Anyone done a kitchen recently?

[WildGoose]

I've put it off for long enough, but about to embark on sorting the kitchen, was wondering if anyone has done one recently and could recommend places to go.

Been to B&Q in the week to have a look, and while the prices seem reasonable they also offer to price match anything you find cheaper.

B&Q seem to sell the carcasses separately to the door, hinges, and fittings, whereas places like focus seem to sell the units as a whole including doors and fitting, so its hard to know where you are in terms of cheapness.

The list is roughly, a 900mm corner unit, 4 wall mounted 600mm cupboards, 2 floor cupboards at 500mm (one with drawers) and 1 at 300mm. Plus doors/fittings for the above plus 2 worktops (3m) and the kitchen sink.

I don't give a toss about aesthetics or designer styling, cheap tidy and functional will do, current units are falling to bits thanks to a rising damp problem which is now sorted.

Any general advice on ways to go or good places to use?
____________________
So in other words, he stopped you for being flagrantly in posession of a motorcycle in direct contravention of the Hippies, Darkies and People Whose Face I Don't Like The Look of (Police Powers) Act. 1976

[Mr.Everready]

We got our kitchen from Homebase, it's decent enough quality probalbly the same as B&Q.
Best ( obviously ) to get it while the sales are on, then again when they offer another 10-20% off.
One bit of advise though is don't get your taps along with the kitchen, source them elsewhere. £100+ in B&Q £30 else where etc..
____________________
the undemocratically unelected mod of the Scottish section

[lukamon]

get some granite worktops from my place beutifully done
____________________
killa wrote: Im an ass man myself

[MarJay]

My girlfriends sisters boyfriends uncle is a builder and he told us a specific company to go to which were the same price as B&Q but better quality. I'll try to find out the name of it as I am due to get a new kitchen sometime in the near future too...
____________________
British beauty: Triumph Street Triple R; Loony stroker: KR1S; Track fun: GSXR750 L1; Commuter Missile: GSX-S1000F; Cheap project: CBR900RR FireBlade
Remember kids, bikes aren't like lego. You can't easily take a part from one bike and then fit it to another.

[panrider_uk]

I don't know about other makes but trhe B&Q carcasses have adjustable plastic feet which makes them easy to level up.

Mark
____________________
Current bikes: Honda ST1100 Pan European. Moto Guzzi V85 TT Travel

[Phoenix]

Got mine from Focus, waited for the sale price to hit the bottom 30% off I think and got a pretty comprehensive set of units for £700. Still sitting in a heap on the floor 2years later because I can't be bothered to do it.

[Kwaks]

Do you need carcases? Often new doors will spruce things up a bit.

An option on the 900 corner unit ( the most expensive carcases are corner ones) is to just buy a 1000 or 800 running into the wall with one door and a 300 unit seperately for the return.

You say 4 x 600mm wall units, are these all seperate? can you not use 2 x 1000 wall units? would be cheaper for not much space difference.

Would really need to know the dimensions of your layout to work out cheapest design, for instance if the 300mm floor unit is against the corner unit, go for the 1000 into corner and 600 on return etc
____________________
Fallen Angel "Nae sniffing my seat now!!!!! "
www.cliqueycuntsmcc.co.uk
I AM NOT A FAST RIDER!!!!!!!!!

[Tonka]

[Ant]

we got ours from MFI last year but thats not much use to you now! I know a couple of kitchen fitters and Magnet (alough a tad more expensive than b&q etc) come highly recomended and Wikes do too!
____________________
04 ZX10R ~

[Kwaks]

I used to be a kitchen designer, so give me a floor plan and I will design the cheapest way
____________________
Fallen Angel "Nae sniffing my seat now!!!!! "
www.cliqueycuntsmcc.co.uk
I AM NOT A FAST RIDER!!!!!!!!!

[EddyJones]

Theres a sale on at BnQ at the mo, think it might still go down a bit more tho so could be worth waiting.

