The Shaker Kitchen Company or DIY kitchens?

[Stuckinstressville]

Does anyone have any experience working on designing and using this company?

I am stuck between these and DIY kitchens....

DIY Kitchens all the way. Excellent pre/post-sale customer service and range of units/finishes.

I was extremely disappointed with the pre-sale service I received from Shaker Kitchen Co (Clapham/Fulham stores) which put me off from going any further than an initial consultation with them.

They were painfully slow to produce the design, and I just didn't get a good impression during any of the contact I had with them - I felt that just because I wasn't giving them a budget of £50k, they weren't really that bothered about my business.

The approach I took is that for the same price as Shaker quoted me, I could get, from DIY, 22mm Oak units in the exact F&B color I wanted with all the quirks I needed as I could get a much wider range of units from DIY.

I used Shaker a while back and have to say the customer service wasn’t great which made it stressful. There was an error in the design which had a big impact and they got very snarky about it all. Rather than taking responsibility.

Maybe they’ve improved as they’ve grown, no idea.

Someone I follow on Instagram had a lot of issues with Shaker recently; wrong hardware & refusing it was their mistake, then the worktop stonemasons they used cut the downdraft extractor too far back so that it wouldn't fit in the cupboard. On both occasions they seemed very difficult to deal with and didn't offer the customer service that I'd expect from a company like that.

We bought our kitchen from DIY and it was a smooth process from start to finish. The kitchen arrived fully assembled and our fitter was very impressed with the quality. Good luck!

We had a Shaker kitchen company kitchen installed a couple of years ago. Disinterested sales guy at the Abbeville road branch should have given us a clue. We had problems right through the process. We paid a premium to get them to install it too which was a waste of money. We had to get them back twice to rectify things and it is still falling apart. The catches on the cupboards are all falling off or broken. Our Ikea kitchen is much better quality.

Those who chose shaker style from diy - which style did you go for? Norton or another ?

Thinking bespoke painted either way!

We're going for the Norton

Ours is Norton

Don’t get a shaker kitchen - they are absolutely hopeless with the worst customer service I have ever experienced.

They made so many mistakes I am not sure I will even be able to use the kirchen, avoid them at all costs

DIY Kitchens are fab. I've just ordered my second kitchen through them. They called me twice to check parts of my order because it looked like I'd made a mistake. Very good service, they sorted out an issue with our first kitchen (our mistake) with no fuss at all.

We have the in-frame effect kitchen (Welton?) In white with oak insides and it's lovely.

Only issue is that where we live they tend to deliver late at night.

Just looked at the Shaker Kitchen Company website.
The inappropriate use of capitals put me off!

Stanbury from DIY. Love it and had a lot of help from them via their messaging service. One girl even rang me on a Sunday as we were struggling with a pull-out bin unit. I loved that I could design it to exactly fit the space because they have so many different width options.

Had a kitchen from DIY before- amazing quality. Now just ordered another for a different property! Here's a pic of our last DIY kitchen from when we sold our house

It's lovely @MrsMummyBx

Just had a bespoke painted DIY and they were great! We had minor issues but resolved so quickly and politely I was really impressed. I went for stanbury and bought some amazing knobs and handles.

We are in the process of fitting a kitchen from DIY. Whilst I love it already, we have unfortunately had a few major issues with them. They came up with a solution that it only transpired when the kitchen was delivered, meant that 2 units were different heights. They were not very keen to help until I proved through emails that they were at fault. Then they came up with a solution very quickly. We are now waiting on a bespoke door that should solve the problem. I really hope so! They also made several mistakes with extra costs etc and have debited money from our account without telling us why.
My feeling is that they are very busy right now and their usual levels of service are faltering....
I’m sure I will be very happy when it’s all done but it has caused significant stress.

Another two-thumbs-up for DIY, they treated us brilliantly.

do i need to find a builder to install for me, if i buy DIY? their showroom is very far from london.

So where did you all get your shaker kitchen style kitchen???alao can anyone recommends a great kitchen fitter Bromley Kent area

If anyone is considering the Shaker Kitchen Company:

Advice to potential customers: think carefully before handing over 100 % before your cabinetry is even in the UK. There's absolutely no incentive for TSKC to ensure customer satisfaction 😢. Lovely kitchens though!

OMG please avoid this company at all costs!! Last Autumn I paid £20k for a new kitchen from the Shaker Kitchen Company. The designer in the showroom in Fulham were very good, however, the MOMENT you put down your deposit the experience completely changes and you are handed over to 'Customer Services' which is run by the surly and defensive daughter of the owner. The kitchen that had been installed does not remotely match the plan we signed off due to 'mistakes adding up the dimensions' (this admission took 5 months to get out of them) We were forced to buy more cabinets last minute to try to fix the problem pre-installation (at our cost!) and the kitchen is still not finished 6 MONTHS after the confirmed completion date. After hundreds of calls and emails and dealing with 6 different people, I still can't track down anyone who is remotely interested in putting this right. The excuse given is that the company has been growing too fast to be run properly. Staff on all levels are happy to criticise the business and management, our lovely designer in the Wandsworth Bridge Road branch left to go to a competitor as she was so frustrated with the way the company is managed, and since then literally no-one is interested in sorting out the issues. There is a really big reason why they ask for 100% of the cost to be paid UP FRONT. AVOID!!!!

I'll echo what @SW6mama says.

My experience is very similar to hers.

It appears that TSKC's reviews on trustpilot and Google are decreasing in number (negative reviews disappearing). Can't imagine why that would be .

Take care.

I would like to warn people not to use the Shaker Kitchen Company.
I ordered a kitchen through them and my experience became terrible after paying the full amount.
First, my appliances were supposed to be delivered with my units, but I didn’t receive my appliances. It took me 3 days to get through to anyone to ask what happened and when I would receive them - phones were off, emails not replied to, comments on social media were deleted.

I had to go to the showroom in person to get anything resolved and did end up receiving a refund 4 days later than promised (after many follow up emails / false promises and another showroom visit) when I was out of pocket for all the appliance I have to go and source myself.
This was followed by a no-show from the fitters (and no phone call or email to notify me).
My worktop was delayed twice – the first time I only found out because I went into the showroom to ask if they were coming the next day, that is when they told me it would be 8 days late – no reason.
Customer service is non-existent – their phone lines are always off, they never call you and rarely reply to your emails.
Such a shame as the kitchen looks lovely…
This whole experience has been extremely stressful and frustrating ( I have 2 young children and we were living in the house) and I just wish no one has to go through this. So please avoid this company at all costs! They are very good at reporting and getting rid of negative reviews so just beware!