B&Q kitchens.

[Toddlerteaplease]

So buying a kitchen is provo g much more stressful than I thought. Even B&Q are coming out over budget. But cheapest so far. Are they any good?

No. I think if you know what you want but don’t have a huge budget then diykitchens might be better for you

No. Avoid like the plague. We had one in the last house, fell apart after 18months. We replaced it with a DIY kitchens one. Both cheaper and much much better quality.

Problem is. That the people I had earmarked to fit only work with Howdens and I go I that's going to be over budget as well.

@Toddlerteaplease

Problem is. That the people I had earmarked to fit only work with Howdens and I go I that's going to be over budget as well.

If they fit howdens they should be able to fit DIY Kitchens too as they’re fairly similar in construction according to my fitter. They probably don’t want to as they can usually add on a huge mark up on Howdens as it’s trade.

B&Q have also included literally everything thing in the quote. Except the painting. Which is what I wanted. It's getting confusing having only half an idea of the costs.

@Toddlerteaplease

B&Q have also included literally everything thing in the quote. Except the painting. Which is what I wanted. It's getting confusing having only half an idea of the costs.

Go with them if you want, but you asked for opinions and we gave them. They're shit and don't last. Unless you plan to sell soon it's a false economy.

Howdens etc will price match like for like.

My fitter wouldn't do DIY so I sent them my DIY quote and ok and behold 8k became 4k.

Will try that. Need to make a decision by next week as the offer at b&q will end then.

Definitely don't recommend. They messed up our order so we had to wait extra time (work surfaces weren't ordered) Damaged and incomplete items delivered. It looks nice now but if you look closely the quality isn't great.

If it's what you can afford (though still over budget?) then that's it. I had a B & Q kitchen fitted about a year ago and am very pleased with it. Of course it doesn't look high end and won't compare to those that are, but that is very much reflected in the price difference, and to my no-doubt easily pleased eye mine looks lovely and is very usable. It looks like new a year later and I really can't see it falling apart in the next 6 months as someone suggested! I had a very good fitter and I think that makes a difference.

I got mine from B&Q. I was cheap, looks nice. I'm quite gentle with it however as I can see it won't last if I'm not.

Wren claim to be cheaper than B&Q, you could try them.

I spec a lot of kitchens and I'd always go for IKEA for the cheaper end
Good quality, good to fit, reasonable price, last well

Howdens are a con - their pricing structure is very much like those pressure double glazing salesmen - completely fluid and changeable
I'm yet to buy one thing from B&Q that didn't have bits missing or broken so I'm not sure I'd personally trust them with a whole kitchen.

I had a B&Q kitchen. It was crap. Had it replaced 12 years later with an IKEA kitchen. This has been in for 3.5 years now and it is still looking really good. Soft close doors. None dropping. Not delaminating. Just altogether better quality for a reasonable price. It cost £4K including appliances. Fitting was extra.
I will always buy kitchens from IKEA from now on.

My B&Q kitchen has been in 12 years. Still looking good.
Couple of missing items were sorted straight away.
A problem I found a week after they left was sorted within a couple of days.
It was half the price that Wren quoted us.
It’s not a top spec kitchen, but it’s a small room anyway, so there’s not much scope for fancy islands and wine fridges anyway.

I have a b and q kitchen that was inherited with the house. 15+ years old and still standing, worktops are in good condition, cupboards are sturdy, no broken hinges etc. Only issue I’ve got is the doors have been bleached by the sun but that’s due to the layout of our kitchen. Will be replacing with a new b and q kitchen when we can.

None dropping. Not delaminating.

These are the issues we had with ours. The doors dropped and then fell off and because the screws broke the woodchip they were hard to get back in and fixed. Because of how kitchen door hinges work, you can't just move them in to a fresh bit of wood.

The door delaminated from steam (to be expected) but also from being cleaned. It started from 18 months in. We kept it for another 5 years, until we could afford to replace it. We did price up a new B&Q one because we were broke but the DIY kitchens one was the same price.

Our kitchen cupboard carcasses are b&q. They were in the house when we moved in seven years ago. When building our new kitchen we reused the carcasses as they were still in very good condition. We made our own worktop and cupboard doors so I can't comment on the quality of them, but the quality of the carcasses seem fine.

I don’t know what this nonsense is about fitters not doing DIY; they are so well made and so easy to fit a child could manage it. Our fitter was so impressed he went and got DIY for his own house!

Have spoken to my fitter and he thinks he'll be cheaper than B&Q. He also said that the fitting costs are not being passed on to the fitters. So they will o my get poor fitters. He used to fit for the until they stopped doing kitchens. And refused to fo back when they asked because they weren't getting paid enough. He will do me a quote from b&q survey though.

No, they’re crap. At least ours is.

Have you looked at wickes? We've used them over B&Q when we were renovating to sell and needed a cheap kitchen that looked decent.

I know the man who un-bodges the b and q fitters work...he is booked solid for years....!!