DIY Kitchens quote seems insanely low

[irisetta]

Hi all, so DH and I had a potential kitchen designed by Benchmarx way back in May. The quote then was £10,811 including top range appliances. 5 months later, are finally ready to begin ordering our kitchen. Our criteria has changed - we are going for the premium Somerset range, rather than the Cambridge that we wanted previously - so obviously the quote will increase.
So we have started shopping around, landed on DIY Kitchens (I do have a previous thread asking about this), used their online tool to design our kitchen based on the Benchmarx design, but using the higher quality units that we now want from Benchmarx - and adjusted cost for appliances (none from DIY). Even so, the cost is already £2k cheaper! For a premium kitchen from DIY (solid timber frames etc) vs a more basic kitchen from Benchmarx (ie. all MDF, foil wrapped). We are still waiting on our premium kitchen quote from Benchmarx, however, given price rises in materials since May, supply issues etc - it must be easily 2-3k price rise.

That would make the same kitchen from DIY Kitchens almost 4k cheaper! Is this normal? What's the catch?!

Wow, thank you all so much! You've really reassured me on this. Much appreciated 😊

I would hope a 4 year old kitchen is just like new. Moved here 4 years ago and the tired howdens kitchen is only a little more tired.

[quote KitchenKrisis]@skippy67

Have you checked yours we just started and a whole cabinet door is missing so I'm dreading looking at the rest is a whole cabinet door can get missed[/quote]
@KitchenKrisis TBH, for a saving of 4 grand (possibly more) I'm willing to overlook a missing cabinet door! Sure they will send another one. :)

We've used them before and they were fab. They alerted me to the fact one our units wouldn't line up with the others- it was actually deliberate on our part due to a bulkhead but it shows they check the units make sense as a group.

We're currently redoing our kitchen and we didn't consider anywhere else to buy the units from.

Ok stand down, all checked and aside from the merest scratch all present and correct (apart from the door

@KitchenKrisis, I haven't checked it yet. I called the day before delivery to request an extension of the checking period because we won't be fitting it for another 2 weeks.

DIY are brilliant. Two friends have had kitchens from them since we got ours.

Yes - used them in 2016. Very happy and meant we could afford a quartz worktop.

I think it’s often fitters that make a difference. We had a carpenter fit ours and he was brilliant making very tiny adjustments etc….

We used DIY Kitchens and were delighted with it. The ‘catch’ is that you have to do the design work and measurement checking yourself, and that they only have one showroom ( we didn’t bother visiting it cos lockdown then).

Once you’ve figured out how to measure and know what design you want, it’s a bargain.

Any kitchen supplier that offers free design and had a posh local showroom will make you pay for your share of the cost of those things (and also for the design services provided to all the browsers who visited the showroom but never actually ordered).

I was very happy with DIY and everything was delivered together. Delivery was one day late, so they refunded the delivery charge :)

My friend ordered a kitchen from a posh local showroom. Delivered with many missing pieces, some parts they had to wait months for… No refund for them… Plus the hinges and handles cost more but look cheaper than what I got from DIY.

🤷‍♀️

@Skysblue

We used DIY Kitchens and were delighted with it. The ‘catch’ is that you have to do the design work and measurement checking yourself, and that they only have one showroom ( we didn’t bother visiting it cos lockdown then).

Once you’ve figured out how to measure and know what design you want, it’s a bargain.

Any kitchen supplier that offers free design and had a posh local showroom will make you pay for your share of the cost of those things (and also for the design services provided to all the browsers who visited the showroom but never actually ordered).

I was very happy with DIY and everything was delivered together. Delivery was one day late, so they refunded the delivery charge :)

My friend ordered a kitchen from a posh local showroom. Delivered with many missing pieces, some parts they had to wait months for… No refund for them… Plus the hinges and handles cost more but look cheaper than what I got from DIY.

🤷‍♀️

@Skysblue - that is brilliant info, thank you so much. It does seem a no-brainer. We are on a tight budget, that 4k or so would go a long way to the rest of it! Thank you EVERYONE who has contributed their opinion, you've made my life so much easier!

So in my order a door is missing I was initially worried but so far that's all.
I'm very very happy with the quality of the units and we went for the cheapest one or second too, Clayton?
Now I know I can trust them and I'm more confident with the process, I would go slightly more expensive next time.

Now I'm crapping myself over the fitter!!
It's such a lot of expensive product what if they ruin it all!!.
I assume the "fitters" do go for highest finish.

@skippy67 did they extend your checking time?
We are due to get ours delivered in February but will have a clear week between delivery week and fitting so reporting things missing or damaged within 7 days is not feasible.

OP we ordered last week and just the like for like bits (all units and quartz worktop but no sink/appliances/tap) and as £10,800 at DIY and about £14,000 with magnet. With DIY we also got a better fit cabinet wise as Magnet were limited in some sizes of unit.

My DIY Kitchen is 3 years old now, still look brand new, I'm still really happy with it and found the customer service really good too. I did it own plans and it fits perfectly, read carefully as it gives lots of help with measurements.

@Teenagers2grownups0, yes they extended it to 28 days. I've checked everything now, and nothing missing or damaged.

I love my DIY Kitchen. It is worth going to the showroom and planning there - you still have to do it yourself but their planners will step in and help you out. Plus you might completely change your mind when you see the units in real life - I had my heart set on one style, binned it and changed to another.

My fitter checked over my order and added/deducted a few items. He also recommended booking the premium delivery so he could be there and check it all in.

Eventually it turned out we were short/changed mind on one or two bits and pieces - it was v easy to order them via customer services as extras.

It was massively cheaper than buying elsewhere.

@skippy67 that is really helpful to know, thank you!

There is only one delivery option now sadly. I would pay for a premium one if I knew what day it would come!

I also advise going to the showroom. We spent a couple of hours in there.

And definitely order a door sample to look at it in your kitchen. We wanted one colour in the showroom but when we ordered two sample doors we ended up picking the other one as it looked so much better in our kitchen. The sample doors are refundable if you return them.