Handmade kitchens of Christchurch/davey and Alger

[Sooverthemill]

Any recent experience of this company? At the point of getting from quotes from companies and so far these seem best
Thank you

We have a kitchen on order from them - we’ve had to delay delivery until Nov because of the lockdown. We looked around including at kitchens more than twice the cost and these seem the best. They’re incredibly good value considering the quality.
Even better the currently have a 50% off sale. Have you been to see the units - we went to the Claygate showroom just before the lockdown.

@Qc16 no they are too far away from
us. Ironically we are close to Neptune’s HO and Plain English whose style I am blatantly copying ( having had heartstopping quote from both).

I’ve been recommended HMKOC or now renamed as D&A price is excellent, but then you have to factor in appliances, painting, fitting, worktops. Still a good price for a bespoke kitchen!! We live near their showroom so I’m going to make a visit, we’ve also been to Tom Howley so it will be nice to see how they compare. More budget is Hemsley from DIY kitchens. We want a more bespoke arrangement so not sure the later would work for us

@mumdone yes that's true but I would never buy appliances from a unit supplier j less they gave me a breakdown before. I always get the which Best Buy appliances from John Lewis or AO as their customer service and prices are good. I'm dead fussy about machines! I did look at British Standard but for standard sizes they are expensive ( though lovely) also Abigail ahearn at herringbone but I think it's the handmade kitchens winning so far on my spreadsheet. Now to angst about floors! We are in our 60s, this is our third proper kitchen and I do not want to do more than refresh paintwork ever again after this!

[quote Sooverthemill]@Qc16 no they are too far away from
us. Ironically we are close to Neptune’s HO and Plain English whose style I am blatantly copying ( having had heartstopping quote from both).[/quote]
We went to the Neptune showroom in Fulham as well - lovely kitchens and furniture but expensive. We also went to Harvey Jones - also nice but expensive. I haven’t see Plain English in person. I sent off for the Devol catalogue - beautiful and that’s just the catalogue - very expensive!
At the other end of the scale we looked at Wren and Howdens - fine but not for us.

@Qc16 plain English are beautiful. I've been to the showroom at their production site and a friend has had two kitchens from them ( different houses). She says she wouldn't have them again because the have become too expensive

Handmade kitchens direct are very similar to the Christchurch ones ( think they are located close too?) might be worth asking them to quote too.

I’ve had a plain English kitchen previously, beautiful and now way too expensive to have another in this house.

We’ve just had a HMKOC fitted in this house and I’m very happy with it. Lovely quality. It’s a very similar look to our Plain English.

You have to factor in the cost of having it professionally painted. Don’t do it yourself.

I have just installed a HMKOC kitchen in a property I'm renovating. It's beautiful! Really pleased with it. My builder was horrified that it came unpainted but having had it painted in a really lovely dark bluey grey it looks fantastic. Just waiting for quartz worktops to arrive on Friday and it's all done. I got appliances from ao.com.

@misstiggiwinkle sounds amazing. Have you any photos? Who did you get to paint? Did it cost much? We are going back to the showroom next week and back to Tom Howley to compare. I think the later will be double the cost!

Will try to take some better ones when I go this weekend for you but here's one of the island once painted. Had a local kitchen painter to do the painting, am SW London if that helps? And it was about £1200 for 9 units.

We had one error from HMKOC with the sink unit but they have resolved it really easily.

Thanks hat looks lovely! Thanks for sharing

@misstiggiwinkle that looks lovely. Can I ask what colour paint you used?

@misstiggiwinkle

Will try to take some better ones when I go this weekend for you but here's one of the island once painted. Had a local kitchen painter to do the painting, am SW London if that helps? And it was about £1200 for 9 units.

We had one error from HMKOC with the sink unit but they have resolved it really easily.

Looks lovely - how wide are those drawer units on your island ? We are having 2 x 1m drawers backing on to sink, dishwasher, bins etc. look forward to the photos of the finished kitchen.

@Qc16 they are 1000 wide by 600 deep. Will then have a 300 worktop overhang for seating.

Colour is Paint & Paper library BTWN Dog & Wolf.

This is an investment property so we haven't gone all out on the kitchen, just maximised the size of each unit where possible to cut down on individual unit costs and haven't added all the bells and whistles with regards to trims, panels and drawer/cupboard inserts. All to minimise cost! But it looks fab, will definitely use again and when we eventually do a kitchen for us to keep them I will add all the fancy bits!

Downsides are that I did a lot of the planning and design myself as we were short on time and you then have to arrange your own fitter/painter/handles/appliances/worktops etc. Tom Howley and the like will probably deliver more of a 'package' product, hence the price!

Drawer units the same as the ones on our island then - we will also have an overhang for seating.
Ours is costing over £8,000 but that includes all sorts of stuff like a larder unit, an engraved pantry door, a larder top with another set of drawers underneath - the works. The same sort of kitchen would cost ££30k plus elsewhere - I know we costed them. I know we still have to have it painted but still so much cheaper.
Can I ask where you got your handles please.

Sounds great. If you know of any painters near Surrey let me know? Thanks

@Qc16 Ironmongery direct

@321youreback they are the same company, I think they have different names but it all goes to same website in the end

@Qc16 don't suppose you would share your layout would you? I'm getting very confused with mine!

I'm looking at 8020 as well. The benefit of them is they spray paint any colour for £350 no matter how many units ( if you have two colours eg on island and other units then it's 2 x £350). Trying to work it all out. My max on units is £10k.

We won't have many units 6 base including sink unit, 2 glazed wall plus a tal ,larder unit and then somehow working out American fridge top bridging unit , built in microwave unit and an extractor housing. But gosh it adds up! We are basically a galley kitchen. Anyone want to share designs, please do! I need inspiration

Not sure I can post an image - in any case it’s only hand drawn by us as our plans aren’t approved yet

Well that didn’t work even though I chose an image to insert!

@Qc16 try again!

Whoops , my bad, I think they are called Classic Kitchens Direct, definitely not the same company as handmade. I always get the two muddled up .

@321youreback thanks for the tip. I have put in their prices to my spreadsheet and they are more than handmade kitchens sadly. Less that 8020 though!

I’ve had a quote from both classic and HMKOC and the later came back more cost effective