How did you choose your kitchen designer/maker?

[Citygirlrurallife]

There’s too much choice 😫 we have a reasonably clear idea of the look we want (natural woods and colours, unfussy modern handleless doors) but even in these parameters there seem to be so many options im feeling a bit can’t see the wood for the trees

Depends on your budget! I'd have loved a Pluck kitchen but have settled on ikea cabinets, wood worktops and fenix-fronted ply doors.

I am lucky my husband is a kitchen designer and fitter.

@GodblessHookyStreet not much help for me! Unless you want to send him round?!

@MrsJamin I’d like to spend £20K but can prob go up to £30K to include all appliances

I had several folk round to quote and design.

Instantly dismissed one for a dressing ONLY my boyfriend despite bf telling him 'it's not my house mate, speak to the boss'.

Another had only one (fugly, definitely not something I was prepared to even consider) solution to a tricky corner, and wouldn't entertain asking his carpenters to make the cabinetry I wanted.

Settled on a reasonably local independent company, chap came and just said 'of course we can do that' to every suggestion I made. North York if you need a recommendation

Oh, and I went to a showroom for an early Saturday morning appointment, salesman stank of booze. Another no.

I looked at friends' kitchens and asked about suppliers etc. I chose the one where the kitchen looks great, the owner confirms it is great quality, I could choose new appliances of the makes I preferred and absolutely everything I wanted could be included. I have spent over £30k including the appliances and it is being fitted in about three weeks!

I went to Howdens. (In the south west).

I went to a local independent supplier. They were such great people that I thought if the price was right I wouldn't shop around. Very pleased with it then - and now - years later. Not as cheap as Howdens but well worth it for me.

Having just gone through the whole extension and new kitchen thing (last cupboard door that I was waiting a replacement on goes on today), I would say that the biggest decision is finding a really, really, really good kitchen fitter as that is what is going to make a massive difference to how your kitchen looks. We got our appliances/ cupboards/ worktops from Wren and the units themselves are good quality. The design was absolutely what we wanted and they used up all the awkward corners and a tricky pantry area beautifully. Not a mm of wasted space.
But, during delivery loads of cupboard doors were damaged on the corner (about 20 I think without going and looking in the corner of shame) - it was super easy to order replacements on the app tbf, but it wasn't a hassle only as my fitters are also doing loads of other work for me and are around to do things as replacements came in. They also found some neater ways of doing things than the plan wanted like on the island Wren specced cutting the end panels, but my guys just expanded the island by 4" so no cutting was needed and the result was much better.
We have a huge kitchen, pantry, and all new high end applicances (3 ovens, 2 dishwashers) and it was £32k plus fitting (which I'm not sure how much it was as all part of my build, Wren would have charged £8k as a 2 week install)

Honestly if you were near me he gladly would.

@CMOTDibbler I think our builder and his team will be fitting - their work so far has been brilliant so keeping my fingers crossed

Went to see all the ones I thought would be in our budget (ie not bespoke makers sadly!). Ruled out Ikea as our appointment was rough and ready which didn’t bode well, and no-one wanted to fit an ikea kitchen. Then ruled Wren out because of horrid salesman and aggressive sale prices even though cheapest. Magnet likewise although the guy was nicer and price was the highest. Benchmarx and Howdens - the 2 our builder recommended in the first place - same price and product so went with the sales person we preferred and wanted to give commission 😁

Cost and transparency of cost. Howden's design was awful. Wick's were not forthcoming about designing anything when I asked. Knew to avoid Magnet. A German kitchen supplier (can't remember name) was slagging off other brands and couldn't give me a price per unit even when I asked directly. Didn't know about DIY kitchens at the time so may have considered them. Went with IKEA in the end as could discuss design in the shop and could buy units as we needed/fitted them.

So I’m tossing between ikea carcasses then going with Plykea/Naked/sustainable kitchens or going DIY kitchens. But have fallen hard for Sustainable Kitchens and a local wood working bespoke place….

We went round loads of showrooms
And asked them To design kitchen to maximise storage space so we could chose from Best design.

We ended up going with ikea because of cabinets. English kitchen cabinets don't go as far back (they leave a gap behind back for wires etc. ilea ones go all way back to wall as wires etc are stored below.

I love our kitchen, it's great quality and we had so many options for different cupboard. I'd buy an IKEA kitchen again.

The only thing I missed out on was I wanted a curved corner cabinet but IKEA didn't do that. So I compromised there.

I bought a lot of appliances separately as IKEA didn't do exactly why we wanted.

Kitchen was done at same time as a friend who bought elsewhere (magnet I think) and they're very similar. Mine was considerably cheaper.

We wanted a German kitchen and found a local shop that sold them. I remember feeling the pressure to get it right so I wouldn’t be stuck with something I regretted.

@Stresa22 can I ask why you wanted a German kitchen? There’s a local one in our town but are they considerably better for a particular reason?

Local builder with lots of good references and a few customers who were willing to let us see their kitchens. They did a great job and 18 years on the kitchen is still in excellent condition. It is a German make but I can't remember the name.

Just looked it up, Hacker.

@Loverofoxbowlakes I'd like to hear your recommendation if that's ok?