I know this gets asked a million times about kitchens, but....

[Ginkpin]

Wren?
DIY Kitchens?
Benchmarx?
Howdens?
Something else?

I would get the worktop (quartz) and ironmongery elsewhere probably.

I am going to look at the much recommended Handmade Kitchen's Direct, but I am assuming that they cost more than the above and offer less internal storage options?

I can't really cope with the Howdens pricing system - it's so changeable and vague. We have a Howdens kitchen at the moment and it's fine but I have no idea if our builder got us a good deal or not...

Large kitchen extension being built so will need quite a lot of cabinets and a largeish island. Help!

Thanks @SollaSollew - gorgeous room. All makes perfect sense. Our set-up is a bit different but you have given me some inspiration!

I went for DIY Kitchens and they are OK but they are NOT perfect like a lot of people suggest!

The underneath of my wall cupboards and slightly bowed, and the doors don't hang evenly.

We can't get them replaced because we had them in storage for a month before putting them up.

I would personally go for a company that has a branch near you.

DIY Kitchens. Fantastic. We bought our quartz worktop through them and the supplier said it's even cheaper than they can supply it direct.

Magnet's after sales service was absolutely dire.
We needed two very small jobs ( repairs ) done. Took months and months, countless phone calls.
Magnet - never again.
They pulled out of Ireland.

@SollaSollew your kitchen is beautiful.

I posted yesterday but didn’t have a pic to hand....this is our DIY kitchen.

One other thing to consider is the fitter you use. I think the quality of the finish comes down to that a lot. Our fitter thankfully was brilliant, and they can tweak things when floors/walls etc aren’t quite straight.

I’ve just had a DIY kitchen installed, or rather we installed it ourselves, and I’m really pleased with it. The quality is fantastic and was over 10k cheaper than the same design done by Wren.

In 3-5 years we are planning an extension but I couldn’t live with what we inherited when we moved in, so needed something cheap and cheerful as a stop gap.

Using the planner and getting the design right was actually good fun and very easy. Just make sure you allow for things like bendy walls and end panels.

I’m really impressed and might use them for the final kitchen.

@SunnyUpNorth Your kitchen is gorgeous. It looks like such a lovely room to be in too, so light and the ceiling height, wow!

With diy, if you’re not near the showroom can they still give you a quote or do you have to figure it all out yourself?

Thanks all. The DIY kitchens all look lovely. I am still a bit anxious about the planning bit, but the option of using a planner from another shop and then get a quote based on that design seems to make sense (even if it is a bit disingenuous) . Do Handmade Kitchens come to the house and measure up? They would be the other company I would most want a quote from, so maybe I could get them do design and both companies to quote?

No Handmade kitchens of Christchurch don’t come to measure up - you send them your dimensions and they create a plan for you based on that.

As far as I understand it, HMKoC and DIY are completely different in terms of the way they operate. HMK will do your scheme for you (as per Qc16's post) and DIY are supply only, so if you're considering DIY I'd say investing a few hundred quid on a professional designer would be essential unless you're very confident at kitchen design. And perhaps even then!

A good designer will run up a complete specification for you do all you'd have to do would be to send it to the supplier(s) and get a quote.

@m0therofdragons

With diy, if you’re not near the showroom can they still give you a quote or do you have to figure it all out yourself?

It makes no difference where you are as they don't do a home service. They're really helpful, you just need accurate wall measurements it's pretty difficult to mess that up!

@Zinnia

As far as I understand it, HMKoC and DIY are completely different in terms of the way they operate. HMK will do your scheme for you (as per Qc16's post) and DIY are supply only, so if you're considering DIY I'd say investing a few hundred quid on a professional designer would be essential unless you're very confident at kitchen design. And perhaps even then!

A good designer will run up a complete specification for you do all you'd have to do would be to send it to the supplier(s) and get a quote.

That's really not accurate. DIY are very goid at looking over your design & what you've put in your basket, making sure you've not forgotten anything and if you ask, making suggestions.

You don't need to confident te kitchen design, but you do need to know what you want & where you want it.

DIY kitchens for us, husband is a joiner so fitted everything but we bought oak worktops elsewhere. We did order a lot of samples before deciding and apart from the huge larger cupboard being delivered as one piece and difficult to manoeuvre it was all great quality. Three years in and still love it.

@WitchesBritchesPumpkinPants You're right, DIY Kitchens most definitely do sense check your order for compatibility and correct any issues, but if you're a novice like I was, and had never renovated a kitchen before, @Zinnia 's advice to consult a professional kitchen designer is sensible. I used Karen from OnePlan and i'm really glad I did, otherwise I would have just gone with the 'design' that Howdens drew up which really was based on my own preferences (based on inexperience) rather than practicality. Karen is super honest about what does and doesn't work, where appliances should go and health and safety considerations, which most high-street kitchen suppliers overlook in order for a quick sale.

Thanks @SollaSollew yes the ceilings are super high! It’s our holiday home, it’s quite small in footprint but has very high ceilings. Was a bit precarious painting it all!!

DIY will do a plan for you and double check everything. They were super helpful with that side of things. However I did go to the showroom and felt a bit lost with the planning process until I did that.

Solla beautiful kitchen! What is the floor - real wood or vinyl?

Hi @PandoraRocks thanks, it’s a laminate. It’s this one www.builderdepot.co.uk/elka-8mm-orchard-oak-elw122-long-plank-laminate-flooring I got it from my local flooring shop though rather from here. We had the same brand in our last house and it was really good and lasted well so can highly recommend it.

Benchmark

We got ours from DIY Kitchens in the summer. Our fitter said it knocked spots off what Howdens offered, and has gone on to fit DIY Kitchens stuff in his daughter's house and his own.

We were completely underwhelmed by the DIY kitchens showroom. I can’t see what all the fuss is about at all. We ended up using Kitchen Stori through a local kitchen shop and it’s been fantastic, it cost about the same.

Whatever you do don’t go to howdens. My MIL had a new kitchen at the same time as we did and it’s dreadful quality by comparisons, it doesn’t even come close.

@Flaunch what we liked about the showroom was we could walk around without any staff pressure, could see a mini mock up kitchen and could open doors etc to see what the units were like inside, any questions we had the staff were very helpful and knew thier product, they had samples of all the worktops, door handles etc so we could put one against another combinations of doors and tops could feel wether they were quality, we went in with one kitchen in mind and came out with another one , were given lots of options including colour of unit interior wickes the one we liked there at the showroom they had one door glued to a wall panel so not very impressive and very hard to visualise a whole kitchen from a glued to the wall door

If there's anyone near Rochdale, I'd be interested to know what you think of Benjamin James Ltd

I've had a few specials made and they seem very good, but I understand you can visit by appointment. I have never been to their premises.

I've just ordered from DIY and found the whole process very straightforward so far. Their planning tool is really easy to use.

@gettingolderbutcooler ooh that's lovely, is that tiles in the centre of the floor? Beautiful