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 wouldn’t touch a range style. I have an induction hob and two easy to access separate ovens. This set up is perfect. Our friends had a range style and binned it due to having to grovel on the floor to access it.

Can anyone give me a ballpark idea of how much Karen from One Plan would cost. I hadn’t heard of her before but she sounds perfect. Our, male, architect ignored everything I had mentioned valuing in layout. Now ex architect! So if I can present a plan that helps when I recruit the next one- extension, filling in side return and joining dining room in an end of terrace so we know what room shapes would be, but don’t have them atm.

We got ours from howdens and sourced granite worktops elsewhere.
I absolutely recommend Neff ovens. We went cheaper initially and the oven broke three times in 18 months. Since we got the neff, they've been amazing.

@AmberRoseGold her website says :
Typical Job Cost
£45 - £675
various options to help you design from £45 ph for hourly rate projects or from £325 to £675 per room, larger rooms or a collection of rooms may work out more, if covering more area .

The A service is the one I booked and was £770 for kitchen and rest of extension with small laundry/ utility room aswell all designed at same time.

She worked on this from Monday to Friday, so worked out cheaper than the day rate of our plasters mate who just carries buckets all day. Bargain.

Wren
Matt
Midnight blue shaker - adore it

@321youreback Brilliant . Completely missed her pricing on site. That does sound like a total bargain for making a really useable room (glares around at really stupidly designed and inflexible kitchen- agree with drawers and also think about the location of the extractor fan).

I brought from DIY Kitchens last summer.
We did visit the showroom, as we were on holiday in the area-ish and had a day at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park then an early evening at the showroom - the kids were happy cos the lodge we were staying in didn't have Wi-Fi so they spent the 2 or 3 hours we were there on the sofas drinking free drinks, eating cake and being online.

I got the Norton shaker, in Sage.
Handles I sourced elsewhere.
Worktop from Worktop Express in a walnut wood laminate which goes well with the LVT flooring I already had in the hall and had run through the kitchen.
Used existing integrated fridge (20+ year old!), new integrated dishwasher (old one was on its last legs), new range cooker (to fit the space and make everything symmetrical, with hindsight I might have gone integrated, but I still like it).

Utility room had existing free standing fridge freezer, washing machine and tumble drier.

Highly recommend DIY kitchens, ours has been in 4 years now and not even a scratch, flaw, wonky bit. I'm so impressed with the strength of the deep drawers. Mine is loaded with tins and is still perfect.
I went for shaker style colouratched to f and b blackened with white quartz worktops.
I had made a boo boo with the measurements of one of the cupboards which needed to be cut down when it was fitted. They made me a new door bespoke to fit which arrived in 5 days! We were amazed especially as we had used a bespoke paint.

@AmberRoseGold Hi Amber, she offers a few services. I opted for the £450 plan which means you can spend the week working with her. She was really great and super flexible. She's happy to speak to you in the evenings etc, was available on text/email whenever I messaged. She really is a beacon of knowledge when it comes to kitchens, and will tell you things that kitchen suppliers probably wouldn't.