DIY Kitchens!

[AltheaVestr1t]

Currently planning a house move and a new kitchen, and I'm leaning towards a navy and white kitchen from DIY kitchens. There are a few DIY Kitchen threads on here but none since 2016. Does anyone have any good or bad experiences of DIY Kitchens to share? Thanks!

[Loofah01]

I found them a good company to use. Fab quality of units, pre-built and finished well. They come with pots of touch up paint, just in case...
Not just 18mm doors though, there's also 19-22mm depending on the range and also MDF or solid wood.

Simplest way is to use their online planner - you measure your own space (do it twice) and create the room on the planner then just start adding units. Easy to re-arrange, see in 3D etc (the 3D is a bit pants to be honest but it does show layout well). I'd play about with that and re-create the room several times just to get the feel of it and the different layouts that you want. It auto adds things like filler panels, end panels etc and you submit it to be checked by a real person before ordering so it should be correct. Any aftersales issues were sorted really quickly for me.
Run the design past your fitter before buying

[MsLumley]

I've used them twice and found them very good as long as you don't mind doing a bit of legwork in the planning. Our kitchen fitter was very impressed with the quality and of course liked the fact that they came assembled so less work for them!

I find the planner very easy to use and they have a good range of styles and excellent choice of sizes and colours.

[AltheaVestr1t]

Their online planner isn't on at the moment unfortunately, but I haven't actually moved into the house that the kitchen is for yet so don't have accurate measurements anyway. Booked into the showroom next week so will gather lots of ideas. Very happy to hear of all the positive experiences! I didn't know they gave paint for touch-ups -this was one of my worries so that's great!

[Loofah01]

Totally is - planner.diy-kitchens.com/

[Loofah01]

The kitchen fitter will have to provide the wall fixings but other than that everything is included I think. Worth sitting with the planner and making up dummy kitchens just to see how it all works. Don't even contemplate using the first attempt as the one you buy!

[AltheaVestr1t]

@Loofah01 it only works if you already have a login - it's not available to new users!

[Loofah01]

[quote AltheaVestr1t]@Loofah01 it only works if you already have a login - it's not available to new users![/quote]
Bugger.

[Bumblebee1812]

We have had a DIY Kitchens kitchen, which was really good in comparison to other similar priced suppliers. At the time they had a planner that you had to print out and manually stick kitchen units on to. Now they have an online planner, which I have spent many an hour on as we are moving home and will need a new kitchen. It offers a 3D view option that helps to visualise your space.

The kitchen fitter said that the corner units were much stronger than anything else he had seen. Having spoken to DIY Kitchens previously it would also appear that their model is to sell directly to consumers, whilst also selling to luxury independents who massively inflate the prices.

I personally have found instagram posts of kitchens (from real owners) really helpful this time round to help us pick what we would like. The show room is definitely worth visiting even if you have to stay overnight. If you show them your kitchen design that you have put together their designers will suggest any improvements or cost saving options that may improve things.

[NotMeNoNo]

@Lily7050, that was an odd article. Natural wood kitchens in simple styles are fairly timeless. You should look for lacquered solid oak framed doors, (the centre panel is always veneered or it would split.) Or an oak veneered and edged slab door. Avoid "oak effect" foil/laminate/vinyl as this is basically fake. But its ok/usual for carcasses to be oak effect chipboard as they aren't seen.

[wowfudge]

Not sure what your search terms were OP, but there have been more recent threads on DIY. We paid a third of the price Magnet wanted for the units from DIY and we had one assembled but not glued as it had to be cut down to fit the space. They'll also customise things for you - as long as it takes a standard door size.

Our builder had messed up on the positioning of the plumbing for our island and we had to order a couple of extra units - if that happens and you need additional bits they waive the minimum order value. The trades we had in all said what great quality the DIY units are. One of my friends has had a kitchen from them having seen ours and another is going to order early next year.

[Lily7050]

@Sunisshining12

I was all set on getting a DIY kitchen but I found their shakers to be old fashioned & limited choice. Their quote was basically the same as Wren & B&Q.

Cons - They don’t measure up or plan for you. There’s no finance options. It’s quite a trek if you don’t live up north.

Pros - they come fully built/nailed (for some fitters this is a hinder if you have service pipes/areas that need notching out) You can choose any colour you wish (bespoke paint).

