DanW@FastFord

iTrader: (1)

Rather than hijack Oranoco's thread - got a question for the kitchen fitters and those with recently fitted kitchens.

We're about to convert the garage into a kitchen, and so are looking at the different kitchen ranges on offer. There seems to be a wide range of prices and qualities and we've looked at Ikea, Magnet, and Howdens so far, but I've no idea what the companies are like to deal with, and how well they'll stand up to the rigours of day to day use.

Would be interested on people's experiences of the different companies!

Matt Tenpenny

Howdens are good on price and for an 'off the shelf' kitchen

i think its moben who do the more exclusive stuff.

be prepared to dust the old credit card off though!

Matt Tenpenny

here you go, must be good stuff as theres that queer bowen fella on the home page lol
http://www.moben.co.uk/index.php?eng...FWIA4wod2BW90Q

Moonstone Steve.

iTrader: (2)

Ream.co.uk

Steve

Shings

Dan

I spent 18 months researching my kitchen while I renovated my house ready for it... when you really start looking then all that really matters are carcas thickness, hinges, draw runners and the fronts.. whether they're moulded or not

The rest is academic really.

They all do most of the different bits and bobs.. Ikea though in my experience had the smallest range.

Following that its price...

I started out at around £4500 for mine in the basic sales that B&Q/Homebase/Magnet have including inbuilt appliances and by playing them off each other I got it down to £3500 and then I just got them to price match Magnet trade and got it on a 10% off weekend so paid £2800 less a few quid.




I know its not particularly special looking - but considering it came with fridge freezer/oven/hob/washing machine/extractor/tap/sink and its the premium range - all soft close etc... I'm happy.

Jake

shauns

i fit em for a living and personally would nt go near moben, as said howdens are good for off the shelf but everything in life comes down to your budget. its a competetive industry so push hard and you will see good discounts where ever you go

rst in breaking

iTrader: (2)

tbh i find magnets are crap quality, always broken when arrive, howdens are stupily expensive, ikea i refuse to fit as cheap crap with nothing for services (i.e pipes etc to run behind). for good prices use benchmark, good quality, 15mm back boards and soft closers etc as standard and bar far cheaper than howdens from my experience, buying before end of the month will save you too as vat is going up.

vaughant

iTrader: (1)

I've just finished putting a b&q kitchen in my house but it's taken me long enough!!!although it does have 31 cabinets and is a big old buzzard.

I got it on 10% off and there was a 1/2 price offer on doors,which saved a packet.

I didn't go near b&q for worktops,went to a local suppliers who didn't flinch when I asked for 60mm thick tops,well that's how they appear,actually their 40mm(standard) with
20mm extensions then edged up to look the same.

They were £410 a length in ikea,ouch!!i had the whole lot with splashbacks for about £650 iirc.there's one run that's 5m so you can see how big I needed.

At the end of the day the important bit is how it looks finished,I spent a long time rewiring the whole kitchen to suit my needs,lighting,under cabinet lighting,in cabinet lighting etc etc. Took a lot of planning but i think it's wort it.

I've got plinths to finish tomorrow and I can take some photos then to give you a rough idea.

We went black high gloss,White high gloss worktops and we love it!!!

dojj

iTrader: (3)

Paul fitted my kit hen a few months back and it's been ace, one of the benchmarx ones and you can see that it's much more of a complete unit that others, I've seen loads and loads of council properties using howdens recently so that's food for thought.

If you are thinking of doing your garage up though, there are a few things you may need to sort first before you even start pricing stuff up, my neighbours put a kitchen in his garage and things like running electrics and water and waste are all headaches if you want the height not to matter, plus insulation etc. Once you've sorted that out, plus any possible building issues in regards to planning permission, then you can start to plan.

We had lots and lots of companies coming around to quote for the work and design what's what and what's not so we had a rough idea of what we wanted but even with all the dodgy wiring and plumbing and plastering and even flooring and ceiling (ok, at mates rates but I still paid the going rate for stuff) it worked out to be the same price as some of the cheaper end of the scale for the job rather than the upper end. We are talking just supply and fit of a kitchen that was ranging from £5500 to £14000 and that's without flooring and electrical and ceiling work and removal of false Walls. I've still got to finish off painting the ceiling but the rest is all good.

