final decision.....

Yes Helmsley has woodgrain.

The difference between the two companies is the build of the cabinets,units oline is the cam and dowel system which basically means flat pack that just comes pre-assembled whereas DIY kitchens units are glued which is what is an actual rigid construction. I read numerous forums about this and cam and dowel is considered inferior by most tradespeople, although some people say that good cam and dowel cabinets can be better than shitty glued ones (but from the reviews DIY kitchen ones are very good). I guess the construction would matter if your worktops are heavy and if you plan to have the kitchen long-term or plan reuse the cabinets in the future. Havibg said that we used to have a flat pack IKEA kitchen and that was nice and sturdy.

I have compared adding the same cupboards to the basket and units online worked out quite a bit more for their Petworth inframe vs Helmsley. Inframe will always be more expensive, woodgrain is generally more expensive as well. If you want smooth and could be happy with not inframe shaker then you can save yourself quite a bit of money (i.e. Stanbury at DIY kitchens). Units online also have more colours to choose from so can save you having a custom colour from DIY. Find out about drawers,if the drawer boxes come as standard units online may as well work out cheaper. Also check if you pay extra for soft close hinges.

Come back to tell what the outcome of your kitchen is! I am waiting until a wall between our kitchen and dining room is down to make the final decision on the layout, builders are booked for the 1st of Oct

Thanks aisteb. That’s really helpful.
I hadn’t realized about the difference in build techniques. Soft close hinges are definitely included with units online but will check about the rest.

Hi again!
In case anyone is interested, I went and looked at the Burbidge doors yesterday which are what lots of independent kitchens and units online supply. The quality is really lovely, very solid and heavy and they look great. Their Langton model is the equivalent of Helmsley as far as I can see and while I prefer it in pictures, in the flesh I thought it was a bit ‘busy’ mainly because of that pesky cockbead detail. I only saw a door in Langton but they had a whole kitchen in Petworth, another in frame, which I preferred. In the brochure, the rail looks thicker than the Langton but it’s the same width.
Also, I talked to their designer at length. Their units are glued and dowelled (like DIY) but he told me there is no difference between that and cam and dowel once they are installed with worktops on. They are just as sturdy and last as long. As he has no agenda to convince me that cam and dowel is any good, I think he was being honest. But maybe it’s a matter of opinion like so many things!
Anyway, sorry for very lengthy post but I keep coming back to thinking the only way to decide is to go to Yorkshire and see the things for myself! Road trip anyone?

aisteb - does this mean you’ve already placed your order if your builders start 1st October?!

It's the various diy forums that suggested the glue and dowel system as the more sturdy one, I actually know nothing about it. If both options look and cost the same I will choose the glued cabinets just because a lot of people seem to think they are better. But if DYI kitchens can't offer no beading I will be happy with units online.

We don't drive and live on the south coast so cannot visit any major showrooms. But all those kitchens look the same to me so we will go for the cheapest inframe with woodgrain, without cockbeading.

We need a full rewire, the whole of central heating system replaced, some windows replaced and two walls to come down first. This will take a couple of weeks. Once the walls are down we will re-measure the space and place the order. Custom colour option takes 7-8weeks so should be ready in December just when the builders are ready to install it. Don't want to order too soon as we won't have anywhere to keep the cabinets.

We are doing up EVERYTHING, the floors will be up, the ceilings will be down, the whole house will be re-plastered. It will be a mess

P.S Petworth is what I was looking at with units online. I think I've read that DIY kitchen do not have Helmsley on display in the showroom

I rang and asked and they told me they do now!

aistb I’ve just had the Petworth from Unitsonline installed (still be installed). I went with them because of recommendation on here, because they helped with design (had a big renovation plus tricky space to work with) plus I really liked the look of the Petworth.

I’ve been really impressed with my units and so have my builders. Unitsonline have been really easy to deal with including replacing, without question, some dovetail drawer boxes that were sent out faulty direct from their supplier (their supplier initially sent them the wrong size so the boxes did not arrive with the rest of the kitchen).

It’s always a leap of faith dealing with an online company for such a big purchase but they could not have been more helpful. I’m even using their sister company for my worktops (being fitted Friday ) as they were the most competitive.

I’m also on the south coast so made the journey to their showroom which was really worth it.

Oooh Countingto10 please share some pictures? If we had a car I would visit every showroom going even on the other side of the country but it is impossible on a train, with a toddler How did the price of Petworth compare to Helmsley if you have compared?

Petworth is looking likely now as DIY kitchens are saying they cannot remove cockbeading they said too many people have been asking due to this forum. They should take the hint and start offering it as standard imo

Out of principle that they would offer it to one person but not another, when I theory they can do it, makes me not want to order from them.

Also we have some inframe furniture, no cockbeading, we are trying to match so I need options other than Helmsley now, gld you have shared your experience with units online.

Hopefully these have attached! It’s still very much a work in progress (been painted today, worktops on Friday, hopefully the extractor (on back order from Neff) and fridge freezer will turn up next week).

I opted for soft moss and chalk units as this kitchen is going to have to last a number of years so didn’t want something that was high fashion.

We knocked through to the dining room but still had to deal with two windows and an opening as well as different height ceiling in original kitchen - previous owners had Bodge the builder remove the fire place and chimney breast w/o building regs so a complicated job replacing and lifting steels. We are 2 and half months into the renovation with probably another 2/3 weeks to go with flooring etc.

