Kitchens, what company?
Discussion
Does anyone know any good companies that dont cost the earth to buy from and fit?
Is it possible to fit a kitchen buy oneself or is it a specialist job?
Are the deals from place like magnet worth considering or are they as dodgy and crap as ikea kitchens?
Im not really bothered by appliances unless they come as a package or are free, mainly cause im a stingy bugger and current appliances work perfectly fine.
budget is up to 6k.
Is it possible to fit a kitchen buy oneself or is it a specialist job?
Are the deals from place like magnet worth considering or are they as dodgy and crap as ikea kitchens?
Im not really bothered by appliances unless they come as a package or are free, mainly cause im a stingy bugger and current appliances work perfectly fine.
budget is up to 6k.
toasty said:
Sciroccology said:
Go to Wickes. They're brilliant, Wickes are. Try Wickes.
+1 Just get a decent fitter. They should be able to recommend one. toasty said:
Sciroccology said:
Go to Wickes. They're brilliant, Wickes are. Try Wickes.
+1 Just get a decent fitter. They should be able to recommend one. I've been told the kitcher designers/consultants at places like Moben are paid highly on commission, but that any mistakes like say they miss a small part you need, or don't quote for enough material somewhere, or don't account for extra wiring/plumbing etc - those mistakes come out of their pay, so they tend to overquote to allow for it and there's room for some haggling. But Wickes designers get a much smaller commission in comparison and I found them equally as good at their job.
http://www.howdens.com/
Wickes kitchens are pretty good as are B&Q's
Avoid Homebase and Focus.
If you are relatively handy and have a decent basic toolkit there is no reason why you could not fit one yourself. The only area best left to someone with experience is the worktop mitre.
Wickes kitchens are pretty good as are B&Q's
Avoid Homebase and Focus.
If you are relatively handy and have a decent basic toolkit there is no reason why you could not fit one yourself. The only area best left to someone with experience is the worktop mitre.
Shop around for your kitchen and find one you like all the diy stores are of the same quality b&q, homebase, magnet and wickes. Moben is a little more up market may get an ex display from a bespoke kitchen show room if they are changing there display soon these are great as you can get a top spec expensive kitchen at stupid money depends on size etc.
Dont get it fitted by them tho this is a generalisation and may not be true in all cases but there fitters are not the best and they throw it in and dont pay much attention to detail.
You should get your own carpenter/kitchen fitter(should be able to do tilling and plumbing) who you trust, from reccomendations, friends and family etc
You could build all the units yourself its just flat pack furniture and very easy you would save a few days labour here and pay the carpenter to Fit them to the wall and fit the worktop and doors, tilling etc
You can save money by making sure that you keep all the electrical points in the same place, change the facias easy to do if your confident.
If you do change your electrics around make sure that you get an electrician that will register it under part p of the building regs.
I fitted my own kitchen except the tilling and work top and saved easily £800-£1000.
Depends on how much time you have and if you can be bothered and how pratical you are.
I can reccomend a couple of people that I use they are not cheap but are very good and they may travel to your location, assuming that you will also be looking for the bathroom to be done at the same time.
Dont get it fitted by them tho this is a generalisation and may not be true in all cases but there fitters are not the best and they throw it in and dont pay much attention to detail.
You should get your own carpenter/kitchen fitter(should be able to do tilling and plumbing) who you trust, from reccomendations, friends and family etc
You could build all the units yourself its just flat pack furniture and very easy you would save a few days labour here and pay the carpenter to Fit them to the wall and fit the worktop and doors, tilling etc
You can save money by making sure that you keep all the electrical points in the same place, change the facias easy to do if your confident.
If you do change your electrics around make sure that you get an electrician that will register it under part p of the building regs.
I fitted my own kitchen except the tilling and work top and saved easily £800-£1000.
Depends on how much time you have and if you can be bothered and how pratical you are.
I can reccomend a couple of people that I use they are not cheap but are very good and they may travel to your location, assuming that you will also be looking for the bathroom to be done at the same time.
davea3 said:
Shop around for your kitchen and find one you like all the diy stores are of the same quality b&q, homebase, magnet and wickes. Moben is a little more up market
Disagree. I can't remember now which ones were poorer, but there was a definite variation between the companies - different thicknesses of cabinets for example, like 18mm vs 22mm or whatever it was. The thinner ones felt much more flimsy. What you say may well be true for other aspects though.TallMark said:
Disagree. I can't remember now which ones were poorer, but there was a definite variation between the companies - different thicknesses of cabinets for example, like 18mm vs 22mm or whatever it was. The thinner ones felt much more flimsy. What you say may well be true for other aspects though.
Good point, I can not remember either,B&Q tend to have most of the major parts on the shelf and places like wickes and homebase you have to wait a while. Edited by davea3 on Saturday 10th January 16:06
Ikea have some good kitchens too, contrry to the popular view that Ikea is "tat".
Mostly contemporary (white/red/black gloss, stainless steel) designs but I'm guessing that's what you're after?
They have very good kitchen planning staff in every store and also a handy planning tool that you can download from their site and play about with at home.
Not difficult to install a kitchen as long as you take your time, prepare everything (walls, floors, etc.) properly first and pay attention to details.
I designed and fitted my own kitchen in my last flat which included knocking a wall down.
Go for it.
Mostly contemporary (white/red/black gloss, stainless steel) designs but I'm guessing that's what you're after?
They have very good kitchen planning staff in every store and also a handy planning tool that you can download from their site and play about with at home.
Not difficult to install a kitchen as long as you take your time, prepare everything (walls, floors, etc.) properly first and pay attention to details.
I designed and fitted my own kitchen in my last flat which included knocking a wall down.
Go for it.

