High Gloss Kitchen

[Bonefish Blues]

We are not far off starting the last part of our renovation and looking for the right kitchen with the best price/quality compromise and wondered who people had used?

To give you an idea, the plans are for something very contemporary - 800mm2 porcelain tiles, (probably) Corian worktop, 900mm 5 burner induction hob etc.

Two main areas in the kitchen; an entire wall consisting of 2 wide full length pull out larder units, 2 built in ovens and a big fridge, the other area is in a U shape with c3 metres of wall cupboards and c 6 metres of base units.

We can spend up to say 8K on these base units without fittings/appliances/worktop which puts us North of Howdens, Wickes etc, but which won't quite stretch to European designs with Euro as it is. One thing which is clear about gloss finish is that it's very unforgiving, and quality does make a difference.

Any thoughts as to the ranges we should be looking at would be welcomed - Wren looks interesting, anyone any experience here?

Thanks in advance.

[ACEparts_com]

We've gone for something similar - Howdens. Pics don't really do it justice (i hope!)

[Bonefish Blues]

How do you find the quality of finish on the gloss?

[ACEparts_com]

This is from howdens - we've not got it yet BUT it looked amazing in the showroom

[northwest monkey]

I've fitted loads from J&J Ormerods in Lancs (they supply all over UK) & have one in my own place. We've got a high gloss cream slab - been in for 4.5 years now & looks like new. Missus wishes she'd gone for cream upper & cappucino lower but that's just women for you

Website is http://www.jjoplc.com/

Other than a customer, I've got nothing to do with them.

[Incredible Sulk]

We used furniture from a company called Hatt.

http://www.hatt.co.uk/menu.htm

Quality is OK, but not up to German standards. Sorry about the quality of the photos.

Edited by Incredible Sulk on Friday 23 October 10:05

[zcacogp]

We used stuff from Wickes (after a recommendation on PH). It's excellent quality, included all the 'nice' bits like soft-close cupboards and drawers as standard, and the service was very good too. I'm not sure about how their 'designers' work (I suspect that is a bit hit-and-miss, although ours seemed OK), but we did almost all of the design ourselves.

Not the best picture, but it shows some of the cupboards.




Oli.

[Bonefish Blues]

zcacogp said:

We used stuff from Wickes (after a recommendation on PH). It's excellent quality, included all the 'nice' bits like soft-close cupboards and drawers as standard, and the service was very good too. I'm not sure about how their 'designers' work (I suspect that is a bit hit-and-miss, although ours seemed OK), but we did almost all of the design ourselves.

Not the best picture, but it shows some of the cupboards.
Oli.

Thanks Oli - we had a look at the weekend, but their gloss finishes were a bit "wavy" in parts which on long runs like we have wouldn't look right - other ranges like the stuff you specced looked great, but there you go

[Bonefish Blues]

Incredible Sulk said:

We used furniture from a company called Hatt.

http://www.hatt.co.uk/menu.htm

Quality is OK, but not up to German standards. Sorry about the quality of the photos.

Edited by Incredible Sulk on Friday 23 October 10:05

Brochure ordered, thanks.

[zcacogp]

Bonefish Blues said:

Thanks Oli - we had a look at the weekend, but their gloss finishes were a bit "wavy" in parts which on long runs like we have wouldn't look right - other ranges like the stuff you specced looked great, but there you go

Interesting ... the one thing that has impressed me with ours is the very, very flat front to the gloss. I don't want to be rude, but you were looking at it with the protective plastic removed weren't you? If it was on display (as opposed to looking at panels in their 'delivery' state) then I guess you would have been, as the shop would want to show things off to their best ...

Maybe we were lucky and had a good batch. Perhaps. I do know that I don't look at the glossiness at all now, I am too distracted by the dribbles and drips that develop on the cupboard fronts and need cleaning off! (Which is worth a mention I guess; smooth-fronted cupboards are MUCH easier to keep clean than the shaker-style ones.)

Hope you find some that work well for you.


Oli.

[Bonefish Blues]

zcacogp said:

Bonefish Blues said:

Thanks Oli - we had a look at the weekend, but their gloss finishes were a bit "wavy" in parts which on long runs like we have wouldn't look right - other ranges like the stuff you specced looked great, but there you go

Interesting ... the one thing that has impressed me with ours is the very, very flat front to the gloss. I don't want to be rude, but you were looking at it with the protective plastic removed weren't you? If it was on display (as opposed to looking at panels in their 'delivery' state) then I guess you would have been, as the shop would want to show things off to their best ...

Maybe we were lucky and had a good batch. Perhaps. I do know that I don't look at the glossiness at all now, I am too distracted by the dribbles and drips that develop on the cupboard fronts and need cleaning off! (Which is worth a mention I guess; smooth-fronted cupboards are MUCH easier to keep clean than the shaker-style ones.)

Hope you find some that work well for you.



Oli.

It wasn't so much the cabinet fronts, which were OK, but the carcasses, which weren't finished to the same quality Oli - but I'm afraid I'm a little OCD at the best of times, never mind when it comes to things like this!

Edited by Bonefish Blues on Friday 23 October 14:48

[zcacogp]

The carcasses?

