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

Thank you for your detailed response. I have sent queries to a couple of local structural engineers last week but still awaiting their response. We wanted an engineer to look at the walls that are coming down but good idea to get them to look at the chimney breast as well.

Sounds like we will need to come up with a similar solution for our similar awkward corner. Are these standard doors then? They look taller than usual. And did the kitchen designer calculate how much plinth you would need to make the frame, or would we need to involve the kitchen fitter for this?

And whilst I am at it attacking you with questions; where did you get your sink from?

And did you have to buy drawer boxes separate or do those come as standard with this company?

I promise I will "pay it forward" to some other mumsnetter once my kitchen is fitted and I am able to answer any questions

No worries, I’m going to have so much time on my hands when this kitchen is finished, with no obsessive googling etc.

Our stuctural engineer spent a good couple of hours going over the house before leaving to do his calculations. The kitchen/dining room wall, which we thought was possibly non structural, was actually supporting the whole apex of the roof and needed to support nearly 7 tons .

The Petworth is a Burbidge kitchen and they do various, standard sized doors but unfortunately none of them were going to fit into that space in any variation. It was Bob going into the showroom and measuring the doors without the frame that he came up with the idea (he said he has been thinking about my kitchen all evening and what to do with that space). Bob and I thought 5 lengths of plinth for that colour bit of the kitchen to allow for filling and making that cupboard door frame would be enough, it was but only just. Our builders commented that ours was the only kitchen they have fitted where they have used every available bit of wood!

The sink and taps are from Taps UK.

We really splashed out on this kitchen as DH didn’t want me to compromise for the sake of say £1000/£1500 as I have literally waited nearly 20yrs for this kitchen (old kitchen was a pine one from the 80’s) so we paid extra for dovetail drawer boxes (approx £1,200 extra, we have a lot of drawers) and for spice racks in the pantry cupboard (another £400).

I have probably aged 20 yrs during the planning, choosing, ordering and fitting process. I have found it all encompassing and am looking forward to just enjoying the kitchen now

countingto10 I am so with you on the excessive googling and the ageing. I feel exactly the same!
Thanks for the Mayflower link. I have now rejigged my island so I won't need a jumbo slab anymore - hopefully that'll give me a lot more options to negotiate a good price.
I fear poor old Bob has moved from your dilemma's to ours, amongst countless others no doubt! He's been so helpful so far! Would you mind telling me how large your pantry unit is please? ( width and depth would be great! )
I have found these extension threads, and kitchen threads so helpful over the past few months.

Hi bobkate

The pantry unit is 1000mm wide x 600mm depth (or slightly less) x 2200mm high including plinth and corniche. I think their units aren’t quite as deep as standard according to our builders (think howdens is their benchmark ) but it didn’t make any difference. Just measured both (have howden units in utility room), Unitsonline are 580mm and howdens are 600mm.

Picture of pantry unit attached showing spice racks and Bodie the cat who has only just been allowed access to the kitchen after 2+ months

Thanks counting I love that - looks fabulous. I think I'll have a chat with old Bob on Tuesday when we trek down to see him. I love the look of that but our space is 1200 x only 300 deep. Hopefully Bob can work some magic somewhere!
Loving Bodie, and Bodie's name too! Just hope he hasn't found a new scratching post

That's such a gorgeous larder! @countingto10 love it 😍

bobkate they do shallow base units ie 300mm depth and tall wall cabinets which would fit into that space so I’m sure he will come up with something.

re Bodie (can you tell I had a crush on Lewis Collins when I was 14 ) - I have bought a load of fancy cardboard scratching posts as both my cats are fond of the furniture and carpets so I’m hoping that will distract them though now you have got me worried 😩

And thank you 4years - it was a bit indulgent and, together with the dovetail drawer boxes, took us totally over budget but hey, it’s only money.........

Countingto10 it already looks like it will be worth the price. I can't believe drawer boxes came up to that much though, that's how these cheap companies get their money I am still not sure whether I need to have drawer boxes in each and every drawer. Won't even dream about dovetail, if there's any extra budget it will go on quartz worktops

And what a lovely kitty!

Bobcate you should find a solution for your space as base, wall, tall cabinets anddresser units all come in 30cm depth, I'm sure there's a solution for you somewhere. Also there's those taller base units at 1270mm so perhaps you could just fit those on shorter leggs

Will come back to you after we've been to see old Bob! See what magic he can do!

So tonight I have been doing a painful, time consuming task of comparing prices of custom colour Helmsley vs Units Online Petworth vs their Baystone.

