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Is there such a thing? Joiner here, fitted lots. However the boots on the other foot now, we need one for the ongoing restoration. In my experience, just about all, from wickes, B&Q, Howden's etc are all made the same, chipboard, crappy fittings that fall to pieces, etc. I've fitted some so called designer kitchens, they just seemed to be more expensive versions of the above. It's more the doors and panels I'm interested in, going to go with either granite or corian on the top. Any advice?
IKEA carcases (and I agree on the chipboard comment, they do seem all the same).... then focus on the bits you touch or see to get the quality and feel your after ...
Bespoke handmade carcasses with no chipboard from a craftsman in Glasgow:
(and he rides Mountain Bikes!)
Presumably there are niche carpenters like this elsewhere in the country too.
My new kitchen will be from
[url= http://www.handmadekitchens-direct.co.uk/html/gallery.html ]Handmade kitchens direct[/url]
Made to measure solid wood kitchens for sensible money. I've fitted 2 from them in the past and very happy.
We're just putting in a 2nd IKEA kitchen (granny annex) after the one I put into the utility room - both proper-sized kitchens.
Really easy plus go together well and seem decent quality.
Will be doing our kitchen later in the year, and will use IKEA again.
When building our house, my wife wanted a bespoke kitchen and decided Mark Wilkinson kitchen was the one she wanted. Appointment booked and they were very impressive but oh my god how expensive!
Kitchen without appliances £34k with £55k, we didn't bother. In the end I approached a hand made kitchen place, bought ex-display, for 50% of original price, cost was £8k bought Rangemaster cooker and white goods for £3k and had it fitted by the kitchen company. For another grand I bought new IKEA units for utility and my garage.
Put granite work tops in main kitchen and a 7'x4' Island unit, granite looks great under spot lights and is easy to clean but whatever they use to coat it marked easily, ie red wine and anything citrus based. Also it takes no prisoners if you drop a cup or glass on it.
I just fitted ours from Wren.
Was pretty impressed with the quality of the fully built units. Nothing was missing and it looks really nice.
Another vote for Ikea. In defense of crappy chipboard, it is ideal for the job.
Pretty sure ikea do not have service void at rear for plumbing and uneven/unsquare walls
Jim25 is spot on..no service void is a real pain with Ikea units.Really like the fixing rail system they use now tho.
Chipboard only falls to bits in the hands of the gibbon fisted.
I went with Ikea carcass and doors , similar stuff to Howdens really we just preferred the Ikea doors, sink, etc. Ikea definitely better than Wickes/B&Q quality.
Chipboard is good stuff for the carcass as long as it doesn't get wet, if there is a damp problem then it does fall apart quicker than wood.
My Ikea was pre-the rail fixing system. I just attached a length of planed timber to the wall and then attached the units to the timber. Really easy to do and got a service void!
I then made a worktop out of hardwood. Seems to be cheaper/better to get a separate worktop rather than try and package it with the rest of the kitchen, it's is much nicer having a 650-700mm deep worktop if it fits this works with adding in a service void at the back using a piece of timber.
Use Ikea's worktops and the lack of a service void is a non-starter. You can set them off the wall as the worktop is a lot deeper to allow this if necessary.
They don't have one because only in this country do we try and stuff things behind the cupboards.
Everywhere else they put the pipes/cables in the wall so not an issue.
Can't agree that its cheaper to get separate worktops though - no one else gets anywhere near their prices on Oak, etc.
no service void is a real pain with Ikea units.Really like the fixing rail system they use now tho.
Just fitted one and can confirm this.. All wiring and pipes need to be literally at skirting level or buried in the wall. They've made the carcasses bigger (lower too) so some careful planning is required. The rail system is ace.. But just be a little careful with uneven floors to get the level right. Quality wise it's excellent.
Worktop express were cheaper than ikea worktops for us due to the sizes we needed.
Lack of service void equals bigger cupboards. We were having our gas supply moved anyway so just put it below plinth level.
If you're a joiner then surely it isn't beyond you to buy a load of birch or walnut ply and build the cabinets yourself?
You'd have bespoke at a fraction of the price and put your skills to good use!!!
Yes modern kitchens are pretty much a choice between variations of 18mm chipboard carcasses no matter how slick the marketing is. The one exception I have found, being Wickes off the shelf range which uses 15mm carcasses. Great for rental flats and low budgets but I wouldn't have one in my place. A few years back I fitted a solid wood kitchen including the carcasses and this was worse to fit than chipboard due to the bowing that comes with using natural wood.
