Ok probably done to death but which kitchen company please?

[Housemum]

We have a couple of builders lined up to quote for fitting, so are looking to get them to buy the units. We have got visits lined up for plans from

• Magnet (trade not the showroom division)
• Wickes (including installation)
• Benchmarx (having Googled they are owned by Travis Perkins as are Wickes I think)

and planning to look at

• Howdens
• Ikea

Any advice on quality and prices welcome - we want this to be reasonably cheap but durable, looking at the foil-covered MDF rather than proper wood cupboards. We spent far too much in last house on oak cupboards and granite worktops - the cupboards looked lovely but were a pain to clean, and the granite was also a nuisance as you couldn't use lots of things on it and had to be careful with vinegar/lemon juice etc. Am thinking of just going for a laminate worktop this time on the basis that it will probably cost a fraction of the price, and if it looks tired in 5-10 years we could replace it.

Everyone who has used Ikea seems to be pretty pleased with the result v experience v price. Every other kitchen company I have seen people use they complain about the experience or result, while the price is high.

Our kitchen is rubbish. Previous owner put it in and it’s only 10 years old- it’s MFI. Obviously cheap and it shows. Doors are literally peeling off. Really shite. All the 10+ years Ikea kitchens I’ve seen still look very good.

So I don’t think you can beat the Ikea price / quality ratio.

Can you tell I’m planning on using Ikea for our new kitchen?

We have just decided to use Benchmarx.
Wickes were good but DH can get the trade discount, and the units are the same- just come pre assembled rather than flat packed. It was cheaper to do that and get our own builder as the Wickes builders quote was high too (and we needed extra stuff doing than just removing and refitting the units).

We were told by a few companies that the carcasses are all the same so go for the finish you like, as the overall cost difference is not great between their cheapest and most expensive (unless getting solid oak of course)

Wren were competitive but unresponsive to standard questions, would not give a detailed breakdown of costs and the reviews and speaking to builders is, if anything is missing or damaged they take ages to sort it.

Howdens were more expensive than Wickes, and the finish on the units not so nice.

Ikea are good but they didn’t have the finish we wanted.

We are getting the quartz worktop separately and saving c2k on the Wickes quoted price. Our existing laminate top has lasted 30 years though with only 1 burn mark!

We have bulk bought all our appliances from an online company who hold them until needed for a credit card deposit (so protected) and will price match if the prices drop in the meantime. Def shop around for these.

Tiles also being supplied by an online company.

Breaking the component parts down has saved us thousands! Whoever you go with, get a detailed breakdown and see if any of it can be sourced separately.

I have a newish kitchen. Our old one was Ikea. It was about 15 years old so lasted well and we only replaced it because it looked dated rather than anything wearing out - all drawers, doors, etc were still in good order. I didn't like any of the new Ikea designs, so we chose Howdens this time. We're very happy with the quality and they were very good about returns and exchanges and also did a site visit when the fitter couldn't work something out, so overall we're happy. They have a weird pricing policy where they add huge discounts depending on your builder. I think the discounts vary from about 60% to about 85%, so be aware that if they start with the 60% discount you can probably push them up at least another 10%. We were recommended not to get appliances or sink and taps from Howdens as they are expensive.

I don't know much about the others you mention, but I've heard lots of horror stories about Wren, so would avoid them.

Thanks for the advice so far - Benchmarx have my favourite colour/door style combination at the moment, and I like their larder cupboard as I hope it will fit in a dead corner of the hallway leading to the kitchen.

One thing I haven’t found so far is a big sink - we really like the huge sink that is currently there (excuse mess in picture), with a drainer over half of the sink

DIY kitchens. Great quality and they have a fantastic showroom if you are able to get to it. But you have to design it yourself or use a plan you have managed to get else where. Their staff are great though and are really helpful over the phone or in store to make sure you have everything you need.

Another vote for DIY Kitchens. Have had IKEA too (which i rate) but DIY Kitchens is hands down better quality than any of the companies you've mentioned and cheaper too. They don't do a builder discount though- you'd have to order it yourself.

Our howdens kitchen is currently going on and it is lovely. I have got it at a fantastic price, it is one of their higher spec ranges. Got quartz and appliances from elsewhere although howdens did price match a few.

Love love love DIY Kitchens. We have a couple of rentals that we have put them into and have since had our home kitchen revamped with one. Great quality without the sales patter. And they are delivered in full units rather than flat packed which saves with the fitting costs.

I prefer Howden. I find them cheaper than DIY kitchens if you haggle enough.

My dh is a carpenter and has fitted many kitchens over the years from all the places you have mentioned. We are just about to order from DIY kitchens for our own house.

We've been thinking about a new kitchen for literally years so I always scour these threads though never follow through

Interested to note that 2 people don't like the current crop of Ikea door designs as I don't either. I was very disappointed as I do love everything else about them.

Has anybody had an Ikea kitchen design done? Would you recommend their designs if not their current range? I really want to change ours round & don't know where to start; I'd need a good design done before looking at eg DIY kitchens

Ikea designer will come to your home and design the whole thing for £50

We’re going for white gloss units on top and dark blue/grey/green gloss on bottom with a white marble worktop. Just need to buy the new house first!!

Thanks, bluekittens

Are they inventive designers though, do you know, or a bit scripted?

We were going to go down the diykitchens route. We asked about 5 builders/joiners for fitting quotes but only 1 came back to us. We tried to get a quote from Howdens and failed. So eventually haggled with Magnet and went with them with installation. Maybe a bit pricey but they’ve been excellent

Housemum,

I am also in dilemma of whether to get IKEA kitchen or diy-kitchen. Prices, IKEA is cheaper, and caprcases are deeper. Also like that we can have units till ceiling. DIY seems to have 230cm tall units and 90cm wall units. Every cm counts in my kitchen.

I recently installed a DIY kitchen,it's very lovely and good quality, but they did send us 2 damaged units, which took a few weeks to replace, and ultimately meant paying a carpenter another days rate to finish the kitchen off. Not sure if this is a regular thing, but it was very frustrating.

Interesting about your old wooden units and granite worktops OP. We're about to go the other way, 'upgrade' to granite / quartz or similar and am toying with solid wood vs laminate. I'd be interested to hear why the wooden cupboards were hard to clean? Whether it was the particular granite finish that was the issue? I'm hoping for something really robust and heat and mark-proof!

I've had an Ikea kitchen fitted in the distant past, which was good.

Have just signed up to Which for kitchen re-vamp decision-making purposes and their tests and surveys rated Ikea, DIY and John Lewis very highly. Howdens come out quite well, Magnet and Wickes middling, Wren down at the bottom.

Oh and Benchmarx just below Magnet and Wickes (same for quality and finish, Wickes better then the other two for customer service).

DH has just finished fitting our IKEA kitchen and I love it. I planned it online (tip; use IE rather than Firefox as your browser, the planner doesn't like FF) and then took login details into store where someone checked it and sorted out exactly what gubbins (hinges, door dampeners etc.) we'd need. DH said it was really easy to fit because you hang the units on a wall rail and hinges are snap on - he had to make slight adjustments because of the slight unevenness of walls but he didn't moan too much.

I suppose it wasn’t that they were hard as such but not as easy to quick wipe as a synthetic coating, and sometimes they felt as if they were grubby. Also, the oarticular ones we had tended to collect dust/dirt in the bits where the shaker style edging was.

The granite was lovely but you have to be very careful to avoid hard water marks (we had a water softener but the drainer still wasn’t as shiny as the rest) and DD2 managed not to tell us that she’d spilled some vinegar and not cleared it up properly - we had a light patch left there.