Wickes kitchen regret

[Invisiblewoman1]

Hi all
I’m feeling so stressed and deflated. I had a kitchen appointment at wickes today and I liked the design after I suggested a few changes but it was over my budget and I felt so pressured. I had to push for them to take off the appliances and push for them to add laminate worktop. It was a long hard sell of why stone and Corian are better etc.

I got them to take off appliances and I went with a compact laminate and it cost £7000 without fitting. Much more than I wanted to spend and Now I feel so worried about it.

I can make changes so I think I will ask them to remove the worktop as I’m sure I can find it cheaper. I just wish I felt excited from ordering a kitchen but the whole experience was stressful

Cutlery trays - I got some really nice bamboo (I think) ones from B&Q - really nice and fit as if designed fir my drawer. Way cheaper than the kitchen brand ones. I also got some tubs and things from IKEA that worked really well in my deep pan drawer.

Integrated bins - I did un and ah over these as they were expensive however I love mine and glad I spent the money. No messy bin cluttering you my lovely kitchen!

You can cancel it. Since yesterday they won't have even processed the order I expect. Please don't continue it.

Sounds like he really pressured you into buying something that you don’t want. I’m certain you must be able to cancel, no matter what they’ve actually said. Signing under duress is not ok. Don’t take no for an answer.

I would take the design, it looks ok IMO but I haven’t looked closely, and look at someone like DIY. Fantastic kitchens at a really honest price. We bought cabinets, appliances, worktop, sink all from separate suppliers.

We went with B&Q 3 years ago - but fitted it myself.

Their app is good, if a bit clunky on an apple. It allows you to move components, alter colours, worktops etc.

It then produces a list of what you need - but you can edit the list, remove the add ons you don’t really need.

The staff were pleased to help - and jokingly offered me a job when I planned and ordered cabinets for my son’s kitchen last year.

The quality was fine - far better than what is fitted to my MIL’s Macarthy Stone apartment.

We had a terrible experience with Wickes a bit similar to you op in that designer railroaded us into lots of changes that we didn't want. We had told him the budget and it was approx 15k he gave us a kitchen for 19k but then "found" 3k of special discounts.
It was so unclear, I wasn't happy with it as the cabinet sizes were terrible along one wall when I had asked for them to be uniform I had a narrow an extra wide and a medium and another wide. It was truly awful. Luckily my husband was much better at saying no thanks this isn't what we asked for.
We then got the we can change things chat but I had no trust.
We ended up going to a more local place and were very happy.
It's a large amount of money to spend on something if you don't like it. Cancel the order and wait a little while then start looking again. I know it's incredibly draining.

Would they give you the plan? Have you got it ‘on sale’ (they won’t give you the before sale price, so it’s hard to tell what you are getting). I only know as a friend has gone there recently.

I called wickes and no problem to cancel but the team who do it arent in until tomorrow. I feel utter relief!

My plan is to renovate the rest of my house apart from kitchen as my original plan. Move in and then without pressure look into other companies using this wickes design which I now have. I have side access and side door so I don’t think doing the kitchen later will impact the rest of the house.

Truly awful experience!

I think the amount of relief you feel shows you e made the right decision. It's so expensive and so permanent it needs to be right. Well done!

@Invisiblewoman1 glad you got it sorted, you might come up with an even better design in that time.

Great news, well done. I'd have thought it's fine to wait, and sensible.

Good decision! I have a Wikes kitchen and it's not great quality....
I have had IKEA ones that are better!

We went with wickes about ten years ago , we had our own ikea design they improved it and matched the price and even gave us print out of a virtual design so we could imagine what it would look like

Seems like you did the right thing OP.
I'm just looking at kitchen units and b&q looks a better price and good quality.

we used the wickes print out to go to DIY kitchens using their online planner and got better units for £2000 less than the wickes qoute and the whole thing with ordering a new kitchen is that you should love what is going in and be looking forward to having that kitchen in your house not dreading it

Now you have the plan go to DIY kitchens.
Avoid b&q.

I was going to say that's triple what we spent at wickes but your kitchen is massive compared to mine.
Out planner last year told us to get the inserts and things separately as they can be found much cheaper. She was fantastic and made sure we were happy with it and I love our kitchen.
We saved a small fortune by getting our sinks and taps and things from elsewhere. We also sourced the splashback direct from the maker which saved us about a grand.

Cancel it and take the plan to Howdens!