New kitchen personal experiences

[Sunisshining12]

Looking for recommendations & personal experiences please on:

Matt vs gloss (leaning towards matt)

Handles vs handleless (‘true handleless - are these difficult to use when cooking? Difficult for children?)

Slab door vs shaker (want modern but don’t want to date too soon)

Ikea vs Wren vs DIY vs ?

Quartz vs marble or granite?

I’ve looked for so long & have basically over analysed anything that I can’t think straight now!

I had a Matt, shaker with handles from DIY kitchens. I love it so much. Went for an induction hob and quartz worktops. It's cost me about £16k for everything including installation of patio doors and engineered wood flooring.

I had done my kitchen in my former marital home 3 years earlier and achieved a similar look but that one was £50k

Inherited gloss cabinets and hate them, miss my bespoke kitchen in my last house, lovely matt shaker style. However new kitchen is on the horizon! Used Howdens via my dad who is a builder. All was great but I don't rate their Lamona oven. Now have a Belling range which is fabulous!

I used Karen from One Plan recently and she was great. Key thing to remember is that she's not trying to sell you anything so her feedback is totally independent, and she is solely focused on what is best for you, as well as the space.

It's all fair and well getting a plan drawn up by Howdens/Wren etc but ultimately, they want to sell you a kitchen, and are not going to dash your dreams by telling you your desired layout doesn't quite work. The plan Howdens drew up for me (based on what I wanted, bearing in mind I was inexperienced) was not great in hindsight and very impractical. I feel fortunate that I didn't go ahead with their plan - in some ways I'm fortunate the lock down kicked in, as my howdens kitchen delivery ended up getting cancelled. This then gave me the time to reconsider my layout options, which is when the doubt set in and I decided to contact Karen. I showed her the Howdens plan and she wasn't impressed. The other thing she will point out are health & safety regulations etc, which again doesn't appear to be at the forefront of high-street kitchen retailers' minds.

I couldn't recommend her enough. She brought ideas to the table that I didn't even consider, or think would be possible. I've now ordered my kitchen which arrives in 3 weeks and can't wait to make the plan a reality.

We had ours done just before Christmas. Got ours from Howdens through our builder, my own design and spec. Matt, dove grey cupboards, yes more shaker-style than modern, but very simple. Round pewter drawer and cupboard door knobs, which we get on with just fine. Solid oak worktops, fire clay sink and drainer. We have no wall cupboards, we just have oak shelves which I love, it makes the place so much brighter and I don't have to stress about not being able to reach the top shelf.

Matt is better for us in case we changed our minds recolour and wanted to repaint .Mistake: putting a modern kitchen in a period building:a traditional style would have looked much nicer. Wicks winter sale is good A local independent would be the best on experience and Ikea but you may have to use their own fitter as other do not like IKEA (something to do with space behind units?)

BTW, you dont have to have the same surface all the way round. But avoid wood round the sink area.

So much good advice, thank you.

Those that bought from DIY - did you go to the showroom? Or buy online without seeing? This is what worries me.

sunisshining12 I order 5 door samples and then ordered online. The staff were great at checking my plans and the order. Of my entire order, I was a top plinth short but it came very quickly and the fitter had to come back anyway to fit the bottom plinths after the floor had gone in

Carpenter friend made and fitted ours and I love it. Birch ply cabinets, handles on flush doors, some open shelving top and bottom, a glass door wall unit and full height larder corner unit. He's doing the tiling atm.

Do you have small hands in the house? Our 3rd house has a high gloss and oh my, I miss our last kitchen, so so much!
Cleaning water marks, mucky handprints and tea drips- and that's just from the OH!

Our last kitchen was a shaker style kitchen with handles from Wickes. We installed ourselves. Took a while to do, OH is trade so maybe easier in that sense but it was a fab kitchen. Units were perfect. We just went in and had the plans done, then ordered everything from plan then installed.
The only thing we didn't do was put in the worktops/ breakfast bar and the gas appliances.

Ikea but you may have to use their own fitter as other do not like IKEA (something to do with space behind units?)

The ikea units don't allow enough clearance at the back of their units. So if you have pipes poking out all over the place, it won't work. This was the reason I couldn't go for Ikea. Howdens units provide significant clearance, hence those in the trade seem to love them (as well as the incentive they get for recommending Howdens!).
However, there was a poster on here who said she missed her Ikea units because they were super spacious compared to her new Howdens units, for which she felt the pan drawers were compromised on space due to the clearance on the units.

@Sunisshining12 Those that bought from DIY - did you go to the showroom? Or buy online without seeing? This is what worries me.