Gosh, I never looked critically at them. They come flat-packed, but seem to be well and accurately cut, and have proper backs (as opposed to hardboard ones on cheaper products). I also glued them together as well as usign the supplied fittings, which made them stronger. In fact, I struggle to see how they could have been badly finished - unless, as you said, you're looking at things like the smoothness of the surface finish (which I didn't consider. And they are finished in a roughened style anyway, form memory ... )

FWIW, I fitted another kitchen for a friend a few weeks back, and that was supplied ready-built on a lorry straight from Germany. The finish on that was shocking, as was the quality of construction. And I know he paid over three times as much as we did (for a slightly larger kitchen, in fairness.)


Oli.

[Bonefish Blues]

zcacogp said:

The carcasses?

Gosh, I never looked critically at them. They come flat-packed, but seem to be well and accurately cut, and have proper backs (as opposed to hardboard ones on cheaper products). I also glued them together as well as usign the supplied fittings, which made them stronger. In fact, I struggle to see how they could have been badly finished - unless, as you said, you're looking at things like the smoothness of the surface finish (which I didn't consider. And they are finished in a roughened style anyway, form memory ... )

FWIW, I fitted another kitchen for a friend a few weeks back, and that was supplied ready-built on a lorry straight from Germany. The finish on that was shocking, as was the quality of construction. And I know he paid over three times as much as we did (for a slightly larger kitchen, in fairness.)


Oli.

Your style of doors overlap them so they aren't visible - even assuming they are gloss wrapped. The flat slab doors/drawers we are after are inset in places, such as on wall cabinets where this was painfully obvious.

Pistonheads - doors matter!

[zcacogp]

Ah, OK. That makes sense. Yes, you don't see the carcasses on ours much, if at all.

Inset doors? I thought those were the preserve of bespoke kitchens? I can understand why you would want the edges of the carcasses to be as good as possible with that sort of thing.

Best of luck hunting.


Oli.

[Targarama]

We have an Alno kitchen in deep red gloss with a silver workstop. We paid more for a high quality gloss finish (i.e. not their cheapest clingfilm style finish). Lovely.

This kind of thing:

http://www.bradburysltd.co.uk/images/kitchens/alno...

Or more exactly as installed (not the best of shots):

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h117/Trefor1/Oma...

[aberdeeneuan]

Targarama said:

We have an Alno kitchen in deep red gloss with a silver workstop. We paid more for a high quality gloss finish (i.e. not their cheapest clingfilm style finish). Lovely.

This kind of thing:

http://www.bradburysltd.co.uk/images/kitchens/alno...

Or more exactly as installed (not the best of shots):

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h117/Trefor1/Oma...

Looks very nice that does! What is the worktop made of?

[Targarama]

aberdeeneuan said:

Targarama said:

We have an Alno kitchen in deep red gloss with a silver workstop. We paid more for a high quality gloss finish (i.e. not their cheapest clingfilm style finish). Lovely.

This kind of thing:

http://www.bradburysltd.co.uk/images/kitchens/alno...

Or more exactly as installed (not the best of shots):

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h117/Trefor1/Oma...

Looks very nice that does! What is the worktop made of?

Not stone/corain (I would have chosen Corian), its some kind of fake laminate type stuff. Its in a new build we have abroad and we were only given a choice of granite (at a crazy price) or this by the builders. We will change it in the near futre.

[Bonefish Blues]

Targarama said:

aberdeeneuan said:

Targarama said:

We have an Alno kitchen in deep red gloss with a silver workstop. We paid more for a high quality gloss finish (i.e. not their cheapest clingfilm style finish). Lovely.

This kind of thing:

http://www.bradburysltd.co.uk/images/kitchens/alno...

Or more exactly as installed (not the best of shots):

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h117/Trefor1/Oma...

Looks very nice that does! What is the worktop made of?

Not stone/corain (I would have chosen Corian), its some kind of fake laminate type stuff. Its in a new build we have abroad and we were only given a choice of granite (at a crazy price) or this by the builders. We will change it in the near futre.

Hadn't thought of Alno - doh - it's pretty much bang smack in my target price range, I think!

[sleep envy]

Bonefish Blues said:

It wasn't so much the cabinet fronts, which were OK, but the carcasses, which weren't finished to the same quality Oli - but I'm afraid I'm a little OCD at the best of times, never mind when it comes to things like this!

It wasn't so much the cabinet fronts, which were OK, but the carcasses, which weren't finished to the same quality Oli - but I'm afraid I'm a little OCD at the best of times, never mind when it comes to things like this!

buy the european carcasses and then get a joiner to make up the fronts - two pack paint then so they can take some reasonable impact damage

mrs envy did that with her kitchen and it looks great, wish I'd thought of it for mine as I'd have saved a fortune instead of importing a kitchen from italy

Edited by sleep envy on Friday 23 October 16:36

[OldSkoolRS]

Bonefish Blues said:

Hadn't thought of Alno - doh - it's pretty much bang smack in my target price range, I think!

I haven't heard of Alno, but I can't really tell what the price is (apart from an offer on the website's homepage I navigated to from the link above). I'm also looking for a gloss kitchen, but the best I've found locally is available from 'Buildbase' who offer two makes (of flat pack models) one made by 'Crown' and the better (IMHO) make made by 'Cusina'. However, limited colour options means we can't do the combinations we'd like, so any links (preferably with prices) would be useful....if that's OK with the OP.