John Lewis (as in Waitrose) kitchens, yay/nay?

[Paperbagsaremine]

Did you have your kitchen done by them, or did they provide the units but you had them fitted by someone else.. did they even do a design or quote for you but you went elsewhere?

They were mentioned to me as an alternative (while discussing various names like Howdens, B&Q, Wren, DIY kitchens etc) earlier this week, and tbh I didn't even know they offered this service.

What are your experiences with them? Are they a yay, a nay, or, good but too dear to be good value?

Never heard John Lewis described as “John Lewis as in Waitrose” 😂

but I trust so JL so I’d go for it

but personally I always go small local independent for jobs like this

They are expensive.
Kitchen that was already in our house when we first moved in was a John Lewis one.
We wanted an extra cupboard to hide the boiler and contacted them so it matched. Despite the style being their cheapest one the cost was eye watering for it.
We decided not to bother.

I bought a dining table from JL in 2021 and a bedroom suite in 2022 and the quality of both were akin to Argos, except I didn't even keep them, they got sent back.

Don't trust them for quality anymore. Certainly wouldn't spend a small fortune on a kitchen from them expecting longevity.

Very £££. Same with their bathrooms. Very similar quality to the big names but much more expensive.

A friend of mine has used them for her kitchen recently (as part of a very expensive house redesign). A lifelong JL fan, she said their quality has gone down. One of her issues was that it's hard to get hard of the planner (or whatever their job title is) as they are wfh and any store will just sort of say 'oh well' and not help.

I got one in 2010 and it’s still in good nick but it might be as other posters say and the quality has deteriorated over the years.

Presumably the "John Lewis as in Waitrose" was to distinguish them from John Lewis of Hungerford (www.john-lewis.co.uk), who are unrelated to the John Lewis Partnership (www.johnlewis.com).

Oh. I somehow managed to mess up that link. https://john-lewis.co.uk/

We got a quote from them and it was outrageously expensive - I think 3 x the Howdens one. The guy talking us through it was clearly well used to everyone reacting badly! Felt a bit sorry for him

We are in the middle of having a John Lewis kitchen installed and are very happy with them. They were a bit more expensive than others, but the price includes all the work and they project manage everything. We are impressed with the quality of the units etc..

A friend runs a kitchen-fitting business. He highly rates JL and says that the quality of their kitchens and their service is excellent. He considers them to be the beginning of the premium ranges.

I had asked him because we were starting to plan a new kitchen and getting plans from different companies. We were very pleased with the service we were getting from JL. Didn't do the new kitchen at all in the end, but that was nothing to do with JL.

We found a kitchen we liked in JL Dept. Store, late 90s and were impressed with the quality, but found a label left in one of their showroom kitchens and, out of interest checked if the company that manufactured the units sold direct and they did! We saved a fair amount buying directly (sorry JL didn't have the money to throw away) and then installed ourselves (we find the labour is the element that costs but also makes the difference in a kitchen and how it looks). Second time round went with Howdens direct, as they do sell directly without going through a builder and 6 years on very impressed with the quality. We only bought the units though, appliances, handles, worktop all sourced elsewhere and we installed ourselves again.

Please avoid at all costs

• John Lewis Fitted Kitchens ask top end prices but they sub-contract the work to unqualified builders (a very quick google search revealed that the 'vetted and checked' fitter was actually a bankrupt bricklayer
• Home and materials damaged by poor workmanship and sloppy attention to detail, the floor came up three times
• Extremely poor customer service from the case managers who are frequently out of the business but don't get their work covered or use the simplest of out-of-office auto-replies or accurate voicemail. No proactive service whatsoever, we spent HOURS chasing for information
• Every single delivery was problematic, either incomplete, the wrong colour or just non-existent
• A simply like-for-like refit was meant to take two weeks but was actually one day shy of 6 months
• Shamefully dismissive response from Head Office over our experience, a derisory goodwill gesture and no recourse for complaint. No accountability or responsibility taken even after verbally admitting it was a shambolic situation
• NOT part of a trade association and also refuses to take part in any sort of arbitration/ombudsman, this should tell you everything you need to know, I wish we'd realised before we parted with our money

I believe even the CEO at one time said they wouldn’t have one of these kitchens!

They used to be good and I bought direct from their suppliers, so cutting out their mark up, but that was 20 years ago and we installed the kitchen ourselves. IMO a great deal of how good a kitchen is relates to the way it is installed, quality of worktop. I think we bought from Mereway Kitchens (one of the cabinets had a JL label inside!) and I've heard that Wentworth might also be a supplier for JL.

And now they don't provide additional units once the existing kitchen is out of warrenty. I wouldn't bother with JL kitchens if you want to future proof this very expensive purchase.