New kitchen SW London/Surrey area

[tootiefruitie6]

We are planning an extension involving a new kitchen. Where would you recommend looking for kitchens please? (Obviously in an ideal world the best price/best quality)? I have heard people mention DIY kitchens on here before although I'm aware we are in SW London/Surrey border so not anywhere near their showroom? Also, I've heard bad things about Wren kitchens...would you avoid them? Does anyone have any tips for saving money on kitchens...ie is it best to buy the worktops separately? Thanks

We're in SE London and got our kitchen from DIY kitchens last year. Really pleased with it.

We got ours from Homebase...they created a design and supplied the materials. DH then found someone to fit it from checkatrade and we were really pleased with it. The guy told us that he has access to suppliers and he could have got the materials cheaper for us - I reckon that could be a way?
Before Homebase we got a quote from a bespoke business and the price was very very high in comparison.

It's worth looking at several and seeing what their designers can offer for your shape/size of kitchen. You can also then get them to beat each other on price!

We got the one in our previous house from Wickes as their kitchen designer was so much better than Howdens, Benchmarx or Magnet! Really loved that kitchen and was sad to leave it when we moved house.

Different location now and we are getting one from Howdens. Still don't think their designer is great, but it's not a difficult shape this time so we just told her what we wanted rather than needing 'solution' as happened last time. We are using a big building company who get a large discount from Howdens so it makes it cheaper.

Don’t use the Kitchen Shoppe in Kingston!

We are SW London. Went to Wren (Thornton Heath). Pleased with kitchen design BUT quote only included 'dry fit', which does NOT give you a finished kitchen. They said we would have to pay for units, appliances and 'dry fit' then negotiate with "their" installer (presumably a sub-contractor) for plumbing, electrics, flooring, tiling, etc. I asked how will we know final cost of the kitchen and also what if we are unhappy with the additional costs quote AFTER we have paid for the units, appliances and 'dry fit'. Got no satisfactory response. We stuck 2 fingers up at them and got a local kitchen fitter to quote, chose similar kitchen range from Howdens (who deal only with your trade person), appliances from John Lewis, and got everything done for just over the original Wren quote as a total 'fixed price'. Also, have since learned from others that the 'additional costs' over and above the Wren quote from "their" installers can often run into several thousands. Good luck!!!