They use 18mm carcasses - this is industry standard across all the big kitchen places.
They use 8mm solid backs - again industry standard (howdens only use 40mm)
They use good quality abs edging
They use Egger/MFC for their carcasses which is better than MDF used at most kitchen outlets.
You can have matching colour carcass (again this may be a negative if you want to change your doors in future)
They have a lot of size choice & can bespoke make sizes

@Sunisshining12: would you mind me asking which kitchen you ended up buying?

[AltheaVestr1t]

@wowfudge I literally searched 'diy kitchens'!
Thanks for all the feedback, really looking forward to my showroom visit on Sunday!

[wowfudge]

They have a chef onsite cooking to demo the appliances they sell - don't know if she'll still be there with Covid 19 procedures in place. If you have a plan of your kitchen, take it with you.

[isseywith4vampirecats]

no the chef isnt there now theres a coffee machine on the ground floor near the ladies toilets and packets of biscuits

[Lily7050]

I received a few samples of doors and worktops.
We got small (6 square meters) north facing kitchen.
For quartz worktop I like Silestone Eternal Marfil diy-kitchens.com/solid-surfaces/quartz-worktops/.
For doors I like both Cashmere and Mussel colour.
I would appreciate if someone could help me to decide which colour will work better with Silestone Eternal Marfil in north facing kitchen.

[Longwhiskers14]

We had ours installed two years ago and it still looks brand new. We were/still are impressed by how sturdy it is and liked the fact the cabinets arrived full assembled. Our builder, who hadn't fitted one before and thought they were great quality, now recommends DIY Kitchens to all his clients.

We had our kitchen designed by Karen at OnePlan, who we found on another Mumsnet thread. I didn't have a clue where to start so she planned the whole lot out for us, right down to where the cat's food and water bowls should go! She works remotely but does a lengthy telephone consultation first and lots of email follow-ups, then came up with a CAD design and a shopping list of the cabinets we needed and their sizes etc that we just forwarded on to DIY Kitchens.

[Porridgeoat]

Is there a bathroom version of this company?

[Lily7050]

@Longwiskers14: Thank you for mentioning Karen from OnePlan!
I was looking for someone to help me with design.

[Lily7050]

@Longwiskers14: Forgot to ask: did Karen choose DYI-Kitchens cabinets for your kitchen or you had to do it yourself?

[JosephineDeBeauharnais]

We had a new kitchen this time last year. Went with Howdens as we were able to persuade them to match the DIY Kitchens price. Our joiner was happy to recommend either Howdens or DIY. I did go to the DIY showroom and got a couple of great ideas from there which we incorporated into our design, and those are the features that people notice and comment on! Showroom is definitely worth a visit if you can.

[NotMeNoNo]

@Lily7050 our kitchen is Cashmere. Is the Silestone white or ivory toned? I would put Cashmere with white and Mussel with cream (but it might all blend together).

[NotMeNoNo]

The Cashmere benefits from a contrast colour to liven it up.

[Smallgoon]

@Lily7050 Karen will give you a 'shopping list' which you can basically forward to the kitchen supplier, or use to create your own design via the DIY planner. The good thing about Karen's list is that she will filter out all the unnecessary panel ends that suppliers try to sell you to hike up the price.

[Longwhiskers14]

Lily7050 No, I'd already stumbled across DIY Kitchens on here and had decided to go with them when I read another thread recommending Karen. Her plans can be used for any kitchen company. Honestly, it was so brilliant having someone say "this is what you need and these are the exact measurements down to the last mm"! I now have my absolute dream kitchen and everyone who visits loves it.

[Longwhiskers14]

[quote Smallgoon]@Lily7050 Karen will give you a 'shopping list' which you can basically forward to the kitchen supplier, or use to create your own design via the DIY planner. The good thing about Karen's list is that she will filter out all the unnecessary panel ends that suppliers try to sell you to hike up the price.[/quote]
Oh god, yes, she was brilliant for that! She also talked me out of having the ridiculously massive walk-in larder I had been envisaging, because it would take up too much room. She asked me pointedly how close my nearest shop was and when I said a two-min walk (we're in London) she suggested that I probably didn't need to stockpile groceries to that extent and came up with a brilliant alternative.