Don't forget about things like built in cookers and bobs and washing machines and tumble driers and microwaves and fridges and freezers and wine racks and sinks and taps and handles and fancy trim bits and paint and everything else that goes into making a kitchen good, but don't get so carried away that you buy stuff you are never going to utilise like a big seining chandiler

Also, think about the kids and, while not nessecarily for their safety, but for how to stop them getting to things on the higher shelves, mine have started to open the drawers in order to climb up to the worktop in order to get the the chocolate cupboard so we've had to move it to the other side

And if your mrs spends more time there then let her decide how to arrange things

dojj

iTrader: (3)

One more thing, if you buy from the likes of b&q they can end product lines so when you need a replacement door you won't get one, as I've found to my cost in the past. It took 2 months to finish our extension so we got bits and bobs as the jobs was being co posted o ly to find that we were 3 doors short in the end as they had discontinued a certain line thr bastards

boothy

iTrader: (14)

Well dont go near ikea shit quality,howdens is ok find magnets are pretty good infact fitting 1 in the parents house next month,depending on your budget really mate got to put the electrics into the price because that can be a shock

1223456

ive just done a howdens one in my house, cost £1400,ont a small kitchen but has some special features such as corner carosell, half heigh larder pull out and full height larder pull out. Only a laminate work top. Hot my appliances from discount domestics for well under half price, this consisted on an induction hob, self cleaning top spec oven and americal style frisge freezer with water and ice dispenser (crushed and cubed)

The oven was a second due to a small dent on the outside which is near the back, when installed into the work unit you cannot see it but it cost 250 as opposed to 600. the cooker was also a second, I have yet to locate the reason its a second.

The fridge was faultless but still saved over a ton on the rrp. All the appliances were warranted as well.

I have a howdens accound of you want owt. Very good quality and probably one of the best priced outlets available to the trade.

hope this hels

p.s. if you want any pics let me know and I will post em up, did the whole ground floor for just over 5k!! this included a new log burner which does my domestic hot water and heating

S1

I had a Moben kitchen about 10 years ago that cost a packet, TBH it was a load of shit, mainly due to the numerous fitting teams who didnt seem to have a clue. After about six months I found one of the top cupboards was about an inch lower than the rest, the only support it had was a roughly cut bit of chipboard screwed over the top into another unit.

The important thing is to get a decent fitter as they can make a cheap kitchen look like its cost a packet, likewise a crap one will leave an expensive kitchen looking crap.

DanW@FastFord

iTrader: (1)

I reckon we will go with Howdens - It really helps that a good mate of mine is a fitter for them, and his wife is one of their kitchen designers, so I'll get a very good (better than trade) price! We're also reusing all our white goods as our existing kitchen is not that old, which will keep costs down.

It's quite a big conversion as we're moving the kitchen to the garage, and converting the existing kitchen into a downstairs loo, and office/utility room.

Feel free to put pics up, it's always good to get inspiration.

1223456

will do, will get them sorted in a bit, forgot to answer to their service, I went to a howdens in wrexham and the woman who priced up the kitchen changed the price twice which did annoy me a bit, went to another howden in oswestry with the exact same quotation all itemised and they did it for the first quoted price, once the deal was done they were awsome, got delivered all within the week, I changed my mind on the sink once it was delivered and they even met me half way at a car park to swop it over and save me the journey to their premises with no extra charge, can't really say fair'r than that. The discount domestics store I used was in wrexham too, Rhosddu to be precise, very very cheap for top spec items with guarantees.

Tell you what Dan, I will do a small thread in the photo's section show from start to finish as I think you will be impressed for what was done with a budget of £5200 odd

did most of it myself as well bar the plastering as i just cant do it lol

P_is_for_Paul

9 times out of 10 a local kitchen fitter can supply & fit the same kitchens B&Q, HomeBase, Magnet etc fit, for a LOT less than they will charge.

Had to laugh at a mate who paid £6k for a B&Q kitchen that he desperately wanted, that I could have supplied and fitted for just over half that

1223456

I found the b&q and home base kitchens to be ver similar with hombase being slightly better in terms of quality. Both dont come near howdes and howdens is very solid. Its also very easy to put together ans the main carcases (sorry for spelling) are pre built

vaughant

iTrader: (1)

That was one thing that really pissed me off with b&q was assembling all the carcasses,however it did come to my advantage in the end as the Walls in my kitchen are the furthest out on a house I've ever seen!!I had to hack nearly 3/4" off the back of one cabinet as it just wouldn't line up with the corner unit.

I tried howdens through recommendations from a few people but they were so arsey in the shop I couldn't really take to them.they gave me,reluctantly a price guide with catalogue but it worked out ridiculously expensive.

I was told afterwards that if you get them to quote you in store the prices are far better,the catalogue is the most expensive way.

It's a good way of doing it by converting an existing empty room over as you get to keep using the old kitchen while the new ones being fitted,saves so much hassle.

