Recommendations for new kitchen

[Rachael007]

I am looking at getting a new kitchen to replace an awful one that came with the flat. Up until now, we've chosen Rational kitchens - a German (or now Italian?) company - which I like for quality and variety of units, including mid-height. But our retailer, who gave us generous discounts, is no longer in business and it seems far too pricey. I've inquired into other German kitchens, but they also seem too pricey and don't necessarily have Rational's benefits.

So I will have to compromise. I'm starting to look at British kitchens. The base units are all 72cm, not Rational's 78cm with a 10cm plinth - more space for storage. The variety in size just isn't there. And I'm not convinced by flat-packed kitchens, as they are more expensive to install. Howdens gets good reviews, but are opaque in prices and and everything has to be done through a builder. Not a problem now, but could be at a later stage. DIY gets good reviews - I like the look of their Innova Luca, but they don't do mid-heights, which I would like to have.

I would appreciate your help and any experience of good quality budget kitchens. I like modern design, handleless and matt finish. We haven't decided yet between a big family kitchen with island unit or a smaller but more efficient kitchen with peninsula and open plan to the dining room, which would give space for improvement to adjacent bedroom. But that is another discussion.

Thanks, Mumsnet people.

IKEA. Amazing value, and drawer widths from 10cm to 90cm I think, and a huge range of layout/drawer/cupboard options. We used their fitting service and the quality of fit is great - our kitchen still looks as good now as it did when it was installed about 8 years ago.

I hated the nonsense Howdens and others had around pricing. IKEA prices are extremely transparent.

We don’t rate their appliances though and we installed Siemens oven, dishwasher etc. The kitchen comes with a 25 year guarentee.

Have a look at DIY kitchens, great reviews online. We're planning on replacing ours next year and are planning on using these.

I had a Howdens one fitted last year. They were very open with pricing- I got a full breakdown of costs, and got some excellent discounts ( fridge freezer for £9.99!) and I asked for( and got) a further£500 off the total.

My builder said he wouldn't fit a Wren kitchen ( quality issues) or an IKEA one ( weird sizes).

I'm very happy with the quality, fit and look. ( And I'm hoping to move house soon, and all the house viewers gave amazing positive feedback on it)

I always roll my eyes when I hear of builders refusing to fit an IKEA kitchen because it’s a bit different to your bog standard UK flat packs. If a half competent DIYer can fit an IKEA kitchen, I’d expect any decent builder to manage.

Thanks for suggestions. I haven't absolutely decided, but DIY getting serious consideration, Bunlass. My biggest concern is no showroom near me. Has anyone experience of DIY? I'm wondering about the shades of grey and neutrals, like alabaster. I know I can get 3 free samples, but even choosing the 3 is a problem.

I agree, Ikea looks great value.

Benchmarx were a nightmare to work with so I’d say avoid them.

Avoid Wren like the plague
Just getting them to do what was in our contract took months of complaints, threats of section 75 claims. All negative reviews are removed from social media, check out Facebook groups set up to discuss reviews and problems

I really regret using them and feel sick everytime i walk in our kitchen, it's an open plan living area...so that's constant!!

We've just used DIY, no complaints at all. Much much cheaper than Howdens and our builder complimented the quality and said it was the easiest kitchen they'd ever fitted. Comes all ready built and put together so all the you/the builder has to do is fix it in place. We got our quartz worktop from a local stone mason and our appliances from a local shop. We are about as far away from the showroom as possible and it wasnt a problem. The online planner is easy, and they are on the phone to help, and check it all at the end. You can order samples of doors for £5 which you get back when they deliver the kitchen and collect the samples. We got a free design from Wren and I used this to put it all into the DIY planner.

Thanks, Sanch1. I think that's it then. I had to smile when you said you used Wren's plans for your DIY kitchen. I wonder how many people do that!

I've had both IKEA and Mereway.

IKEA was fine for what I wanted in a small kitchen in modern house, but Mereway was not super-expensive and is much better quality (in an old cottage). They sell through local installers and I read that they supply John Lewis branded kitchens.

We have a big wren showroom near us so we went there to get ideas. Lots of storage solutions and ways to match colours and see what we liked.

Then we went to Howdens. We've had 2 kitchens from there now. First one was still going strong at 10 years old. Only got rid because it didn't fit in our new kitchen space. Pricing is very open. We got a total price breakdown and lots of time to go away and consider it before buying. No hard sell. They swapped out the handles for us easily and quickly when we realised we didn't like them in real life.

The saleswoman was very open that we shouldn't get our worktop from them. We wanted quartz and they didn't do non standard sizes. We used a local stonemason and got a great deal and it looks amazing.

We also used B&Q for our utility and I've been pleasantly surprised by it. Very easy to plan with them as well.

We've ordered ours from Wren and will get an independent fitter.

We did look at DIYKitchens but they aren't doing appliances at the moment so they didn't work out any cheaper once we'd totaled up the kitchen plus appliances from elsewhere.

Anywhere but Wren. Absolutely the worst kitchens ever! We wouldn’t even put them in our renos to sell on

This is my kitchen. This plus utility units was £6.5k. Howdens was £10k. The island is base units back to back.

If you use the search function on here there are loads of threads about DIY Kitchens, rarely seen a complaint.

Your kitchen is lovely!! I assume the tall run of units beside the oven are integrated fridge/freezer and storage/ larder, etc. Is that right? And are the wall units and breakfast bar solid wood? Included in the price? What is the base unit at the end of the run by the sink?

Your fitter did a great job. That is half the battle. Thank you for showing.

We have two larders and a fridge as the tall units. We don't need a big freezer so that is under counter in the island. The wall units are oak effect from DIY. The worktop is solid wood, that was extra, £600 from woodworktops.com. In the sink side we have wine fridge, dishwasher, soundless unit, single unit.

Soundless?! Double!

The Wren kitchen my daughter has just had installed actually looks fabulous, though there were some missing or wrong parts that had to be re-ordered.
They get a bad press but we didn’t know any fitters so went with them as they could provide vetted fitters. I would give the fitters. 10/10 and Wren about 8/10 due to the issue of the missing parts and also some unexpected charges.
Worth going to a showroom and at least getting some ideas even if you subsequently buy elsewhere.

Very well planned. I hope you enjoy it for many years. Sorry for so many questions, but what is the main colour? Just white? I know I can get sample doors, but so many of the colours look appealing. I'm thinking of breaking from white with matt grey worktop like my last kitchen, although I loved it. Very understated.

I'm getting a new one from magnets. X

I've just had a DIY-Kitchens kitchen fitted - Luca, matt carbon. It's fantastic quality. The definitely do mid-height units.

Our Rationale kitchen is 4 years old and I'd replace tomorrow if I could. Cabinets are solid enough.. the fronts have chipped horribly and there's only me and OH here..

You dodged a bullet

Thanks! It's just gloss white handleless. Can't remember the range off the top of my head.

DIY kitchens are not as good as they used to be. I’ve had two kitchens from them but this years was a nightmare, presumably because they are so busy their quality control is now none existent..About half my units were wrong or damaged and their subsequent customer service was then shocking. It took 6 weeks of almost daily emails to get a paltry 5% discount and replacements for the worse ones. If you go with DIY have it arrive well before your fitters and go over every item carefully would be my advice.