Another kitchen thread

ancient_mariner

ancient_mariner

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So we plan to replace the kitchen I fitted 26 years ago (and the floor it's stood on, but that's another story). We've looked at kitchens in Wickes, Homebase, B&Q, Ikea and plan to look at Howdens - has anyone had problems with kitchens from one of those, and is there anyone else in the North Oxfordshire area whose kitchens we should consider?

Current faves are wickes (to my surprise) although Homebase have some stuff that looks nice. I've been a bit shocked at the price of some worktops: >£1200 for 3M of corian and >£2000 for solid walnut (not that we plan to use either of those). Pricing is funny, because once the worktops, appliances and fitting have been covered, the actual cost of the units becomes relatively insignificant.
 
ancient_mariner said:
So we plan to replace the kitchen I fitted 26 years ago (and the floor it's stood on, but that's another story). We've looked at kitchens in Wickes, Homebase, B&Q, Ikea and plan to look at Howdens - has anyone had problems with kitchens from one of those, and is there anyone else in the North Oxfordshire area whose kitchens we should consider?

Current faves are wickes (to my surprise) although Homebase have some stuff that looks nice. I've been a bit shocked at the price of some worktops: >£1200 for 3M of corian and >£2000 for solid walnut (not that we plan to use either of those). Pricing is funny, because once the worktops, appliances and fitting have been covered, the actual cost of the units becomes relatively insignificant.
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Our next door neighbour fits kitchens and has fitted Howdns for a good few years now, although last time I was chatting with him, he's been doing an awful lot from B&Q and was saying how good they were

I've a mate who's a joiner and he tends to fit direct from manufacturer - unfortunately, were too far away (in Lancashire) to get his suppliers details...
 
I designed my own and had it made and fitted by a local company specialising in bespoke kitchens. Solid oak. My kitchen is fairly small and there was no other way to make the best use of the space. I found much the same as you - I priced up the closest I could get from B & Q's top of the range and my hand made units weren't hugely more expensive. The cost was in the appliances and fitting.
 
My parents have a howdens and I suspect the one in my house is as well. I don't really rate them and the no brand appliances they sell are s***. Chippys love recommending them because half the works done for them. the cabinets are ready built so they can be done quicker. Secondly they make loads of money on buying them from howdens with at least 40% discount off the retail price shown in the catalogue they give you.

Which magazine winner last time checked was IKEA for two years running. I'm not sure about this year though. I think John Lewis was second.

Magnet are offering a new worktop which is called compact laminate I believe. I thought it was pretty cool and much cheaper than corian.
 
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Just installed a Wickes Kitchen in our House, No Major Problems

A couple of Damaged Items, a phone call and replacements received in a couple of Days, no hassle.

Would recommend.
 
I put in 15.5 m of granite about ten years ago. I say I did but I got a specialist company in to measure and fit. Cost 5.5k but still looks like new. Very worthwhile purchase.
 
I had been changing my kitchen out for a Wickes as and when I had time, the b******s went and changed the styles before I got finished :(
 
Thanks guys - just visited the Howdens in Bicester and they look *just* like everyone else's doors and fittings. Biggest difference I imagine is the pre-built carcasses, which I'd guess are glued as well as screwed (what I did when I fitted my kitchen originally & made the cabinets much stiffer).

Our needs are very simple really, except that being a stone cottage all the walls are tapered and cabinets need to be cut away at the rear so that the worktop can touch the wall and still reach the front of the cabinet.
 
Mrs Nod's Dad built a B&Q one a while back. I've had to replace the drawer cam fixings twice and have now dowelled and glued them. That could be down to the MiL being heavy handed but I don't think so. Dad had a Howdens one fitted and AFAIK that's still as good as new. Could be down to the fitters...
 
I think Gower are one of the large kitchen suppliers. They make most of the recognisable designs.

The quality of the fitting makes a big difference. A cack handed fitter can make a great kitchen look awful.
 
I have been off the tools for about seven years now, but I used to regularly fit kitchens and unless you go bespoke, at the time, all the shed kitchens were much of a likeness, but if I had to choose it would be Howdens. For me, I always used to upgrade the fittings to Blum soft closing.