I didn't visit the showroom. I'm London based so it would have been a trek, and particularly difficult during lockdown. However, I did do as much research as I could, and I found their own page on 'real reviews' particularly useful - www.diy-kitchens.com/customer-reviews/
You can filter by the kitchen you want/colour etc and I found the video reviews super helpful.

This forum sealed the deal for me as DIY kitchens just seem to be universally loved. For me it was out of them and Howdens. I was put off by the sales technique of Howdens, and the fact that they kept adding lots of unnecessary items to my quotes which I found quite deceptive. I also don't like that their pricing is not transparent. With DIY kitchens, the pricing is there in black and white, and their customer service was really good. Granted you don't receive a 'design' service from them (but I the 'design' service I received from other suppliers was very poor), however, their planner was amongst the best I've used (I couldn't get on with the Ikea one) and I enjoyed having the freedom to design my own kitchen. They of course check your design and let you know of any issues/make suggestions for alternatives etc - I'd incorrectly added items which they swapped out telling me they wouldn't work because of my integrated appliances for example. Their customer service is on point too, they've been super helpful every time I've called them (which has been several times in the last few weeks).

We are also looking at kitchens and I'm not a fan of housework and have kids so we are going for magnet kitchen Luna range, in grey and graphite island with granite worktops.

Basically the kitchen we have is wood shaker and laminate worktop and we hate the dirt in the doors and handles. I have a gas range cooker and American fridge freezer and whilst I love the cooker it never looks clean and fridge gets so many hand prints over it.

So I have chosen all Inter grated appliances, induction hob, separate fridge , freezer larders

Re: handleless we have "push catches" on all our drawers cupboards etc they're brilliant they look good and as others have said makes everything so easy to clean.

I’m using the DIY planner now, it’s great. Would be a trek for me to visit too so going to order some samples!

Thanks all

Are you near Claygate or Christchurch - we’re getting our kitchen from Davey & Alger also known as Handmade kitchens of Christchurch daveyandalger.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Handmadekitchens-PriceList-v13-Sale-v2.pdf
We visited their showroom in Claygate before lockdown - doors are made of Tulip wood like expensive suppliers such as DeVol - this is on their website
‘We use top quality materials, including Tulipwood. In our opinion, this is the very best material to use for a painted kitchen owing to its combination of strength, stability and flat painted finish. The construction methods we use include properly jointed mortise and tenoned 5 piece doors and drawers made with traditional dovetailed joints both at the front and back.
You will see from our “TV and Magazine Features” section that our customers’ kitchens are often featured in national home magazines, alongside kitchens from much more expensive companies.
We have set out below the key facts about each element of our cabinetry’s construction. Over the years, we have developed an unbeatable combination of materials and techniques. Something we are extremely proud of!‘
They look great and do everything up to 1m wide at the same price which means you need fewer units therefore it costs less. We’re having 3 of their pan drawer units all 1m wide. I like drawers for crockery as well as pans.

Matt. Handless here. Love it. It will probably date but I don’t think my taste will change. It matches the dining table I bought 12 earlier perfectly!

Mine is Ewa an Austrian brand. Quartz tops which are ace. And tonnes of drawers. I cut two sets of drawers inside cupboards to save costs and bitterly regret it now... am considering retro-fitting them (which will cost even more, Doh!)

That is a lovely kitchen, thanks for sharing photos.

Predicament I have is to have drawers I have to loose the bar stools. So it’s drawers vs bar stools. Because with the 20-30cm I wouldn’t be able to get in the top drawers.

The other side of the island is sink, dishwasher, bin & 1 set of drawers. So not many drawers!

We’re having a double width island with sink, dishwasher and bins facing into the kitchen area backing o to two x 1m drawer units on the outside, an overhang on one end for a couple of stools.

I'll be ordering from DIY kitchens. We've the Stanbury in cashmere. I've spent many enjoyable hours on the planner swapping things around, playing with colours etc. I'm in London, but we visited the showroom last year on the way home from a weekend in the Lake District. I'm glad we did, because seeing the units in real life persuaded me that I didn't want gloss handle less after having previously been set on it. I also love that you can see the price of the kitchen as you plan.

Predicament I have is to have drawers I have to loose the bar stools. So it’s drawers vs bar stools. Because with the 20-30cm I wouldn’t be able to get in the top drawers.

I'm confused... why would you need to lose bar stools?

Why can’t you put drawers under the hob and other places?

We wouldn’t use Magnets again.

Go for a range style oven. You won't regret it.