DanW@FastFord

iTrader: (1)

That's the plan at least. With two kids it's not really practical to have the kitchen out of action for any length of time. The garage is already built, and it's pretty large (two car's worth) so the structure's all there. The rear is currently open to the garden/decking, so we're going to have the back wall entirely glazed, which should be nice!

rst in breaking

iTrader: (2)

as a guide my uncle got a quote in homebase for an 'oak looking' kitchen and i beat the price at benchmark byt £150 with solid oak lol.

vaughant

iTrader: (1)

And a very good one too,I basically did the same,but I used the utility room(which is 4m long) as a temporary kitchen and plugged the oven in the dining room to use!!!

We did something similar on ours by knocking down an internal wall and fitting nice French doors,a new kitchen window etc and it looks the part.

Next year for the decking for me,or when funds allow!

Fuck me,I thought cossies were expensive,dread to think what I've spent so far but I'd say £30k's realistic,that's the whole house though,and the only labours been fitting doors,plastering and fitting the worktops.

Would be double that if labour was involved!

1223456

here is a few pics

https://passionford.com/forum/pictur...ml#post5152151

i found wrexham howden a bit arsy, oswestry could not do enough for me, ALWAYS go into the store, they will do their best to price beat anyone else. I have a trade account so feel free to get in touch if you need anything.

Matt Tenpenny

best piece of advise i can give you is get a list of what you would like, sizes, quantitys and be sure on a type/design. worst thing you can do is go in without any clue of the above. but then nobody likes a smart arse.

measure stuff in millimetres/meters and ask for the right price first time around. worst thing you can do though is keep hounding for discount and it pisses the sale person off.

i know as im in sales for a builders merchant and the more people go on and on about discount the less they get!

oh and im pretty sure youll need to have a account to buy from howdens. Ask to open one with them and that will get the discount flowing!

danneth

You spent all that researching a kitchen and didn't even stick to the building regs for the electrics tut at you

vaughant

iTrader: (1)

It's been a while since I did anything regs related but I'm guessing looking at piccie one its because the sockets are too close to the oven?possibly that the cables come from below not above but I'm not 100% sure about that.

I don't particularly like the way the cooker hood is wired from below but if there's a splashback to be fitted that maybe ok?

Reveal all dan!!!

shauns

ive seen part p regd leccys do worse

danneth

I see worse daily, but sticking to basic regs specially if your part P / NIC should be pretty simple imo, vaughant spot on with the first thing you said

Shings

I'm sorry sir... it appears to be black and red twin and earth - I just put the kitchen in and left the electrics where they were.

vaughant

iTrader: (1)

Woo hoo!!!!get in there!!!

vaughant

iTrader: (1)

Old colours are fine,as long as the cables stand up to the insulation resistance test.

On my board as I didn't do a full desire,I just stuck a two different colours sticker on the front.

Shings

I had my installation tested prior to carrying out my modifications and all the old (new) cable 'nuked' before it was 'installed' so I know tis safe...... having friends in high places is usefull

St3V3_C

It will be the process of installing it that makes it unsafe though

danneth

Im on my phone and for some reason the picture wont load, but I thought I could see some freshing chasing out so was going off that if Im wrong then I do apologise

vaughant

iTrader: (1)

+1,usually do the tests after installation,prior to actually powering up.that way you can search out any poor connections within the boxes,if you've pulled cables through and damaged the insulation etc.

I'm sure it's ok but usually the test is done afterwards.nice looking kitchen btw.

dojj

iTrader: (3)

The electrician I used spent the bast part of 4 days doing the wiring including where to route the channeling and laying all the wires out and putting fused spurs in and all that, he even said that we couldn't use our fancy chrome light socket because there was no earth in the curcit but we did spend over £360 on switches and scokets and stuff, not to mention the heated floor stuff (bought from Bo, owner of a recent total vauxhall cover car car who's clogs the stuff from the unit next door ) and all the cabling and boxes that you need to sink into the walls and the trunking you need to use etc so you really do need to factor all this into the budget. He could have run a new wire for the lights but that would have meant putting holes in the freshly plastered cealing so that'll wait until the carpets need to come up upstairs

vaughant

iTrader: (1)

Guy knows his stuff to be fair,good advice!!!

vaughant

iTrader: (1)

As promised,a few pics for you mate,not finished yet,but not too much to do now,grout the tiles,fit in some pop up sockets and edge up the tops,bit of architrave/skirting still to do but I'm nearly there!!!thank god!!!!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...t/f5241bf4.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...t/c6adb1aa.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...t/f7056fb2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...t/196d1cc4.jpg