Agree their appliances aren't so good. For taps I liked Blanco, sinks usually Franke and appliances I liked Bosch. If you want to up the budget on appliances, you can have Brittiania, Falcon, Lacanche and if your loaded Wolf.
 
There's a lot to be said for making carcasses rigid, and also for having them fitted well (by someone else, or yourself - I'm a little reluctant to let somene else do it, but don't want to take 2 weeks leave and grovel around trying to make it work).
 
ancient_mariner said:
There's a lot to be said for making carcasses rigid, and also for having them fitted well (by someone else, or yourself - I'm a little reluctant to let somene else do it, but don't want to take 2 weeks leave and grovel around trying to make it work).
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Another thing to check is the service space at the back of the units, IIRC Howdens were 65mm so it give you scope to fit pipework behind and still enough space to scribe the units to the walls. Things may have changed, but IIRC, Ikea ones only had a 30mm service space which can be a pain in a older property. Another thing I liked about Howdens was the worktops were 610mm deep when others could be 600mm, which in some cases, they were just about covered the front of door/drawer, theses can get damaged quickly with water, when at sink area.

The benefits of getting a fitter in, is time advantage and professional fitting. To give you an idea on price, around this way, it used to be: fitting, £45 per unit, £60 each butt and scribe for worktops and fit, £45 worktop cutouts etc..... In your area I would think it would be a bit more due to cost of living your way.

If your walls are really bad and if you have the space it maybe worth squaring them up with timber battens and ply or dot and dabbing plasterboards. This will make life easier for you if you decide to fit. For the worktops, some suppliers may butt and scribe them for you if using laminate, or if you go for timber you can just butt them up to each other.
 
ancient_mariner said:
So we plan to replace the kitchen I fitted 26 years ago
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Don't laugh, but the kitchen I have was fitted 28 years ago, and it was an MFI Top of the range thingy, with real Oak doors, they are still very good, but the carcasses and draw runners not so much,
Its due for a change but I'm still waiting on my lottery numbers (Its quite a big ( extended) kitchen)) While I was browsing recently,
Tesco came up in a search. The units look quite good on the web, but as to in reality,I don't know.
 
The difference is in the thickness. Howdens units are 18mm, as are new B&Q. Ikea are 15mm and service space is about 5mm. Personally I'd go for Howdens. I've fitted most makes and bespoke.
 
Cobra said:
Don't laugh, but the kitchen I have was fitted 28 years ago, and it was an MFI Top of the range thingy, with real Oak doors, they are still very good, but the carcasses and draw runners not so much,
Its due for a change but I'm still waiting on my lottery numbers (Its quite a big ( extended) kitchen)) While I was browsing recently,
Tesco came up in a search. The units look quite good on the web, but as to in reality,I don't know.
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Ours was mid-rangy, with pine doors (since repainted and fresh worktops, new sink & taps, built-in oven fitted). We replaced 3 sets of draw runners a couple of years ago where the draw contents have been especially heavy. Cupboard door hinges holding up really well though, ditto carcasses.

Swanseajack said:
Another thing to check is the service space at the back of the units, IIRC Howdens were 65mm so it give you scope to fit pipework behind and still enough space to scribe the units to the walls. Things may have changed, but IIRC, Ikea ones only had a 30mm service space which can be a pain in a older property. Another thing I liked about Howdens was the worktops were 610mm deep when others could be 600mm, which in some cases, they were just about covered the front of door/drawer, theses can get damaged quickly with water, when at sink area.

The benefits of getting a fitter in, is time advantage and professional fitting. To give you an idea on price, around this way, it used to be: fitting, £45 per unit, £60 each butt and scribe for worktops and fit, £45 worktop cutouts etc..... In your area I would think it would be a bit more due to cost of living your way.

If your walls are really bad and if you have the space it maybe worth squaring them up with timber battens and ply or dot and dabbing plasterboards. This will make life easier for you if you decide to fit. For the worktops, some suppliers may butt and scribe them for you if using laminate, or if you go for timber you can just butt them up to each other.
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kendo1 said:
The difference is in the thickness. Howdens units are 18mm, as are new B&Q. Ikea are 15mm and service space is about 5mm. Personally I'd go for Howdens. I've fitted most makes and bespoke.
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And this is a reason I'd like it fitted for us. Straightening the walls would spoil the house and change the character - it would have to go floor to ceiling - and it's not something I want done. I did do it in the bathroom to a limited degree, where things were already a mess, but the kitchen is more original with an open fireplace (now filled with a rayburn - that area would benefit from some restoration too) and I want to keep the wonky feel. One day we'll move to a new build and all these issues will be gone, but that's 10 years away.
 
