New kitchen - so many questions

[lettie9]

We're going to get a brand new kitchen in our new house, and I've been looking at options. Aesthetically, I would like a simple shaker kitchen with marble-style worktop.

Some questions:

1. Solid wood vs. composite units - I've only had composite and they seem fine, but is it worthwhile investing in solid wood?

1. Is Magnet's 'Minerva' acrylic worktop any good? It feels and looks like marble. I think. Or go for quartz? I'd like something stain-resistant and low maintenance. I've always had oak and all that treating with oil and worrying about heat and water stains was very tedious.

1. What's a good mid-range kitchen supplier? Magnet? Howden? And is IKEA really so bad?

Thank you!

Hopeful bump 🪄

We used Magnet but never again. The doors warped and we were told it was water damage, so our fault. This was rubbish so we argued and got them replaced.

Got warned off Minerva by our kitchen chap - scratches really easily. Use laminate.

We've had benchmark and Howden's kitchen and quality has been very good on both. I wouldn't go with Howden's lamona appliance range though, ours haven't lasted well.

We've had dark granite in both work tops as they are pretty indestructible.

I couldn't tell you if the doors were solid or not. I don't think so, but we went for easy to clean gloss so they aren't subject to getting wet directly and the laminate (or whatever it is) hasn't peeled. Current Howden's one is 10 years old and still looks good as new

Thanks everybody. Can you get laminate that looks like marble though? The laminates I've seen look exactly like you'd expect, and I'd rather pay more for something that looks better quality.

Thanks for the feedback on Magnet!

On the other hand we found Magnet to be absolutely brilliant in terms of service and quality! MIL used Benchmark and was happy with them, but B &Q I've been told to steer clear of for kitchens. I think a wood worktop looks lovely, but real wood takes a lot of maintenance, which you may or may not have time for. The white quartz worktops look beautiful too, but you need the right colour units to really set it off

We have a grey howdens kitchen with white silestone worktops. It’s beautiful. Worth getting the cheaper range of doors but spend on stone worktop rather than laminate.

What about solid wood vs. MDF? Apparently solid wood lasts a lot longer, which makes sense, and is easier to maintain?

Howden's pricing model gets a lot of bad press online 😬😬

Our magnet higher end cabinets are doing great 6 years on despite 6 of us and 4 teens and their "careful" use of it 🙄

We have Fusion Blue which is contemporary super gloss. Shaker traps dirt and I'm all for low maintenance.

All of these places it's the fitters that make the difference. Our builders passed on their trade discount to us which is around 50% - some items more others less.

Got a wren one in October last year. Used my own fitters. The cupboards come pre built it doesn't cost much for this option.

The planner actually recommended we get our own fitters as it would be cheaper.

Cannot fault them.

We have Matt shaker dark grey with rose gold handles. Love it.

Wait till they have a sale on if you go with them

I have a magnet kitchen and that mi we a work top in white. I'm not very house proud. I adore my white surface and it cleans up pretty well imo. It's so smooth to touch. It doesn't scratch. Magnet were great for me - remember to haggle and haggle first

(choose a self-cleaning oven and frost-free fridge/freezer and have grey or darker grout on the floor tiles, never white)

Check out DIY Kitchens. Lots of happy customers on Mumsnet.

we have

1. solid wood
2. black quartz with mirror chips.
3. Wren kitchen

(the lights at the base of the island are not that bright)

We have a DIY Kitchens kitchen. Would recommend!

We used Wren for the units and used our own fitters. Can't fault the units in the end but the guy that designed our kitchen at Wren clearly fucked up all the measurements so some stuff was delivered wrong, although it did get sorted.

Solid wood worktops from Worktop Express, I love them and the price and quality is brilliant. Yes you have to oil them but it's not that big a deal. Personally I absolutely hate the look of laminate, it always looks cheap. This isn't our forever home though so we were dictated by budget, next time I would like solid granite or quartz worktops.

Betterkitchens, brilliant quality and service, before, during and after. Online providers like DIY kitchens but much more personalised down to every detail. If you send as much detail as possible, they will draw up plans online for you. Also better quality all round. Units come built. Almost 2 years on and ours is still perfect.

Does one negotiate on the price when one buys from say Howden's or Wren? How do you even start?

@lettie9

Does one negotiate on the price when one buys from say Howden's or Wren? How do you even start?

get a quote from each each place then go back to the one you like most and ask if they can beat the price of the other. they will want to.

DIY kitchen here but not shaker as i didnt want to be cleaning all the fiddly bits on the doors and Duropal laminate in Carrera marble effect the square edge one, and got to say impressed with the worktops a visitor thought it was real marble it isnt all plasticky and shiny looking quite matt and so easy to keep clean spray with kitchen cleaner spray and wipe with a cloth

@ZingDramaQueenOfSheeba but what if you like the more expensive one? 🤔

I'm hearing what people are saying about it being tricky to clean shaker. But I just think it looks a lot nicer, and in keeping with a period home...

@lettie9 - have you looked at these solid laminate worktops? I received a sample and they’re pretty impressive. Very slim and because it’s solid laminate throughout you can have an under-mounted sink which wouldn’t be possible with a standard laminate.

www.worktop-express.co.uk/solid-laminate-worktops/zenith-worktops/marble-veneto-zenith-worktops