Please help me categorise kitchen manufacturers by price

[WellTidy]

First time kitchen buyer, despite being in my mid 40s!

I have no idea where to start. I’ve taken measurements of my kitchen (as a room) with the existing kitchen units in there. I think I would like something shaker ish, painted finish, I absolutely don’t want a wood work surface, and I have practicality/easy to clean/mustn’t stain as criteria. We will be here for 4+ years, so I need the kitchen to look good for at least that long, ideally much longer, in case we decide to stay longer term.

I will go to my local kitchen showrooms and see what’s available, but there seems to be a huge variation in price and quality, and I don’t know where the local kitchen showrooms sort of sit in that.

I have -

Ikea - budget end, I assume
Wickes - the same
Benchmarx - the same
Magnet - middle/ish?
John Lewis (the department store) - middle to top end ish?
Harvey Jones - top end, possibly?

Is there anywhere I should absolutely visit, and am I way off in my estimation of them?!

We had a Wickes kitchen and had a really good experience, I'm surprised by this.

My builder said there are basically three categories:

1. high end German kitchens / independent companies


2. Howdens / Magnet / Wickes / Wren / Ikea / John Lewis. Of these he said Howdens are the best of the bunch but be aware they are ‘trade only’ ie they make you order through a tradesman and then they pay a large commission to the tradesman and quietly add it to your bill 🤬 He said Ikea are a real pain to fit so allow for higher fitting costs / a struggle to find someone who will do it. He said avoid Wren. Magnet I was VERY shocked by the high quote!


3. DIY Kitchens is as good as it gets for cabinet strength. We ended up using them and were very pleased, although the doors could be prettier perhaps.

When I was viewing showrooms I loved the doors that John Lewis had. They wouldn’t sell to me unfortunately as I had a build project and needed a timeline they wouldn’t accommodate.

so I suggest either DIY Kitchens (and hire your own fitter direct, any builder or carpenter can suggest someone), or John Lewis if it isn’t a rebuild project.

IKEA isn't really a pain if your fitter knows what they are doing with them.

I'm a big fan and would call them value rather than budget. The hinges and door runners are the same makes as those used by more expensive kitchen manufacturers.

What you won't get are solid wood doors etc. but you we'll get a decent quality which will last, and as pp have said, you can get your handles separately if you want to.

We had a Howdens kitchen fitted 11 years ago, and it's still in perfect nick. Looks great, and works great.

The design service wasn't great, but that will differ branch by branch, because it depends who you get. But we had a design we liked from somewhere else, so we just used that. Had it fitted by the carpenter who was doing all the other work we had going on.

No one has mentioned Homebase yet, they have a wide range from budget to reasonably high end. Last time I went kitchen browsing I loved the expensive "Michel Roux" branded kitchen in there.

I've heard good things about DIY Kitchens on Mumsnet before so when we get a new kitchen it will probably be from there or Homebase.

I refuse to buy from Howdens on principle, I hate the lack of transparency about pricing.

We have a Harvey Jones kitchen (installed by the previous owners). It’s excellent. I believe it was very expensive. Worth going to look at Neptune if you have one near you - they’re of a similar quality/price point.

Ours is a Sheraton kitchen, sold through a local, (then) independent builders' merchant. A little more expensive than Howdens, but it's all about the kitchen fitter in our experience.

Ah, I had no idea that Harvey Jones was on a par with Neptune, Tom Howley etc. We just have a Harvey Jones close by, I naively thought it was just a bit nicer than something like Magnet.

As we’ve never bought a kitchen before, I think we’re going to get a shock whatever price point we come in at.

I think the overall cost will also depend on the appliances and worktop you have fitted alongside the kitchen. Our Harvey Jones one was fitted with all top end Miele appliances plus a very large granite Island (sourced independently of the kitchen). This was all installed over 10 years ago now, I’m guessing to have it done now would be very expensive indeed. Will be interesting to hear the kind of quotes you get Op.

@Neverreturntoathread
I've heard that some fitters won't fit IKEA but anyone who is good at what they do won't have a problem. They are just slightly different to what they are used to. I suspect some are stuck in their ways.
I've had various joiners fit them for myself and for clients and never had a problem and many moons ago when they first came out in the U.K. I even fitted one with my then boyfriend in my first house - our skill set was definitely fledgling DIY and we managed to get it looking great.