new kitchen

[gleno1]

hi im contemplating having a new kitchen fitted has anybody any ideas on whether to have one of the big firms eg B & Q HOMEBASE - FOCUS - HOMEBASE -WICKS etc or to use a smaller independent local firm greatful for any advice

[Hawkwalk]

Homebase are good and also offer a fitting service. If you look on their website you can download a kitchen planner so you can play around with the design yourself.

A smaller independent firm will probably be much more expensive but will offer more high end quality and hand made kitchens so depends on your budget.

[weeal]

Ive heard bad reports about B & Q but have never done this myself so its just hearsay

[theonlyone]

We bought a kitchen from B&Q ..they designed
it ...but had a local guy install it ..he was a bit more expensive ..but did an excellent job ..
you have to live with a kitchen for a long time ..
so give it a bit on thought ..

[leeandjoanne]

my mate had her kitchen fitted from b and q ! one word time wasters !! dunno about the rest where abouts r u as kitchens direct are meant to be good if your in the southwest anywhere sytem 6 are great as its my uncles buisness and my mums just had a lovely kitchen fitted !!

[adamhornsby]

I would say, neither of them are worth bothering with , save your money up and buy something decent

[GEEMAC]

I've heard good and bad reports of most of the above. A lot of the fitters employed by the stores have no experience and little training, and judging by the standard of some fittings I have seen, have no future in kitchen fitting. They have quite a high turnover of staff, I'm sure you've seen the ads in the papers; 'Become a kitchen fitter and earn �����'
A lot of these stores do have some good quality ranges so I would recommend shopping around. Get them all to send their planners/designers round as they'll all have some interesting ideas and you'll get CAD plans for your new kitchen. This will be a free service. Then choose the kitchen you like at the best price. There's no pressure to use their fitting service and although they may well be cheaper, you will get a much better finish by using an independant fitter who has been doing this work for years and has a reputation to maintain. Your other option is to go for a hand made bespoke but this will be expensive. All depends on your budget really.

[bushbaby_de]

i bought my kitchen from B and Q last year when they had a bank holiday sale on so the price was unbeatable and the quality is really good (and it was one of their cheapest ranges) However their quote for fitting was nearly double what local carpenters were willing to do it for so I got a local chap to do it instead. Guess it depends on which part of the country you're in as to whether its worth trying to find someone to install it for you. Or maybe they don't want to waste their time on fitting small kitchens so deliberately overquote so you go elsewhere, cos they'll get more money for a bigger kitchen and they usually only book one fitting a day. Cynical, moi?!

[raysparx1]

If you are going to use one of the big stores, use magnet, the fitters are good, a mate of mine does sub contract work for them and he is always saying they are checking the quailty of work all the time, or go to an independant smaller supplier, they have to be good or they go out of business, good luck, Ray

[weeal]

oh i forgot about them Ray, magnet & Southern they were eh

[raysparx1]

Hiya weeal you got it, do some real good kitchens, but another good cheap supplier is "Howdens" then get local chippy to install, it is them we use all the time for our work,

Hope you are ok weeal.

[weeal]

im fine ray thank you, hope you are too

yeah Howdens are terrif, their units are very good quality

[ELVIS68]

I paid nearly �2,500 for my kitchen from MFI 18 months ago and they wanted another �1,500 to fit it

I decided to fit it myself and I`m glad I did, it was all planned by them so it was fairly easy to fit, the hardest bits were the joins on the worktops but after practising some cuts on the old ones it all went to plan

Oh and some useful electrical advice from raysparx helped too

[gleno1]

new kitchen thank you all very much for your replies its much appreciated

[adamhornsby]

Howden kitchens are absolute crap, i helped my dad fit one and we spent more time repairing the units than fitting them. They are cheap and shoddy.

I would go for the Magnet.

[raysparx1]

Well adam I think you were very unlucky with your Howdens, Kitchen, we have fitted dozens of them and have had very few problems, certainly no broken units,

[theonlyone]

As I said earlier ..get the kitchen designers in
.have them all ..free service ..decide what you
can afford ...and get a local guy to fit it ..go
on word of mouth ..as if he is any good he will
live on his reputation ....

[PAUL55]

Remember all you kitchen fitters, all electrical work in the kitchen must be carried out by a Part-P regd electrician who will have to give you a certificate on completion of works. and with kitchen units as anything else you get what you pay for. The standard range of Howdens units are exellent quality, the only problem being that the carcasses are not colour co-ordinated with the doors, the cheaper howdens range range are pretty "Cheapy" which is what you would expect with a bit of common sense. Also what some people don't realise when complaining about the cost of a fitter, is the fact that to be a proffessional kitchen fitter you have to be kitted out with the proper tools, blades, jigs and cutters (not DIY tools) which are very expesive and have to be replaced on a regular basis not to mention the vehicle neaded to carry all the tools around in. Its not all profit as some people may think. Paul Owen - Kitchen Fitter

[Boo27]

You can't beat Magnet! Solid pre-built base & wall units - none of your flat-packed rubbish.

DON'T go to B&Q!!!!!!!!!
Someone i know bought a kitchen from them them and it was a total nightmare! Parts of the delivery were missing & took weeks to get. It wasn't minor stuff either - worktop for example! She was without a kitchen for 7 weeks!