I've got a 15 year old Ikea kitchen in my place and it's all good apart from the undersink cabinet which is looking a bit second rate after the inevitable leaks/ spills etc.
If I was going to fit a new kitchen for myself now, then I would build it from scratch. I would have a framework of 2" by 2" hardwood, inset doors on proper hinges and all panels/doors made from either mdf or marine ply. Work top would be inset tiling with a resin poured over.
Thanks for the replies all, some nice stuff above. As to building my own cabinets, time is the issue, busy working more than full time and renovating the rest of the house. I haven't been properly on my bike for 2 years!
I fitted an Ikea kitchen in our house back in 2003. We went for high gloss white doors with non-Ikea oak work tops, it still looks good and drawers/hinges all still work fine.
Lack of void was no problem for me as I could run the pipes and cables up from the cellar.
Bear in mind that ikea cupboards (old and new) are non standard sizes ie.Height.
So if in the future you decide to change the doors you will be pretty much stuck unless you go for custom sizes which adds £.
Quality wise I found that the Wickes Kitchen I installed in a older property was better quality than the more recent ikea one.
I know a couple of people who have kitchens from the link below. The picture below is probably the most contemporary design they make but they all arrive fully constructed from wood so they are easy to fit and they seem to be priced well enough for the two I know to ignore the 55% of list at Howdens.
[url= http://www.creamerykitchens.co.uk/ranges/living/#!prettyPhoto
My new kitchen will be fromHandmade kitchens direct
Made to measure solid wood kitchens for sensible money
Approx £500 a unit doesn't look that cheap to me !
Got an ebay bargain for ours, hand built mdf and pine frames oak lined drawers dove tail joints the business, was the contingency set for a build of fancy houses dahhhn sahhhf, missus hired a van and fetched it. £2k. local chippy fitted it and worktop* for a days labour. Even had two spare floor and three wall units to put in me shed!
* now that WAS bloody dear!
As said, chip is ok if it stays dry. The better units use triple density stuff, better as it has harder surfaces. Some also use glued inserts where the screws go (such as the holes for the hinge plate screws are in a glued in dowel. Makes ham fisted damage less likely. Better units have a full height and solid back level not just a bar and a bit of hard board, although all units are rigid once properly fixed to the wall and each other I prefer the solid back, and built mine up adding extra dowels and screws in each side... Plus extra screwdown legs in the centre of large units or ones that I knew would have hefty contents of, a water softener.
I can thoroughly recommend knaggs. (Google knaggs kitchen unit's,. Website is something like knaggs4fittings). They are a small family firm in Harlow Essex that I knew of as my parents had used them for a kitchen.... Maybe 2, and some bespoke made to supplied dimensions, stuff. I used them and have been happy. No posh show room, just a small unit in an industrial/retail estate and a few samples, but a top end product at a Bowden's price.
Oh and they use the best hinges and drawer runners too, Blum (sp?)
Oh and parents kitchen still excellent after 20 years.... They did replace the laminate work tops recently but doors and carcasses all perfect. But no young children probably helps too!
I fitted a www.diy-kitchens.co.uk kitchen last year.
Excellent value for money. Doors seemed better quality than Ikea and definitely on a par with Wickes/Magnet for a fraction of the price.
Surprised they haven't been mentioned on this thread before now as there are quite a few advocates on this site (it's where I heard about them).
I've just placed an order for a solid oak kitchen made by a local guy. He's done a friends already so the quality sin't in doubt. Because it's genuinely bespoke, he can make the 1m wide larder units I wanted, which every other company has said will have to be made up of a 400mm & 600mm units for example. The price was a pleasant surprise, managed to get it for half the cost of Wicks!
Made all my own carcasses out of 3/4 shuttering ply. Cost about £40 for the complete kitchen! Nice thick beech laminate surface from Ikea and self made wooden doors in natural wood. Job jobbed. Lots of work but very low cost of under a couple of hundred quid. 15 years on and still look fine, and still solid as. Plus old house with wonky walls means you have to make stuff fit anyway, so why bodge up stuff bought for square box rooms.
FunkyDunc - compare their prices to top end kitchen designers, and you can get a bespoke handmade solid wood kitchen for a fraction of the price. It depends what you want. A basic 1 door unit of any size is £299.