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I got my units from DIY kitchens, lots of the designs they had when I got mine were quite original, but I've seen them elsewhere since. The units came pre built and all the hardware was top notch.

Also fantastic customer service.
 
Ikea are back in the running, it seems.

Just had a really useful talk with the fitter we plan to use, sized up the units we'll need for the way we want to fit things and now it's just a case of getting prices and lead times. It's nice to feel confident with someone, rather than the opposite as is so often the case (although ask me about this AFTER we've had it all fitted!).
 
Phil V said:
I got my units from DIY kitchens, lots of the designs they had when I got mine were quite original, but I've seen them elsewhere since. The units came pre built and all the hardware was top notch.

Also fantastic customer service.
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Thanks Phil - just looking now.
 
ancient_mariner said:
Ikea are back in the running, it seems.

Just had a really useful talk with the fitter we plan to use, sized up the units we'll need for the way we want to fit things and now it's just a case of getting prices and lead times. It's nice to feel confident with someone, rather than the opposite as is so often the case (although ask me about this AFTER we've had it all fitted!).
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Hopefully everything will be fine, especially if you feel confident with them.

Don't forget your before and after shots :)
 
Just to mention, when I worked for Ikea for 2years: I came across wet rot in the floor under a sink. I was told to put headboard over it to hide the affected area so that I could get on with the next job. This was from the guy who ran the kitchen fitting department at the Edinburgh store _ Andy McG... We fell out and I started out self employed and happier :)
 
kendo1 said:
Just to mention, when I worked for Ikea for 2years: I came across wet rot in the floor under a sink. I was told to put headboard over it to hide the affected area so that I could get on with the next job. This was from the guy who ran the kitchen fitting department at the Edinburgh store _ Andy McG... We fell out and I started out self employed and happier :)
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Thanks for that. Do you think that's reflected in the quality of their kitchen units etc too?
 
I would say it was just him, but it made me a bit unhappy to work for them. I couldn't leave a customer with wet rot - so I fixed it and Ikea and I parted :) I've never looked back and I have bee n much happier.
 
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We had a Howdens kitchen put in last year and are very happy with it. As others have said, their appliances (Lamona) are cr*p though. We went with Siemens, AEG and Samsung.

We got our worktops from Worktop Express, they were a lot cheaper than most but they delivered on time and the quality is very good. We bought full stave iroko tops, which I finished with Osmo oil and they look great.
 
boogie man said:
We had a Howdens kitchen put in last year and are very happy with it. As others have said, their appliances (Lamona) are cr*p though. We went with Siemens, AEG and Samsung.

We got our worktops from Worktop Express, they were a lot cheaper than most but they delivered on time and the quality is very good. We bought full stave iroko tops, which I finished with Osmo oil and they look great.
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Thanks for that. A wood worktop is out because of the maintenance, but it's an interesting site, and we might use them for taps & sink.
 
ancient_mariner said:
Thanks for that. A wood worktop is out because of the maintenance, but it's an interesting site, and we might use them for taps & sink.
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No problem. Actually the maintenance is fairly minimal. I sealed the worktops with 5 coats of Osmo when they first went in, doing one coat per day, but after that they only need a single coat once a year. Ours is an 8 metre run but it only takes about 30 minutes to do, you just wipe it on with a cloth. It's completely waterproof, heatproof and stain resistant after the oil treatment.

One thing I forgot to mention. It's worth checking where the units are coming from before you commit to a supplier. I think for instance that Homebase kitchens come from Italy. If you have problems with broken or missing parts then you can wait weeks for replacements to arrive. Howdens (and Ikea AFAIK) physically keep stocks of everything in their warehouse so at least you can get things sorted quickly if things do go wrong.
 
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boogie man said:
No problem. Actually the maintenance is fairly minimal. I sealed the worktops with 5 coats of Osmo when they first went in, doing one coat per day, but after that they only need a single coat once a year. Ours is an 8 metre run but it only takes about 30 minutes to do, you just wipe it on with a cloth. It's completely waterproof, heatproof and stain resistant after the oil treatment.

