Bespoke German kitchen or Highstreet kitchen

[vivimimi]

Hi MN ethusiasts,

We are amidst new kitchen build. See attached. Roughly we will have 14 or 15 units including the kitchen run plus the island units.
We want a special bespoke kitchen. here are the options.

Option 1:
Our local joiner has given a quote of 9.5k for the furniture units using Egger MFC for carcases, Blum/ Hittech for the hinges, drawers, 2m Blum aventos (bifold unit) with frosted glass front.

Option 2:
Magnet has given a quote of 6.5k, standard kitchen units, their own fittings etc. Magnet offers 10yr guarantee.
Ikea is the lowest at 4.5k

The above quotes do not include worktop, appliance, handles&lights.
Then we add worktop (quartz 3k), appliances (incl american fridge freezer 3k), and handles & pendant lights (roughly £1k)

Unable to decide whether to go for bespoke German kitchen by local joinery or go for Magnet style with 10 yr guarantee.

The local joinery guys says that the german made MFC and fittings have life long lasting more than 20 years.

Any thoughts.

bumping ++ for few thoughts. I have to decide promptly.

How long do you plan to live there ? I’d go for the joiners option.

If you’re staying there a long time I’d go for more expensive option. You’ve bought costly worktop, appliances and lights. Magnet is overpriced for the quality.

german kitchen are designed to be taken apart and moved several times. (that's how renting there works)
do you plan to do that?
tbh I would go for magnet or other high street with standard corpus size.

Thank you @chillibeansauce @shouldvebeenme. This is our home, surely we will live for long time.

@pinkbalconyrailing the joiners are using German materials such as Egger, Blum etc but fitting with screws etc so that they are more durable and cannot be dismantled.

The units will be standard corpus size.

I have a bespoke kitchen.

There is NO unused space.

It’s a small flat so capitalising on every inch was worth it to me.

If you plan on staying in the house and not moving then go for the best you can afford.

DIY kitchens are great and the quality (according to my joiner) better than magnet wren etc. And use all German fittings but manufactured in the U.K. with a 25 year guarantee. Don't be fooled by the name it's jot flat packed, all rigid units. And they do bespoke units too

I was just about to say that Blum fittings etc are pretty much standard in most kitchens now aren't they? As @BertyFlanter, DIY Kitchens and other suppliers are an example. I used a different online company and have all Blum drawer fittings and pull out drawers.

What will the doors be made from? Mdf? Thats really expensive for mdf whether its German or not!

Magnet, I found, wasn't well regarded when I was doing my research (although I have a friend who is happy with her Magnet kitchen).

If the people coming in through the door manage to negotiate the open oven at least you can trip them up with the open dishwasher instead.
Not the best layout if you ask me.

Not the question you've asked but is the door to the toilet directly off the kitchen? If so, don't do it!!!! We've got that and it's awful. Is there any way you can either put a wall up and make a utility room and then the toilet off that instead?

I'm not sure having the bin at the bottom of a full height cupboard containing the boiler is a great idea. It's much easier having the bin accessible from the worktop, so you can just scoop rubbish straight into the bin.
Why is the tumble dryer right in the middle of the run of units? It's nowhere near the washing machine and gets in the way.

Yes, I’d agree with others the layout isn’t the best. I’d stack the dryer on top of the washing machine - having them in different rooms makes no sense. ~dont put the oven next to a doorway - its dangerous. The dishwasher needs to be next to the sink, not on the island - that’ll be cheaper to fit too as your plumbing is all on one wall.
Also, having the access to a toilet directly from the kitchen is grim. Can you not combine that space with the space where the washer is and reconfigure it?

thank all we decided to go with bespoke.
@Africa2go the units will be MFC, doors will be MDF. Yes, the Egger brand is expensive. cutlist.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/Cutlist-Egger-Price-List-R3-2020.pdf

@waitrosetrollydolly good point; we dont use the oven that often, but i see what you mean.

@GU24Mum the door to the toilet is from the corridor and not directly off the kitchen. There is a wall in between toilet and kitchen. Unfortunately we dont have much space to add any more walls. that will be too clumsy.

DIY and Howdens both use the same fittings as you've mentioned - I would put both as way better than Magnet. Somebody I know had Magnet units installed in a quite large utility room just last week, the fitter said they no way compared to the Howdens units in the main kitchen, two of the legs broke off just from moving the carcass units around and into position.