Recommendations for non expensive but durable kitchen please.

[stressed2007]

I have heard that Ikea kitchens are quite good. Can anyone recommend any comparables please? Thanks

we put a b and q kitchen in our rental property in 2003 and it is in pristine condition

magnet during their 50% sales are good.

I'd recommend magnet (sale or trade counter!) or Wickes. DP has found Wickes really quite good quality.

Are n't magnet and wickes quite expensive? I may have made this up but Wickes was wanting £200-300 for the carcass(no door) of a single cupboard which I thought was a lot for cheaper kitchen.

We got ours from Howden's and they were quite cheap but only a tradesman can buy from them I think so if you're putting it in yourself that might not be an option.

No we are not putting it in ourselves. I have heard of Howdens - can't remember what they are similar too - think they maybe very similar to the Magnet ones.

Howdens were owned by the same people as MFI at one stage

I'm having a Wickes kitchen installed atm. Nice, chunky carcases and doors and drawers that close in a satisfying, smooth manner.

My MIL had her kitchen done by Moben and it's falling apart after only 3 years. The quality is noticeably poorer than Wickes', as she has said herself.

Wickes do "take away" kitchens which also appear to be of decent quality.

We have had 2 ikea kitchens put in (used a joiner we knew already). We've been very happy with the quality - they don't have any 'give' for walls which aren't square so our joiner had some headaches - so might be better in new rather than old properties!

Second one is in our current house, has been in for five years now and has worn well.

Apparently Ikea kitchens are good, but there's some crucial problem in fitting Ikea ktichens into UK houses which you have to work around, something about the plumbing.

I've seen some people in magazines use Ikea carcasses and add bespoke doors.

I have a Wickes take away kitchen in the utility room. It is fine but they don't do drawerline base cupboards.

My kitchen has Wickes units but bought through Benchmarx - the trade arm of Wickes/Travis Perkins. They sell Wickes kitchens but the carcasses are prebuilt not flatpacked. Also you have more choice over handles and so on.

Very pleased with quality.

Please note the price is negotiable Play a few off each other and get that price down! Once they have gone as low as they think they can, squeze them down a bit more by asking to speak to the manager

I have an ikea kitchen atm on the bottom and bespoke oak shelves above and it is great.The builders moan about fiddling with the carcasses but I have used them loads and they work well.Nice heavy doors and hinges.

I have put some photos of my kitchen on my profile if anyone is interested.

looks very nice.

omg cece. that is exactly the same sort of space that we're coming to the end of building now...same doors, window positions etc...how exciting! how big is your space? it looks great!

would you mind saying how much your kitchen cost? if you don't want to say, thats fine....i'm waiting for a quote from howdens..be interesting to know as a comparison.

oh, and meant to ask, where did you get your lights over the breakfast bar from? i'm having trouble in sourcing any like that!

More questions cece, where did you get your stools?

Kitchen costs; the cupboards and all the wire basket bits inside and the sink was just over £4500. The worktop is walnut and was about £1250.

Bar stools are from Dwell (but I bought mine off of eBay). The only thing I would say about them is the kids swing them around when they get on and off and they then bask into my lovely worktop !

The lights on the peninsular are from B&Q!

Glad you all like it Took me ages to plan it, of coourse I enjoyed every minute. Now need a new project...

thanks cece. it is fab..you've given me back the enthusiasm for mine..woo hoo!

sorry to be a pita, but would you mind telling me how big your room is roughly pls?

It goes across the back of the house so about 9x4.5 metres I think.

The kitchen end takes up nearly half of the room. Once the floor is down then th eother hal will have a table and chairs, a TV and eityher a small sofa or a couple of armchairs

fab..thanks!

its bigger than ours..we're about 7.5m by 3.5metres..hopefully our kitchen will come in within budget too...
when mine is done, i'll post mine up..honestly, its almost exactly the same!

cheers!

If you can somehow email me I have th eplan on a word document so could send it to you if it helps!

weirdly my very nearly finished kitchen is similar too!