[Closed] Replacement kitchens - any recommendations?

Ikea - 20yr guarantee, huge range of doors, fitting, etc and a realistic cost to the kit.
Have one in each of my houses and would fit any number of them again without hesitation.

Howdens, but you'll need a tradesman with an account as they don't sell direct to the public.

Think Wren is worth a look as well.

Howdens do decent enough cheap 'n' cheerful kitchens, supposedly trade only- if you know any tradesmen just give them their name and pay yourself, worked for a mate of mine!

Edit: beaten to it!

Cheers,
Jamie

Depends on your budget. I fitted an Ikea kitchen in my old house before I sold it and it was great, the choice of fronts and units was better than others and it was dirt cheap. But if you've got the money magnet kitchens are supposed to be the best.

Not sure where you are but we bought ours from these guys;

[url= http://www.thekitchenstore.co.uk/showroom-brighton-hove/ ]http://www.thekitchenstore.co.uk/showroom-brighton-hove/[/url]

They did supply only and I fitted it.

Some other friends had a right 'mare of a time fitting their Ikea kitchen, not helped mind by the lady of the house getting a couple of dims wrong when measuring up! The overall quality of Ikea is not great, spec Blum drawer runners and hinges if you can run to it, makes all the difference to the feel of the kitchen.

Cheers,
Jamie

There's a Howdens within spitting distance of where i work, sure i can find a tradesman to run it through

not sure why mates didn't like Ikea, choice of designs is a plus (but also a negative - could get lost in the detail)

I think you can pop in and get a design done by them, just need an account holder's name when paying. They produce, and give out freely, decent 3D CAD models.

Cheers,
Jamie

be VERY careful and ensure you have the tradesman permission-

ive been in a few times recently and they will call up the registered phone number to confirm you have permission these days - they had a hefty amount of fraud the last few years with people taking stuff on trade accounts they are not entitled to use.

They have done phone checks on me a couple times as i use my dads accounts often.

I thought this said "replacement kittens" and am duly disappointed by a lack of pictures.

One of the main reasons we went with Ikea is the transparent pricing. None of this 60% off for this week only rubbish or places that won't even publish their prices.

Quality is fine imo. We did have one door that was noticeably warped after a year but we just took it off and popped to ikea and swapped it there and then.

There are things to be aware of if you go for Ikea as they differ from standard kitchen units but nothing that has to cause a problem. And units take minutes to build once you've done a few.

Spammers will be along shortly

I fit kitchens for a living. Fitted hundreds of Howdens kitchens.
There ok but the prices have creeped up over the years.
I've fitted a few ikea units and wouldn't fit another for a punter as they are very "querky"
B&q, Wickes etc are all as good/bad as each other.
I have used DIY kitchens in my own home and for customers and the service and quality is spot on.
But it all depends on how much you want to spend.

Thanks for all the feedback, Howdens is looking good, russ295 i'll also check out DIY Kitchens

Howdens make a price up & you then have to haggle (end of season sales soon) as do most of the others, we used DIY Kitchens . com and were well pleased. All the same kit.

I fitted a Howden's kitchen earlier this year. The carcasses and doors etc are pretty good but had a 'mare with the trim. They do 4 shades of 'Light Oak' all with the same product code. Good luck 🙂

If you want qality and ease of fitting have google of Keller. Otherwise you may as well stick with Ikea or any of the others mentioned

I'd go Howdens, not the 'best' but plenty good enough. A poor plan/fitter will make an expensive kitchen look rubbish and the a good plan/fitter can make a cheaper kitchen look amazing
Ikea is good value stuff but the sizes are unique to them and can make life more difficult unless you go 100% Ikea

I'm fitting a B&Q IT kitchen for a customer this week. If you fit them right they're good value.

Ikea is good value stuff but the sizes are unique

Well the depth varies, but height is adjustable and a 600mm unit is a 600mm unit wherever you get it from.

We found Ikea had a greater range of sizes across the whole range than others. Many other companies only do tall wall units in their more expensive ranges for example.

We went with IKEA carcasses then sourced our own tops and doors.

Mate has a timber business so he made some one off Elm tops to suit the island and work areas.

Saved on the carcasses and spent a bit more on the bits we could see..

I think the tip with IKEA stuff is put it together and don't try to take it apart or move it... It never seems to go together properly again.

end of season sales soon

Cheers,
Jamie

Installed a Jewson kitchen in my last house. My one and only experience of installing a kitchen but everything was fine and was really pleased with the results. Was very happy with the price I paid and the quality.

Didn't use Ikea as the lack of service void behind the units would have caused me problems and have friends who struggled with this problem too.

could just y'know - move the services - plenty space at the base of the unit for them. - more cupboardspace innit.

Lack of service void is not really an issue.

Either move services below plinth level or buy a deeper worktop and create your own service gap. We went with the former, I prefer to have the space inside cupboards where it's useful rather than behind it.

Why faff about moving services if you don't need to?

Depends on the space in your kitchen if you can use extra wide work tops or not.

Why faff about moving services if you don't need to?

I personally don't think it's enough of a faff to rule out an Ikea kitchen alone. It cost us £90 to move the gas connection, it's a tiny amount in the cost of a kitchen yet people seem to opt for more expensive kitchens on that reason alone. 600mm deep units versus the 500mm useable space in a standard kitchen base unit is also the benefit.

we replaced ours about 3 years ago & went for the B&Q 'Cooke & Lewis' range.
Overall, pretty happy, but a few things we learnt along the way:

1) If you want to house your boiler inside a wall unit, choose carefully. Not many wall units are deep enough (Howdens were really shallow). This was the clincher for us - the B&Q ones were the deepest we could find.
2) Beware some of the more quirky 'storage solutions' - we've got a full height pull-out larder thing & it's been a right PITA. Never really worked that well - it's massive but doesn't seem built to support any real weight. Once I work out an alternative use for the space, it's going to the tip.
3) Worktops.... what a nightmare - too much choice! There seem to be loads of companies doing granite/quartz these days, so bargain hard & you'll get a deal.

based on the mess my current kitchens in from previous owner bodging their services behind the units without thought as to how to get to them has resulted in a mouse gaining access to one of my kitchen cupboards - as to reach the stop cock the previous owner just cut a square out of the cupboard.

had he "faffed" to do the job right and not bodged he could have removed the plinth and stuck his hand under leaving the kitchen units in tact.

will be the first thing ill be doing when it comes to time for the kitchen - moving the services to floor level.

+ 1 on the larder lego man - i have a half height one from bnq thanks to said previous owner and its pish. my parents have a 3/4 height unit with the same set up inside from howdens and its far superior- even just opening it and looking at the size of material used you can appreciate how much better it is - you dont even have to pick the weight up off it to close it.

Looking at Schuller kitchens currently. German make that look good & feel solid. No experience of using them before though

Anybody needing kitchens near Stafford - give me an email. I can get top quality ones at trade price - even bespoke sizes.

Bought my kitchen online from this place, would recommend the service and quality

http://www.achieve-stylish-living.co.uk

saved a small fortune compared to local companies.

tip for you if you are going howdens go now they will be about to start their 'period 12' sale, the one and only sale they have each year. (EX howdens kitchen designer)