DIY Kitchens - yay or nay?

[irisetta]

Hi all, we are in the process of selecting a kitchen for our new extension and are almost ready to sign on with Benchmarx - our project manager has used them in the past, is familiar with them, and can get us a good price. However - I've been eyeing up DIY Kitchens as I prefer the colour range and overall look of their Shaker-style kitchens. Please would people share with me their experience of using DIY Kitchens? We are fine with measuring up and designing ourselves. Thank you so much!

Thank you @CasperGutman that is useful. They had another 10% price rise at the start of September but we just couldn’t finalise before then unfortunately.

Thankfully I work from home so can be fairly flexible. I will just have to arrange a week without meetings in the delivery week which is not ideal but should be doable.

Three years in here
Clayton in dark slate bottom cupboard and dove grey wall cupboards.
Still looks gorgeous, a couple cups chips but they send you little tubs of paint first touch ups.
We had two bits damaged and they were quick to replace.
It was so much cheaper than anyone else

Ah @CasperGutman that might have been a good idea but we set a delivery date several months in advance and then an issue with planning (conservation area, minor change to a chimney stack nobody could see, not an extension), and builder health meant we were way off schedule. It’s an unusual situation.

We used separate (local) suppliers for the quartz but the big contributor to the delay was the pandemic and the first lockdown.

18 months on though I still love our kitchen.

We ordered about 5 weeks ago and already the delivery slot has been pushed back a week. They did say they're seeing exceptionally high demand- so get ordering if you need it before February!

We were very impressed with their design tool, pre sales service and general communication- I'm surprised more companies don't do it this way TBH

We got ours last week. It was delayed a week due to petrol/hgv drivers. A door was missing due to failing their quality check, replacement should arrive today/tomorrow.
Everything was well packaged. You get 10 days to report any missing or damaged items. This can be extended if you call them.

Units are solidly built, fitter said they were the easiest he’s fitted. You can order door samples which get refunded if you place a full order and return to the delivery driver. Huge amount of door styles and you can have any carcass colour you want not just the recommended colour for the door.

We ordered centi graphite fleetwood doors with heron grey carcasses. They look amazing.

In theory delivery currently is for the week commencing 10/1 but interesting to know yours both have been pushed back a week. Maybe I will order for late Jan and hope it comes in time 🤔

This is all brilliant info, thank you so much everyone! Really helpful. Seems to be that the only real minus is the delivery service, but people are consistently impressed with the quality. I think I'm getting persuaded to go with DIY. Shame earliest delivery is week commencing 17th Jan at the moment but this is typical of everywhere...

My diy kitchen has been in a year and is full of little nips where the gloss has taken off. I am so disappointed. I live alone and am pretty careful. I would never buy from them again.

I don't see how they can give you 10 days to report damaged items when you have 30 days to get a full refund under law for faulty goods?

And giving you 10 days for missing items?!? So they want you to pay for stuff they haven't even provided you with!

We had one fitted six year ago. Our fitted was a huge Howdens fan, but said the quality of our DIY Kitchen stuff was far better. It has stood the test of time and still looks lovely.

We had a Luca Matt handleless kitchen fitted about 6 years ago. Had an extension about 3 years ago, dismantled the kitchen - sold the island unit for pretty much what we'd paid for it and re-installed the rest in the utility room. We're now changing the layout of the utility and I'm just going to buy more Luca doors for the new configuration. Its really stood up to family life and still looks as new 6 years on!

It's a yay from me. I've had the stanbury kitchen put in and I love it. Sadly I'm divorcing so my dream kitchen will now become someone else's but I'm going to be buying a new project house and I will definitely be getting another diy kitchen again.

We had one fitted in April. Lots of bits missing, and some wrong bits delivered twice so we needed to wait three times. But once it was in, all was forgiven.

Howdens wanted £12k and we paid just under £8k for better quality doors. We went with a local fitter who was impressed with the quality - it was the first one he'd done.

@RavingAnnie

I don't see how they can give you 10 days to report damaged items when you have 30 days to get a full refund under law for faulty goods?

And giving you 10 days for missing items?!? So they want you to pay for stuff they haven't even provided you with!

I'm curious as to where the 30 days comes from? I know you usually have 14 days to cancel after delivery of items you've bought via distance selling if you've just changed your mind or don't like items you've ordered.

On that one I suspect they'd say the usual distance selling rules don't apply because you're ordering items which are made to order to your specification - like ordering a personalised t-shirt.

I'm not sure about the legalities, but it doesn't seem unreasonable in principle to give a timescale for reporting missing or damaged items. My fitters commented that ten days was more generous than some other suppliers who only allowed seven.

@CasperGutman

The 14 days is a distance selling only change of mind.

The 30 days is all faulty products. You have a 30 day right to reject.

From the Which website:

How long do I have to return a faulty product?
The Consumer Rights Act gives you a clear early right to reject goods that are unsatisfactory quality, unfit for purpose or not as described, and get a full refund.
Contact the retailer you bought the goods from and tell it about the problem and that you want to reject the item and get your money back.
Use your 30-day right to reject
Your right to a quick refund is limited to 30 days from the date you took ownership of the product (this could be the date of purchase or the date it was delivered to you - whichever is later).
This right doesn’t apply to faulty digital content. The retailer has one opportunity to repair or replace digital content that is of unsatisfactory quality, unfit for purpose or not as described, before you can claim a refund on a digital download.
Under the Sale of Goods Act (which applies to goods bought before 1 October 2015), the time limit was a far less clear-cut three to four weeks.

www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/advice/what-do-i-do-if-i-have-a-faulty-product-aTTEK2g0YuEy#how-long-do-i-have-to-return-a-faulty-product

Great in every way.