If you know someone over 60 get them to go with you, Fill in a Diamond Card application and they get 10% off on a wednesdays on anything in store. You cant ge it on things that have to be ordered in tho.

[Steve H]

I'm in the market for a kitchen at the moment and have done some shopping around. My mistake was visiting dedicated kitchen specialists like Magnet, Moben, etc before going to the usual suspects (B&Q, Homebase, Wickes, et al). Don't get me wrong, I'm no expert but the quality of the finished product is noticeably better at the higher end of the market than the lower end to the extent that I'm seriously tempted to spend an extra couple of quid to get the experts in - There's no way i'm getting my hands dirty on this job!
____________________
Mellow Yellow
The BCF Top TEN - 2010, 2009, 2008, The Original.

[Phoenix]

[Steve H]

Yeah, well the 'extra couple of quid' comment was slightly tongue in cheek
____________________
Mellow Yellow
The BCF Top TEN - 2010, 2009, 2008, The Original.

[michael j]

From memory, B&Q, Wickes etc are all flat packed. This can add an extra day (or more depending on how good you are at following instructions) to the install. Howdens supply the carcasses's already made up, obviously you still have to put the doors and shelves on. You pay a little more at Howdens for the same quality stuff but it saves a lot of hassle.
Whatever you do, when they deliver it check it thoroughly. Almost guarantee something will be missing.
Spend a couple of quid (70-100) getting the worktop properly cut in.
Don't do the gas yourself, you may think you've done an ok job but you'll have no way of testing it. Get someone off the Gas Safe Register.
Also, if you have any mates who are tradesmen, they'll be able to get a discount and save you a small fortune.
____________________
Ducati 996

[Kwaks]

I worked for one of the big kitchen companies. A kitchen which would turn a profit for us at 2.5k would be pitched at 10k and dropped to 5k to get the sale. If the salesman just wanted the sale he could drop to the 2.5k, however the only payment he would recieve is the bonus from the finance company.

If a customer had been to Howdens, forget it. Their cabinet quality was too close to justify the additional costs of ours. Rigid build cabinets with 18mm sides and a 15mm back.

B & Q etc have all improved their ranges however, and things like their drawers are actually pretty good quality.

When I got out of the game about 6 years ago, the poorest quality were the MFI hygena range.

All kitchens are flat packs. The difference is some are built up in your home or garden, others are assembled in a factory setting. The main kitchen cabinet suppliers ( from memory we used springfield?) supply to all the retailers in flat pack.
____________________
Fallen Angel "Nae sniffing my seat now!!!!! "
www.cliqueycuntsmcc.co.uk
I AM NOT A FAST RIDER!!!!!!!!!

[WildGoose]

Please excuse the diagramatic representation.

[Tonka]

Not sure if this is any help, but when I was doing my kitchen I decided to try and get the 'built in' effect as it's only small and all the stop and start of appliances and doors etc. can make it look bitty. Used some MDF to make an end panel and the free-standing dishwasher became 'integrated'. Also used an old piece of pine for one work surface - cheaper and quirky! Apart from that I bought all of the stuff from B&Q including the taps which were only about £30 - did all this about 3 years ago.

https://i498.photobucket.com/albums/rr344/Tonkatoo_2008/th_DSC00485.jpg

https://i498.photobucket.com/albums/rr344/Tonkatoo_2008/th_DSC00486.jpg

https://i498.photobucket.com/albums/rr344/Tonkatoo_2008/th_DSC00487.jpg
____________________
'The core of a man's spirit comes from new experiences'
Suzuki SV650S (Clean); Yamaha XT250 Serow (Dirty)

[Tarmacsurfer]

Goose, I did my kitchen around 18 months ago. Sourced my units from a small local company, they usually make shipping containers/boxes but had branched into carcasses and then buying in doors. They actually worked out quite a bit cheaper than any of the more recognisable names (particularly the robbing bastards that are Moben and MFI) with comparable quality, the only noticeable difference is the lack of whizzy drawer slides, they're good quality and do the job but no soft touch or slow glide or whatever the hell they call the piston assisted stuff.

