Inframe or not?! Helmsley vs Norton

[fishseddy]

Really struggling to decide on kitchen design...I adore the inframe look but worried about how much space you lose...can anyone with an inframe kitchen advise?! Is it also tricky to clean?! I'm looking at the Helmsley from DIY kitchens (with the cockbeading around the outside removed to give a cleaner look, following inspiration from another thread! They offered this for 5% extra)

The alternative would be the Norton, which also looks lovely and would probably be more practical, but I do love the look of the inframe...ugh.

Colour wise I'd like a warm pale grey colour...has anyone had the diy kitchens light grey installed? It looks different in every pic on their website so prob need to get some samples to decide whether to get that or a f&b colour. So many decisions!!

This is our Norton lamp room grey .. we love it! We had an inframe in the old house and it drove me potty. Nightmare to clean too!

Ah that looks beautiful @Threesocks! I think I know in my gut that an inframe is not the right way to go for us as we desperately need all the storage we can get and don't have loads of time to be fagging about cleaning inside corners of cupboards

Do you find you get a lot more space with the non-inframe?

Technically the inside of the cupboard is the same size, but I found it really annoying getting things in and out because of the frame.

If you’re having in frame, avoid 300 cupboards. Not much goes into them and you can’t fit slide out baskets.

It is well worth ordering the sample doors, not just the free cabinet samples.

You could consider DIY's cashmere. Have a look at some of their real customers' kitchens in cashmere. If you look at the sample next to light grey, the cashmere looks more beige, but in a room by itself you still get the warmth but it looks pretty grey. Or it does in our house, anyway. I read on here that it colour matches to F&B Purbeck stone.

Hi @fishseddy. I had my Helmsley kitchen in light grey installed at start of December. Having now lived with it for almost 2 months, I’m still very happy with it. A lot of it is due to the design we had which has pull outs wherever necessary. It is just so amazingly easy to access and fine everything! With the way DIY do inframe, it means that actually pull outs are not a real inframe door though they look like one. You are therefore not losing any space at all. For instance, see the photos below of a Le Mans cupboard.
Because I wanted convenience and lots of pull outs, most of my actual in frame cupboard doors are in my utility. The smallest I have is a 500 and it’s no problem at all getting anything out or keeping it clean.
As for the colour, I’m very glad I went with the stock light grey and not a more expensive bespoke option. It is a really beautiful colour, light and fresh during the day but warm and coat also. I think the fact I have wooden floors and a white marble style quartz top enhances the warmth of it. Under artificial light, the grey actually looks very similar to the cashmere anyway. I felt cashmere itself was too pinky for me.
Also, for what it’s worth, I have the cockbeading and love it. I also considered removing it but am glad
I didn’t in the end. If you look on the other DIY - Helmsley thread, you can see some pics of my kitchen towards the end.

Hi @Rosita thank you so much for that-wow it looks absolutely beautiful. And that is just the kind of grey I'm after, it looks stunning with the brass handles.

That's really good to know that some of the units are inframe 'effect', i wondered how it worked with build in appliances but presumably it's the same?

Do you have any drawers at all, and if so do you find that the space is compromised? I would really love to have a few pan drawers but slightly worried about the lack of space (per my other thread, I don't have a huge number of units, but I may end up changing the design as not convinced it's going to work!!)

Thanks so much again!!

Yes, with built in appliances, the door is basically attached to the front, in the same way as the bin unit, which incidentally I absolutely love weirdly enough. My kids convinced me to get one and it’s bloody brilliant! I have it near my hob so beneath one of my food prep areas and it’s so easy to just brush everything into it instead of carrying it across the kitchen.
I do have drawers....one set of 1 metre pan drawers and I also went for drawers under my double oven housing. I’ll post photos of the insides so you can see but they are messy at the moment! I don’t find space is compromised at all.
I’m not sure which your other thread is so don’t think I’ve seen your design.
We didn’t have an extension built but we did move things round in the kitchen and I’m so happy we did. Originally I couldn’t see how to change it from where things were before, but we moved the hob which meant I could have a bank of tall units and I really love the look of them.

OMG @Rosita you've totally convinced me on the Helmsley light grey-those drawers are dreamy!!! Can I ask where you got the hardware from?

At the moment I have a range cooker (1000mm) in my plan as I love the look of them and have always wanted one, but I'm kind of wondering if I should free up the space and go for eye level ovens instead like you mention...how do you find them? I think it would prob work better with my plan so think I'll have a tinker...

I too LOVE the idea of the bin unit, that is defo in there to stay!!

I absolutely love my eye level ovens. I’ve never had them before and not having to constantly bend down is such a revelation. Part of the reason I wanted my kitchen to have lots of accessible pull outs etc is that I have a really bad back at times so wanted everything to be super easy to get to. I was also thinking long term as we’re planning to be in this house for at least 10-15 years so well into my 50s!
The hardware is from Handles4u - it’s the M. Marcus Heritage Brass or something like that. I got several samples and looked absolutely everywhere including more expensive Armac Martin and Rowan and Wren. I liked these a lot, they are very solidly made and at approx. £4 each as opposed to £14 or much more, I opted for them. They also match my beautiful tap from abode!

Thanks so much @Rosita I've made a note of that for the handles-they look fantastic!

One more question if you don't mind...do you have any corner units at all? I'm really struggling with the Helmsley corner pieces, they all seem really awkward to fit with other units in the kitchen planner-not sure if I'm just being thick though!! Do you have any of the le mans units? I had one in an old ikea kitchen and didn't love it but seems like it may be the best option...

Thank you again!!
PS I showed my husband the pics you posted yesterday and even he was enthusiastic (about the first drop of interest I've had from him on the kitchen 😂)

Ha! My husband was exactly the same. I was forever trying to show him samples and he could not have cared less! However, he is now really happy with the kitchen and keeps saying how great all the little touches are and what a great job I did! 🤪
Anyway, DIY can make various corner units with a Helmsley door so you are not restricted to the options on their website. I have two Le Mans with a 600 door so the biggest ones possible I think. In the Helmsley range, they only do a 600 door and a smaller one (400?) but having looked at the actual size of the Le Mans itself, I thought the smaller one was not worth it. I looked at all the corner units in the showroom and lots of other showrooms and decided that for me, Le Mans were the best option as opposed to the carousels and magic corners etc.
For the purposes of the online planner, you can insert corner units from other ranges. It will just keep highlighting that there is an error and won’t show up in the 3D version.
In terms of cost, I think they did charge a bit extra than other Le Mans prices but the Helmsley door is more anyway. If I remember correctly, each one was around £420 each.

Can you get to the DIY showroom? I also had Norton as a contender until I went and saw them both in the flesh. It’s such a personal thing but when I saw Helmsley (even though the display was awful colours!) I knew it was the one I wanted. The Norton is wider in the frame and a different look. In my heart of hearts, I had really fallen in love with expensive in frames like Devol, Neptune and HMK and I personally think the the Helmsley is the closest I found. I know that technically it is not the same, but the look of it is what I was after.
I considered literally everything out there - most brands in London and elsewhere! I am a researcher by trade so I did my homework.