One thing I forgot to mention. It's worth checking where the units are coming from before you commit to a supplier. I think for instance that Homebase kitchens come from Italy. If you have problems with broken or missing parts then you can wait weeks for replacements to arrive. Howdens (and Ikea AFAIK) physically keep stocks of everything in their warehouse so at least you can get things sorted quickly if things do go wrong.
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another here for Oak Worktops, we went for 40mm thick with 40mm staves, the talk of high maintenance is utter rubbish, we bought ours direcr from Worktop Express, we bought 2 x 4mt runs, 1 x 3mt run and a 2mt x 960mm wide for the Island, total cost was £620 delivered, 3 coats of Rustins Danish oil pre fitting and away you go

http://gcphotography9757.zenfolio.com/p320982552/h79695ee4#h79695ee4
 
I would definitely say that the fitting is very important. I searched last year for a kitchen when I moved home and Howdens were the company that p***ed me off the most. They sent someone to design my kitchen and the guy knew almost nothing about designing kitchens. He was hopeless. Then when they asked me who was fitting it as you get discounts depending on the work that person puts their way I gave them a name and they said he gets an 80% discount in here. Great I thought and they priced it up for me at around 5k. I asked how that was possible with an 80% discount and they couldn't give me any explanation. They're beyond hopeless.

Ended up purchasing a kitchen from b&q which looks stunning apart from certain bits the fitter made a mess of. Nothing major but catches my eye.

I bought all my worktops and upstands from b&q but none of them were their products. It was a range from an outside company and were much nicer than b&q's own ones.

A word of warning though the stainless steel sink we bought from b&q was junk. I wouldn't recommend them at all and we bought one of the more expensive models.

The talk about the oak worktops is interesting as we had those in our previous house and I would not recommend them at all. They look great and they don't have half the upkeep that people make out BUT ours marked very easily and scratched when putting knives etc on them. I've never had that problem with a laminated worktop. It's all well and good saying use a chopping board etc but even daft things like dropping a knife or glass or anything really marked the wood easily.
 
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We got a new kitchen a couple of years back now. Went to the usual places and to be honest the were much the same, just a difference in price. We then went to a local guy who did kitchens and bedrooms. Really liked what he came up with plus he found another 11 inches in the room, long story. He was priced very reasonably so we went ahead never regretted it he did a great job
 
The conclusion I've copme to, having seen quite a lot of kitchens now, is that door fronts (i.e. te bit you see) are all extremely similar between all the different makes (DIY Kitchens that Phil Recommended may be the exception) and it's then down to carcass quality and price.

Sink-wise we'll have porcelain or similar again - I've never seen a stainless sink that looked good after a couple of years. Off to Ikea tomorrow night, although we might also use Benchmarx, who the builder is registered with as trade.
 
We used a local fitter to do our kitchen. In the long run it wasn't expensive and was good value for money, seeing as we spent £5k on the appliances, £5.5k on 15m of granite worktop and splash backs, and only £5k on the cupboards/everything else and fitting.
 
Just to say stainless steel sinks come in 3 thicknesses - 6, 7 and 9mm, with prices and sturdiness to match.
Waggle a tap on a 6mm sink and you'll see what I mean.
 
kendo1 said:
Just to say stainless steel sinks come in 3 thicknesses - 6, 7 and 9mm, with prices and sturdiness to match.
Waggle a tap on a 6mm sink and you'll see what I mean.
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It's never been the thickness, but the surface and general look. Rub a scouring backed sponge across SS and it leaves hundreds of little lines in the surface, and the material won't fit with the style of our house.
 
kendo1 said:
Just to say stainless steel sinks come in 3 thicknesses - 6, 7 and 9mm, with prices and sturdiness to match.
Waggle a tap on a 6mm sink and you'll see what I mean.
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I take it you mean 0.6, 0.7 and 0.9mm - 6mm is close to 1/4"!
 
Nod said:
I take it you mean 0.6, 0.7 and 0.9mm - 6mm is close to 1/4"!
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Yep, sorry, we just kind of call them 6, 7 and 9. :) The decimal point is assumed.
 
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