basically what i was wanting to do is throw away the entire kitchen bar the washing machine, cooker (unless i can get another cheap) and fridge freezer, strip and re-plaster so there is a good surface, rip up the titles i have and replace them with some others, possibly relocate the boiler or hide the bugger so that its in a cabinet. from then on its get a kitchen and fit it, im not bothered if it takes a week or two and im happy to do stuff myself, except for plastering and lights, so from there its up to me to try and find something reasonable.
Nolar Dog said:
Ikea have some good kitchens too, contrry to the popular view that Ikea is "tat".
Mostly contemporary (white/red/black gloss, stainless steel) designs but I'm guessing that's what you're after?
They have very good kitchen planning staff in every store and also a handy planning tool that you can download from their site and play about with at home.
Not difficult to install a kitchen as long as you take your time, prepare everything (walls, floors, etc.) properly first and pay attention to details.
I designed and fitted my own kitchen in my last flat which included knocking a wall down.
Go for it.
ikea you say.... what do the rest of you guys think of ikea? Is it acceptable to put that in and get a good finish, or could i get the tabinets from them and a good work surface from someone else?Mostly contemporary (white/red/black gloss, stainless steel) designs but I'm guessing that's what you're after?
They have very good kitchen planning staff in every store and also a handy planning tool that you can download from their site and play about with at home.
Not difficult to install a kitchen as long as you take your time, prepare everything (walls, floors, etc.) properly first and pay attention to details.
I designed and fitted my own kitchen in my last flat which included knocking a wall down.
Go for it.

Nolar Dog said:
Ikea have some good kitchens too, contrry to the popular view that Ikea is "tat".
Mostly contemporary (white/red/black gloss, stainless steel) designs but I'm guessing that's what you're after?
They have very good kitchen planning staff in every store and also a handy planning tool that you can download from their site and play about with at home.
Not difficult to install a kitchen as long as you take your time, prepare everything (walls, floors, etc.) properly first and pay attention to details.
I designed and fitted my own kitchen in my last flat which included knocking a wall down.
Go for it.
yes we looked at these, but beware, the door sizes are different from anyone else, so you can't swap doors laterMostly contemporary (white/red/black gloss, stainless steel) designs but I'm guessing that's what you're after?
They have very good kitchen planning staff in every store and also a handy planning tool that you can download from their site and play about with at home.
Not difficult to install a kitchen as long as you take your time, prepare everything (walls, floors, etc.) properly first and pay attention to details.
I designed and fitted my own kitchen in my last flat which included knocking a wall down.
Go for it.

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