I bought sink and tap from this company, Sinks-Taps. Original name there, I know. They were absolutely brilliant. Ordered a basic and cheap 0.6mm thick stainless sink with a decent tap and was informed after 24 hours the sink was no longer in stock. I was getting ready to get stroppy at which point with no prompting from me the person on the phone said "would you accept another sink?", asked what I was being offered and she sent me to a web page with a sink that was well over twice the cost of what I'd ordered and far, far better in terms of quality. No extra charge and sent next day delivery as the fitter was due.
____________________
I'm immortal. Well, so far.

[Kwaks]

Ok not much to work with due to the size of the kitchen, I would suggest dropping the 900 unit and using either an 800 or 1000 ( depending on space) with one door, against the 500 unit for the sink. Swap your dryer & washer around, this will increase the life of the washers pump as it will have less load to reach the sink (where I assume it is plumbed).

If you want to use all the space on the wall, you should find it cheaper to but 3 x 800 wall units than 4 x 600.

Remember the most expensive unit will be the drawer pack. Do you really need the drawers? Surely one for cutlery will suffice as the rest get filled with crap anyway. I would suggest just buying the drawer line for the 500 you wanted as a drawer pack. You could get a drawer at the other end as well on the 300 unit if you require. Drawer packs are about 2 or 3 x the cost of normal.
____________________
Fallen Angel "Nae sniffing my seat now!!!!! "
www.cliqueycuntsmcc.co.uk
I AM NOT A FAST RIDER!!!!!!!!!

[WildGoose]

The washer and dryer are in fact the other way round, no idea why I drew them thus, wasnt concentrating. I do use them occasionally, honest

We probably only do need 1 drawer, thinking about it. If its cheaper that all the excuse I need

Thanks a lot for the advice
____________________
So in other words, he stopped you for being flagrantly in posession of a motorcycle in direct contravention of the Hippies, Darkies and People Whose Face I Don't Like The Look of (Police Powers) Act. 1976

[S1KE]

I fit a few kitchens every now and then and always supply them from howdens, they are good at giving you everything you need to finish the job and are always quick to help if anything is wrong.

Plus it's a bonus their carcases come ready made, with lot of other suppliers you have to make them yourself.

If you want some cheap worktops, ask in howdens if they have any damaged ones, when we wanted some for the garage we got two lengths for a tenner each with a dent on each end which we just cut off! Really nice ones too!

Good luck

Mike
____________________
random twat!
* xbox live mickeyc26
* zx6r b1h 2004 GREEN !

[G]

Interesting... as ever, planning to do mine this year or early next year. Shall have to see how other's turn out and ask for advice as appropriate.
Incidentally, if you need a hand, give me a shout (I can actually assemble ready made stuff as well as making monstrous DIY concontions .)

On that, anyone made all the stuff from carcases etc from scratch themselves? Doesn't seem too complicated, but then I wouldn't mind a bit more 'pro' look which would take a fair bit of time and probably money too (though more durable than bought stuff, I expect).

Oh and nice kitchen Tonka .

[G60]

Am going to get my kitchen done soon and my plumber suggested howdens. I'm after a bit of help though.

How do I go about getting it sorted? Do I go and pick my units first and then get someone to design it? Or do I get someone from say homebase to design it, and then get the units after submitting the plan to howdens?? Or do i get someone round to have a look first? I have not got a clue here, as you can probably see, so any help would be appreciated.

Cheers.

[Kwaks]

You plan it first G60, then buy the units to fit the plan, simple rule is tall units to the edges, not blocking light. Cooker should have 300mm workspace either side for pan handles. No wall units above sink & traditionally sink at window to give the wife a view
____________________
Fallen Angel "Nae sniffing my seat now!!!!! "
www.cliqueycuntsmcc.co.uk
I AM NOT A FAST RIDER!!!!!!!!!