I drew a plan with particular cabinets and tried to compare like for like... which I realised is impossible as DIY and Units Online don't so some of the same cabinets.

Prima facie DIY is around 10% cheaper but if I have to factor in extra 10% on top to remove cockbeading, then Petworth and Baystone become a perhaps cheaper option (they both don't have cockbeading, Baystone has butt hinges).

But there are particular cabinets like 30cm depth tall units are almost double the price on Units Online and there was a particular tall unit that was £480 at DIY but £840 at units online, also shallow units are more expensive at U.O. If you need quite a few of those options then it will quickly become pricier by a couple of grand.

Stock colour Helmsley is definitely the cheapest of all, they just don't have a colour I want that's why I have compared custom.

I realised that U.O. have a lot more widths in their inframe range and more parts like all sort of custom sized doors, open units, wine racks so would be a better option for any awkward or custom look kitchen.

Unfortunately I need a few shallow cabinets and that quickly adds up, decisions decisions.

Now I have a new dilemma of whether I want the butt hinges. Love that Devol look but Baystone looks somehow too busy with those hinges.

Sorry to go on, just putting it out there in case it is useful for anyone :)

aisteb you don’t have to have the butt hinges, Unitsonline make up the units without for you. I went with Unitsonline online because, like you, I didn’t want the beading and because I needed more choice in the sizing of the units. I also felt I needed the extra help of the design service of Unitsonline and I have to say, they were extremely helpful with all my issues.

HTK and Counting, your kitchens are absolutely stunning.

Countingto10 did you look at Baystone as well? The only difference I can see between that range and Petworth is the hinges.

Yes I did aisteb, I think they were more expensive for Paint to Order colours and also didn’t do the sizes I wanted, it is lovely though.

Oooh I didn't realise they charge more for paint to order, sounds like I will have to do last night's research all over again

DIY Kitchens - Helmsley - Does anyone have photos of theirs. Also do DIY kitchens actually use F & B paint or just colour match (or can paints be specified in fact) Thx

Hi all,
Having come back to this thread after a few days, I realize we've all been dealing with poor Bob at Units Online. He has been really helpful, what a lovely man. However, my quote for Baystone stock colours (a bit cheaper than Petworth or Langton) came out at £9,500 for units alone! Thats £3,000 more than for Helmsley (stock colours also). There is no way I can justify that. I think the only way to decide is to actually go there myself. I've seen the Baystone and Petworth doors in the flesh so now need to see the Helmsley and also re-consider Norton. I do want in-frame but have to seriously consider whether the price differential is really worth it. I also need to see what the cock beading is like on a whole kitchen. I'm going to make the trip next week as I'm going to be not far anyway and will let you know how I get on!

Menaminx, they colourmatch. The finish won't be flat matt like F&B.

Rosita £3000 is a lot, but I think it's about the difference I have calculated. Let us know how you get on at the show room, take some pictures for us

Oh and they colourmatch any colours, if we go for Helmsley we will be using Little Greene colour chart. So not only F&B.

I’m very happy to take pictures. If there is anything specific you’d like, please let me know. I’m not a very good photographer but I’ll do my best!

I too am dithering between Helmsley and norton. And also wondering whether I can get to pontefract next week. Does anyone know if they have Helmsley actually on display??

Yes they definitely do! I’ve confirmed it with them. They just haven’t updated their website to reflect this.
I’m going to be there Monday morning and it’s decision time.

Take pics of anything you like at the showroom, we all have the same taste here so would be good to see if anything else is worth considering

Right. I'm going on Friday - all sorted. I'm fairly useless at taking photographs but if anyone has a particular style or colour they would like me to get a close up of, let me know and I will so my best to capture it.

That's great friskybivalves! Hope it's productive.
If anyone has been wondering this like me, I've discovered the frame size on Helmsley and Norton. By this I mean the frame or rail which goes around the centre panel, not the actual in-frame part. Helmsley is 74mm and Norton is 105mm so there is a quite a difference. This is one of the things that bothers me about Norton as it is rather wider and I prefer the slimmer look.
Apparently, according to Bob at Units online, most of their shakers are around 70-80mm and Mornington shaker is the slimmest frame wooden door. If I do decide not to go inframe, I may relook at this option if I don't like the Norton.
I'm also concerned about having a couple of narrow wall cupboards in Helmsley as people say that you lose a lot of space with an inframe so it becomes almost unusable with the very narrow ones. I can't easily avoid this because of the shape of my kitchen. Aaaarrrghh!