First picture gives you an idea of the issues we had. The original steels that Bodge put in were only sat in the wall 50mm instead of at least 150mm.

The area in the corner now is an appliance station behind the folding doors for kettle, coffee machine, toaster etc.

I opted for two side by side under work top ovens as I’m short so prefer bending rather than reaching up (have short friend who has ovens in a tower and does not like it) plus no real area in the kitchen to put the tower.

Here’s another one of the work in progress. We employed a firm to remove the entire chimney breast to take some weight off the steels (chimney stack removed when the roof was done). Obviously another firm of Bodgeit and Leggit, as they didn’t bother putting a proper floor in so when the steel was removed, we found we could wave at people sitting on the loo in the bathroom upstairs!

Also a photo of the pantry unit that we put in the adjoining room.

I’ll put more photos up of the finished article in due course.

HTH - it’s not one of those mumsnet kitchens with a wall of ovens and massive island but it works in this kitchen space and for me

Counting, you have made very good use of all the space. The colour combination is lovely and classic. I also need to put oven under worktop. Will you be putting two jobs over the ovens?

Hobs

Hi mum2015

I’m putting an 80cm induction hob in the centre of the 2 ovens with an angled chimney extractor over (once it turns up). It should make quite an impact on the wall as there are no cupboards (no point in wall cupboards as I can’t reach them ).

Counting - that is really reassuring about your good experience with units online. We are going to see them on Tuesday ( about a 4 hr trek there so I hope it's worth it! ). I have been looking at the Ellerton handless shaker.
Would you mind letting me know who their sister company is for the worktops. I've just had a quote for £4900 for a quartz 3m worktop with a sink run, plus a large island ( 2.4 x 1.6 )
Also would you mind letting me know the dimensions for your pantry unit please? Width and depth. Many thanks. It looks beautiful by the way - I love the colours.

Countingto10 it looks lovely, such a nice big space. Will be amazing when done.

Our house has also had a chimney stack removed with no building regs but they have had an email from the council confirming no building regs were required which they showed us when we bought the house. God knows what we will find there when the ceilings and the floors come off. Now you made me think maybe we should get an engineer in to check it has been done alright.

The units the the left of your sink, are those dresser units (the 4 doors over 3 drawers)? Are they counter deep or are those shallow drawers? We have a funny noon that could do with a 56cm depth dresser unit but I'm not sure those exist

Counting that is absolutely beautiful. Please post more pics once the work top is in. I have a real love of those style doors in greens the kind of shade yours are and duck egg blue. Also can I be super cheeky and ask for a pic of the appliance station with its doors open?

bobkate Unitsonline are part of Mayflower Kitchens and their sister company is Mayflower Stone based in Plymouth but they supply and fit all over the country.

aisteb The structural engineer was worth every penny in our case. we knew when we bought the house that there were no building regs. When we moved in, a structural engineer had a look at it for us and as it wasn’t showing any signs of stress, suggested we exposed the steels when we did the kitchen. We decided, as a precaution, to remove the stack when we did the roof, and then the whole chimney breast later on, to remove further weight from the steels (a good decision as it transpired!).

In the course of his inspection and calculations for the kitchen renovation, the engineer found that the builders who removed the chimney breast had not bothered to attach the rafters to anything, they were just waving about in the roof being propped up by a bit of pallet (our roof is an L shape so we would not have seen it when we ventured into the loft for the Xmas decs). We were just lucky that that part of the roof is sheltered from the prevailing winds here (200yds from coast) and we haven’t had any significant snow fall as a sizeable storm or heavy snow could have caused the roof to collapse! Just more expense to add to the renovation......

Our engineer was extremely knowledgeable and a useful independent person to talk to, away from the builders.

The unit to the left of our sink is actually a set of doors that we purchased from Unitsonline. The alcove was a very awkward size and space so standard size units were not going fit or make the space work so I hit on the idea of some sort of appliance station so our builder made the frame to attach the doors to out of plinth and the frame bit of the “inframe” - due to the height of the ceiling standard sizing wasn’t going to fit so Bob at Unitsonline worked out that the doors would fit without the frame otherwise we would have had to order bespoke doors which would have been silly money, as it was those 4 doors were approx £800 (they are solid oak). My builder has put shelves inside to suit me, plus sockets and the granite worktop will extend into the cupboard, it’s worked out to be about 650mm deep (was hoping it would be slightly deeper but the fridge/freezer space needed extra width). I’m very pleased with how it has turned out, hopefully it will hide all the crap generated by DH and 4DSs.....

Hope that all helps

Sorry xpost with you Home, thank you, I’m really pleased with it - I’ve waited an awful long time for it but we haven’t had the money to do all the works needed until now (it was only thanks to DH having a very good win at the Cheltenham Festival this year that we have the funds ).

I’ll post some pictures of the appliance station when the worktop has been put in on Friday if you don’t mind as I’m sure it will look better then but basically it’s just a couple of shelves the full length of the alcove. I was going to put my microwave in there but now I’m leaving it in the utility room we have been using as a kitchen for the past 2 months as I have not used it once in that time so it would be pointless for it to take up space in my new kitchen. The only person who tends to use it is DS1 for ready meals, he tends to make a right mess so I’m even more inclined to keep it out there.