Screwfix Kitchen

[jagillham]

Apologies if this is the wrong section!

We are on the hunt for a new kitchen, and yesterday discovered Screwfix do them. On the face of it they look very good, prebuilt with colour matched carcases - which would save us near £500 on "end panels" alone. Plus, the actual units are cheaper in the first place too.

Does anybody have any experience with the kitchens?

 

[Ibanezman]

I'm curious about this too. Mentally totting up how much a new kitchen would cost me, but I didn't realise that Screwfix even did kitchens. Have you found out anything more about them?

 

[Ibanezman]

Interesting thread here: //www.diynot.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=263858

 

[jagillham]

Yes I saw that thread, but only really one post about Screwfix Kitchens, the other was a more general dislike I think!

 

[Ibanezman]

Well, unsurprisingly, the blurb on the Screwfix Kitchens site is very positive, but the bits that caught my eye were the 25 year guarantee, glue and dowel construction and soft close as standard. I like soft close and if it does turn out to be rubbish, I've got 25 years to find out and presumably still have some leverage to get repair or replacement. Not sure how that will work in practice in 2038...

 

[jagillham]

...and prebuilt!

We've got a appointment with Wickes tommorrow, but still very tempted by the screwfix option.

Will post here if I do buy them!

 

[Ibanezman]

Yes, please do let me know which you go for. I'm still very much at the 'working it out in my head' stage, but would value someone else's opinion!

 

[r896neo]

I assume it is the same stuff coming out of b&Q now that they are the same entity.

The trade-point end of B&Q now offer to supply rigid pre built carcasses and i imagine these are one and the same as the screwfix ones. IT would be interesteing to hear if the screwfix ones come with cooke and lewis packaging?

After recently looking into it the B&Q stuff is fine. Base cabinets even came with hinges at no extra cost. They were crap and went in the bin to be replaced by blum soft closers but the thought was nice.

They stick the arm in a little for the fancier stuff like put out storage and fully extending drawers etc. Its all these little extras that total the price way up. But as said for the basics of cabinets panels etc i think they are good value and reasonable quality.

This is using my tradepoint card so i can;t say for retail price. Although its not hard to get a card if you weren't a tradesman.

 

[Ibanezman]

It would be interesting to see if it is Cooke & Lewis. It wouldn't make much commercial sense to compete with the sister company with exactly the same range though? IMO anyway!

 

[Ibanezman]

Ordered a couple of units to put out in the utility room. Decided not to risk a whole kitchen! However, the units came and they're not Cooke & Lewis. They do seem very good quality though - the cabinets look thicker than standard and they're glue and dowel too, which is stronger than what is currently in my kitchen.

Soft close is neat too, but is seems weird that the units in my utility are now better than those in my kitchen!

I don't have a lot to compare it too, but at first go, the stuff I've bought seems good. If I end up getting the full kitchen experience, I'll report back. Impressed so far.

 

[r896neo]

good to know. was there any branding on the packaging and whats the interior like? Coffee bean?

 

[Ibanezman]

No, the packaging is unbranded. I suspect someone more au fait with kitchen bits might recognise who the ultimate supplier is, but it does look like the Screwfix range is different from the B&Q range.

The interior is the same as the exterior. I bought the 'oak' version, and the inside is the same 'oak' finish as the exterior. There's a picture of the cabinets half way down this page which show what I'm on about: http://www.screwfix.com/c/new-fitted-kitchens/cat4740108

I can also now vouch for the ability to remove 'Crayola' markers from the cabinet, as my 3 year old felt it necessary to mark it as her own yesterday evening...