DIY Kitchens -How to choose which one?

[Whatiswrongwithmykid]

We are looking to get a new kitchen from DIY Kitchens. The plan was to go to their showroom and have a look but that is obviously not going to happen.
I know that I want a shaker-style kitchen but how do you decide which one? They all look pretty similar to me. Should I go for painted or not? I like the idea of being able to repaint if in the future I change my mind about the colour, but I couldn't stand it if the doors ended up covered in chipped paint. Is that likely to happen with painted doors?

Any advice gratefully received.

I'm in the same boat. A friend had a pre arranged showroom tour recently and recommended it.

They can send you door samples (I think you get the cost back if you send it back or it gets taken off your order? can’t remember)

But you’d probably want to narrow it down to 2 or 3 for samples

There's a page here. advice.diy-kitchens.com/customer-questions/can-you-explain-what-the-kitchen-door-materials-are/

Non flat doors can only be vinyl/foil wrapped or painted - DIY kitchens also do paint over foil for their bespoke colours. Wrapped doors can peel or bubble. Normally wrapped doors are cheaper and painted more expensive. Commercially painted doors are a durable finish, not like normal decorating paints.

I have both the Linwood Shaker (painted wood and veneer) and the Clayton Shaker (painted MDF). After a lot of research, I went for that style rather than that the Norton or the Stansbury because I'd read the extra grooves would mean the paint was less likely to show cracks that can appear over time. Equally I discounted the cheaper Malton as I also read that wrapped doors can also peel eventually (especially if
exposed to heat eg. near a kettle or cooker).

To be honest I don't know that the Linwood is worth the extra money over the Clayton. I wanted real wood, as in theory it looks "higher end" and it might be easier to re- paint if I'd changed my mind on the colour, but if I could do it again I might just stick with the Clayton (I think MDF can still be re-painted fairly easily, it's foil wrapped that's more difficult).

Does anybody know what the shaker style ranges are in order of least to most expensive?

I thought they had a rough price on each photo of the range, to give you an idea of their price on the website ?

@Whatiswrongwithmykid

Does anybody know what the shaker style ranges are in order of least to most expensive?

You see them sorted from low price to high price automatically when you select "kitchens" from the menu bar.

Basically it's a choice of smooth or wood grain finish, (with painted oak you can see the grain) and then a fully flat frame or with those corner grooves. I think Clayton/Stanbury are smooth, Linwood/Norton are oak as they also come in unpainted finish.

I went for the Norton. For one of the units, they accidentally attached a Linwood door. I didn't regret going for the Norton after seeing the Linwood up close. Depends on whether you prefer the look of a deeper groove or not. I've seen people mention that the deeper groove is a dust magnet but I've not noticed this issue.

Thanks everyone!
So many choices 🙀. It’s really difficult to decide on doors and colour etc without seeing an entire kitchen.

And then what inner to choose? I’m tempted to go for oak as I think it may look better than white?

Order door samples/different colours. All prices on website as well as pictures of other peoples kitchens. Go onto Instagram and search DIYKitchens in the hashtag for more inspiration. We ordered one without seeing it but did the above and am so happy with it.

@Whatiswrongwithmykid

And then what inner to choose? I’m tempted to go for oak as I think it may look better than white?

If you look on the website, some of the door colours - lancaster oak, white, alabaster, light grey, heron grey, dakar, mussel, graphite, cashmere all have matching carcass colours. I limited myself to these options as I dislike opening cupboards and seeing a different colour (as well as the fact if you decide to choose a couple of glass fronted cabinets it would be obvious).

From what I remember of the showroom, in the examples of the other colours (blues, sage etc) they tended to show them with the oak interior.

Definitely won’t be getting any glass fronted cabinets. I want everything behind doors!
I’m probably going to go for a dark colour that I can repaint in the future if I get bored with it.

Difficult to go forward isn’t it OP? We are in the same boat but have decided we will wait until we can physically see and feel the units ourselves. It is very tempting though to order now and beat the March price rise.