What am I missing? DIY Kitchens versus Benchmarx

[Hisashiburi]

Hi.

I've been designing a kitchen and utility room using Benchmarx and had a quote. I thought I would compare with DIY kitchens as I hear how much cheaper they are but by the time I costed up the same kitchen (similar materials), the price was pretty much the same.

I haven't been including worktops or appliances in the price.

Am I missing something obvious?or did anyone else find diy kitchens not as reasonable as people would suggest? Tempted to go with benchmarx as they are local to me and have a kitchen designer who I've been working with. I've also had chance to see the kitchens up close. Is the DIY Kitchen quality really good?

Would welcome any thoughts!

we asked benchmarx to give us a quote and the didn't even turn up, we have gone with DIY and they were almost £2000 cheaper than Wickes and the quality is excellent our joiners have said how good they are and they make units for commercial premises in their normal every day jobs ( they work for a company that fits out commercial units) so while I cant compare benchmarx units I can recommend DIY

Same OP, in fact benchmarx were cheaper.
I've changed my plans several times and the benchmarx fitter has been brilliant throughout so we're going through them....as soon as we can get some plaster

Just check with Benchmarx that all their cabinets are already assembled. I believe their tall larder Cabinets are flat packed which may add time and cost to the fitting.

When we did our kitchen there was very little difference between Wickes, Benchmarx, or Howdens. We went with the fitter we felt most comfortable with and he preferred Wickes.

Many on here report massive savings by going to one supplier over another, but our difference was less than £1000 on a £14000 kitchen between the three.

Could be that benchmarx etc are finally catching on that their competition is crushing them... It comes down to what you're happy with as the customer. If you think benchmarx is the better option for you then I'd definitely go with that.

I'd recommend going somewhere local. We got ours from benchmarx and there was some issues with the wrong things being delivered but they were able to get replacements out that day. My mum got hers from DIY kitchens and had to wait 6 weeks for the right thing to be sent out. Quality of both are comparable

I have 2 tall larders which need to be assembled, all other floor and wall units come already done

I think most of the big kitchen retailers are quite similar to be honest. Very little difference in quality across the big names. We have a DIY kitchen and I think it’s excellent for the price. Solid wood painted door. I’d highly recommend, but I think there is overlap in price at this end of the kitchen spectrum

We had Benchmarx. I think they are the trade arm of Wickes? Toyed with using DIY, but I didn’t trust my measuring up skills plus too far away from us for a day trip. So far, so good.

DIY kitchens have very high quality carcases which might not be obvious from brochures, they also have a choice of interior colours/wood effects. They are rigid assembled/glued with solid back panels and a PVC plastic edging on all the front edges (not just tape.). Even the legs are thick and chunky. I don't know what the Benchmarx spec is, they have a good reputation, but those are the sort of things I'd compare. advice.diy-kitchens.com/customer-questions/kitchen-unit-carcasses-specification/

Also check on your doors you are comparing like with like, eg. solid wood, painted, foil wrapped etc.