New radiators

[Travelplans]

Is there a mumsnet recommended place to buy new radiators? I’m currently in a stand off with my DH about new radiators. He wants to be sensible and go for basic standard radiators but I want to go for pretty ones, which naturally cost more.

Hoping to find a bargain that’ll convince DH to my way of thinking.

Also, would you have matching radiators throughout the house or just the nicer ones in the highly visible locations?

No ideas for you, sorry OP, but just to say that I agree with you.

We're renovating a house and I absolutely am opting for "pretty" radiators rather than the bog standard functional white ones. I know they cost more but I think it's worth it.

We've decided that we're having the pretty radiators downstairs where it's visible and the more basic ones upstairs in the bedrooms. Felt like a reasonable compromise between style and cost.

What kind of radiators were you thinking of?

We did this as well, functional white upstairs and pretty downstairs (bare metal retro chunky ones and we love them!) We couldn't find any bargains for them, I have to admit.

You won’t find any bargain designer (this seems to be what they all all radiators that aren’t the standard white oblong ones) radiators, they all cost a bloody fortune but they do look so so much better than the bog standard ones. I’ve used Best Heating a few times now and they’ve always been great as have the radiators, they always seem to be competitively priced in comparison to other retailers, believe me, I spent enough time trying to find a bargain!

I have been thinking about how much I hate radiators, so i understand your thinking. Maybe the compromise is to pick the most important rooms and have basic ones everywhere else. Looking at my house I only have two rooms where it would make a big difference (the front lounge and the dining room).

I'm planning to do the same, pretty downstairs and regular ones upstairs. We painted our white ones in the last place the same colour as the wall, really made them fade away so that could be a good compromise? Would probably do it in spring / summer when you don't need them on the wall for obv reasons

We got ours from bestheating about a year ago. They're column radiators and bestheating had the best range of sizes, and were around the same price as screwfix.

I’m glad I’m not on my own with this!

These are the ones I would like to get, which to be honest I picked because I thought they would be right up my DH’s street and because it comes in all the different styles which we need.

Pretty radiators

@millefeuille2 What are they called? Are they your pics or the advert?

They're from the website but that's the sort we bought. They're called column radiators.

I like those @Travelplans!

They’re similar to the ones I want except I like a copper colour, but same style of radiator. I think they will complement the wood burner with earthy tones rather than being white.

I have to confess to hating radiators in general but they’re a necessary evil.

I get modern Victorian ones off Amazon. I have them match if visible, but not if covered by furniture. 

I've used this company a few times - good choice and pricing. Very helpful on the phone too: hotinteriors.co.uk

Do any companies do colour matching or do you get the decorator to paint them?

theres definitely a few companies that will match them to farrow and ball colours

If you do a search on here for radiators, you will see lots of recommendations for Acova radiators - similar in style to the pic posted above (white colum radiators, come in vertical & horizontal sizes). We were recommended them by a structural engineer who commented that they seem to retain their heat after the heating goes off (particularly valuable at the moment). We have them all over the house now - started off with them in the new extension and then have gradually replaced them all over the house. Makes such a difference visually but also x10 more efficient than our previous old style radiators. Different places have different sizes - we've used B&Q and Screwfix.

These acova radiators don’t seem to be much cheaper than the cast-iron ones though considering how much more aesthetically pleasing and heat efficient the cast-iron ones would be.

I'm not sure that's right - if you look at the price of the cast iron ones in the link above, to get the same BTUs you're looking at double the price (just looked at one size we have - 600 x 1042 which gives 4571 BTU). To get the same amount of heat, you'd need a cast iron one (from that site) of 660 x 926 which gives 4760 BTU. The Acova one is £339, the case iron one is £663.

Also, I think cast iron radiators are not everyone's choice - they need to fit in with a certain style of decor.

Be careful we had to get strength if bats put in the walls to hold cast iron on es which we only went with downstairs so wall had to replastered.

We replaced the big standard ones with newer column ones upstairs which didn't need all the strengthening work and they've made.a huge difference to heat out put. Got these from Amazon and posh ones had made to order.

The link didn’t work would you mind pasting it again to have a look at please

I got our column radiators off an ebay shop, the cheapest I found on the Internet by far. We are replacing the radiators in each room as we refurb so currently have a mix of old and new.

We've had a few radiators from ColumnRads www.columnrads.co.uk which have all been great and I love that you can customise them. We have them upstairs as well as downstairs as I love them!

I got the Acovas all through my house (after a similar debate with DH!). I got them
from B&Q but waited until they had a 10% off for club card holders deal. I got mostly white, but the dark grey for the hall, where it’s making a statement.

Also think about valves. IMO Acova are good value and attractive, but I wasn’t impressed by any of the B&Q/Screwfix valves. I got thermostatic traditional style valves with wooden heads from one of the internet shops. They were much more expensive than the standard ones as a percentage, but probably only added £100 or so to the whole cost. With hindsight, I perhaps should have got smart valves.

We've just replaced all of ours and I wanted the nice designer ones, but we also wanted the most efficient radiators. Our engineer advised the standard white ones are the most efficient so we ended up with them. I have to say, the house is really warm now.

I'm doing this, replacing each room with a column read as I refurbish. Doesn't seem like such a huge cost that way either.

Best Heating are good, but I've just got a raw 2 column one from ukradiators. Best Heating didn't have the 2 column in the size I needed and the 3 was a bit too chunky in my son's small room. Haven't installed it yet, but it came really quickl, was well packaged and very pleased with it. Cost about 430 for a 988x600 but I bought the fancy valves and feet etc too. It did seem expensive but I know how happy it will make me every time I dust it 😳

Rad, not read!