Good Place to buy a kitchen

[harmonia]

Hi,

I am looking to buy a kitchen in the next week or so and wondering what the best place is to go i.e MFI, Homebase etc I am looking to spend below a grand on a small kitchen and fit it myself. Can anyone rec anywhere i.e had a good experience, know of a sale etc (bw I am in Berks)

any advice

adam

 

[JohnD]

A tip:

Pay no attention to the "SALE! Ends soon" and the "Normal price £1,000,000 - today only - 50p!.

A study of a well-know kitchen shop found that over a period of a year, at no time were their goods not on sale - i.e. they never sold stuff at "normal" price although they did have a cupboard in their Stornaway branch with a full-price ticket on it.

 

[harmonia]

yes MFI have a "sale" on that ends tomorrow night... I rather like some of the product lines I have seen at IKEA but their nearest branch is 60 miles + away. I need somewhere local to Newbury which pretty much limits me to B&Q, MFI or Homebase.

 

[JohnD]

BTW I spend twenty years working as a British secret agent. I can't understand it, I told my careers master that I wanted to join MFI.

 

[Nige F]

I`d say B+Q ........they sell adjustable legs for their units and that don`t half help with fitting the buggers s like the F*cus ones I got

 

[timbalcombe]

what was wrong with the focus ones nige?

 

[Steve]

If youre going to MFI, dont buy the Hygena stuff. Schriber is much better quality, pre-assembled carcasses, no mechanical joints to fall apart or come loose. Of course its more expensive, but you get what you pay for.

(this is how it was 10 years ago when we got our kitchen anyway)

We let the guy in the shop use the computer to see what we needed, and when we got home having shelled out loads of money, we realised that he had put 2 small units where one, cheaper, large unit could go, and other niggly bits that they can fleece you with.

Design it and draw it yourself with the aid of a kitchen catalogue, then go to the shop with a list of cupboard sizes that you need. Its the only way to get the kitchen you really want.

 

[Hazelb]

The other option is to have a good look round at all the units available. Get MFI to do you a design, then source units somewhere else!

Wickes do kitchen units. There is a big B&Q warehouse store in Reading.

If you are using flat pack, I think ease of assembly is important, as well as overall build quality.

 

[kevinwebster83]

Hi

I'm also in the same situation as the OP and am after a low price kitchen for a small area. I have often been taken in by the B&Q and Homebase display models that are ONLY £XXX thinking that mine would be similar in price but unfortunately this isn't the case. I had a "free design" at a local B&Q (biggest in UK) on a kitchen advertised as less than £1,000 but the final price racked up to well over £2,000 (even though the unit count was less and fitting myself).

I'm at the stage now where i'm going to take the quote obtained above and work out how much it'd cost to buy the units seperate from www.diy-kitchens.com and do it that way.

Surely there must be somewhere!!!

Kev

 

[wanabechippie]

Not sure about what and where from, but the Ikea kitchen planner is a rather handy tool to get the layout designed. (can only find one for the US tho )

 

[Odd Job]

B&Q will do a price match to any similar kitchen they seemed keen to see a Ikea quote.

I did end up with B&Q after weeks of wondering which was best. benefit was saw what i purchased taken from shelf for delivery. No need to worry about faults unless made on delivery.

The main sealing factor was B&Q are 18mil Cupboard sides and complete package hinges and legs with no extra costs.

the prices increase greatly when you go for the 800 drawer systems and fancy extras ( never worth the cost in my view)

I also found 3 black work tops reduced in B&Q from £60 to £25 each. with enough to complete my work tops.

I return to store twice a week and pick up damaged doors for £2 each for cutting down and infilling corner unit connections when i fit it.

yesterday I managed to buy a pull out cabinet with metal shelving system 150mil with side missing for £10 and there was a side panel boxed next to it reduced whole cabinet £15 instead of £60.

B&Q exchange items no questions asked but i did buy the sink and extras from screwfix as you save about £2 in every £10 on B&Q price even thou both same company.

unless you are going for fitting and expensive kitchen like space, theres not much in it.

p.s got a nasty virus from ikea planner. be careful where you get it from. Also measurements are different in different versions.

 

[timbalcombe]

according to which magazine, wickes do th best kitchens.
They have a 40% sale on now. I know this because I've just cancelled my purchase with infinity kitchens for £5.3k, when I've realised I could get the whole lot done with tiling for £4k

 

[jono_h]

We ended up with a Wicked kitchen. It was delivered yesterday, so I can't comment on the fitting part yet.
Be careful of the design service, they will try and bump the order up. We asked for a corner rack to go in a cupboard, the consultant put the £350 one on the order, it was lucky that I spotted that they did another rack for £199 that did the same job.

 

[oowinn]

Howdens sell the same kitchens as MFI although they call their ranges differently. All units come rigid - pre assembled- and are 18 mm thick. All you have to do is fix the supplied legs and level them up. A word of warning regarding Ikea kitchens..... the cupboards have no void between the back of the cupboard and the wall so if you have any cables and/or pipework running along the wall you will have to either cut the back of the cupboard out or re-route the cables and/or pipework. Which can be a right pain !!! All British designed kitchens have a void for pipes/cables etc. I know this as being a plumber I have had to alter pipework in several kitchens brought from Ikea. Good luck !!

 

[lummocks]

Just had a kitchen designed and ordered from homebase...very impressed with the lady doing the design and the final design, came back in with a few modifications that I wanted to make which she acomodated no problem...solid wood doors 10% off because she used a voucher from "10% off thursdays"

As for the deleivery and quality...I can't comment as we now have a 2-4 week wait for it. Fingers crossed tho

Think it was abou 12 or 13 units a large corner unit, 2x150mm wine racks Gloss work surface and a better quality sink (franke) A nice tap, a built in extractor fan, spice rack, cutlery tray, handles, soft close pistons etc...came in just over £1500