Magnet Kitchens

[ElleMcElle]

Would love to hear if anyone has recent experience of using Magnet - good or bad? We are planning to use our own builder to install, so we would just be buying the kitchen from them. Not sure yet if we might go elsewhere for worktops. Any thoughts...? Thank you!

We had a Magnet kitchen installed this year. We are happy with it, but we used their installation service "OneCall". They did everything for us, including things unrelated to the cabinets and appliances.

Not recent, but my kitchen is still going strong after almost 20 years.

Got ours nearly 3 years ago, used own fitters very happy with it.

they seem OK to me. There are a few quality price levels that you will spot in the catalogue.

I advise against vinyl-wrap doors (a thin film of stiff plastic shrink-moulded onto a mdf panel) because it peels off when subject to heat or possibly damp (e.g. near ovens, dishwashers, kettles, toasters, cats and children)

some of the high-tech hoists, drop-down shelves, swing-out corners, roll out larders etc are marked up in price. See how many hundreds (or thousands) you can save if you buy Hafele or Blum parts (browse their listings online).

Quality of fitting makes the most difference. Opinions differ but I recommend having the plumbing done by a plumber, the electrics done by an electrician, and the plastering done by a plasterer before the units arrive. A lot of shoddy and non-compliant work by kitchen fitters is covered up and hidden behind or beneath the units.

As ever, hide your domestic hoover and attachments in the boot of your car until the workmen have gone.

Yes my plumber did the plumbing, electrics by electrician etc. We got either mid or high price doors - high gloss petroleum blue??? One corner unit thing and two lots of extra wide drawers, drawers in oven tall unit. All working fine despite the abuse of 4 teens and 2 adults!

Very happy with ours. Very straightforward build, completed on time. Very happy with the quality.

Magnet's own fitters, OneCall Solutions, provide expert tradesmen for each part of the job, overseen by a project manager who meets with you to spec out the job.

The only downside of this, IMO, is that one chap would come and work on his bit for a couple of hours, then the next one would do the same. Apart from the actual carpenter, who worked several days on the trot, there might have been quite a few days where only a small task was done. Saying that, we were told three weeks and that's what it took. We were only really out of action for a week (just one trip to the laundrette).

I imagine if you are appointing your own tradesmen, it would take a lot longer.

Thanks for this feedback - sounds good! We're doing kitchen as part of a larger renovation project, so already have a builder on site who will project manage it and get the same tradesmen who are dong the rest of the house to do the plumbing / electrics etc.

That’s what we did, builders got it for us at their trade price which was 50% Off retail for them!