Eglu Cube Coop For Sale

[jjmack]

At last I have almost persuaded OH that we need a new kitchen. We are having walls knocked down and doors moved etc. The builder says not to bother looking at kitchens until we see the space (he will leave us a small working area) but I want to start having a look about for ideas on style, price, units etc.

 

Loads of people have recommended Howdens including my builder - but our neighbour who is a builder says don't touch them with a barge pole, along with Wickes and B and Q.

 

I am looking at middle of the road for price but want something / a company that is good quality, good service, good snag service etc. So am assuming it will be a company like Magnet.

 

All advice gratefully recived. i know it will be a challenge and will take much longer than anticipated.

 

Thanks

[The Dogmother]

I have my kitchen re-done a couple of years back after years of saving up; on the recommendation of my joiner/builder I got a Wickes kitchen. While the Custer service and the attention (more like lack of it!) from the designer were terrible, I bought it in the sale and managed to get the whole thing, fitted, floor laid etc for less than their original quote

 

The quality of the units is very good and although I'm not in a position to buy a 'luxury brand', this is very good and has had lots of comments.

[Pipichick]

I have also just had a Wickes kitchen designed and fitted. Personally found the service from start to finish excellent and would recommend them also. Tried Magnet but the salesman was not very knowledgeable and didn't seem to want to waste his time sketching out a design for me so just walked out I was also advised to avoid Howdens, I didn't like the fact that the pricing was kept secret from you and it was up to the builder to decide how much to charge. Also because the units are pre-built it is more difficult to accommodate boilers etc without hacking into the unit (info from a competitor but made sense ). With the deal they have on I got the worktops and appliances I wanted with a range of units I love well within budget.

 

Enjoy planning your new kitchen

[bigmommasally]

Another vote for Wickes here

Pros:

We bought our kitchen this time last year in the sales, the kitchen designer was pretty good - at least as good as all the other places we tried - She took her time to fit in everything I wanted. The quality of the units is really good, we've got Pembroke which I think is one of their mid price range. We used their fitter and was happy with his work, though I have since been told that we could have employed our own and saved quite a bit.

Cons:

All my but 2 of my units got delivered at the specified time, the missing 2 were only a couple of days late.

The biggest problem we had was that we had asked for the walls to be replastered but that request never got put down and we ended up having to get the visable bits done after the units were in which was a bit of a pain. But I think probably our fault because we never noticed it was missing when we ordered.

I'm not happy with my taps but I think it is a design problem so would have the same problem wherever I had got them, also don't like the granite worktop but again I would have the same problem wherever I had got it.

 

Overall I would definitely go back to Wickes if they are still there in about 20 years time as that is how long I hope this kitchen will last for

[Space Chick]

A work colleague has just had no end of problems with Howdens

 

When we had our kitchen done 4 years ago we went through a local firm, we had the likes of Magnet out but didn't like their arrogance, they didn't seem to listen.... Offered us "freebies" that didn't interest us... A standard cooker and a dishwasher... When I didn't want a dishwasher and wanted a range cooker

 

The local firm was honest, and reliable. Told us honestly that we could get appliances cheaper than they could do them, but we're also super flexible to our needs

 

Are there any local firms you could look at? I always prefer to support honest hard working people than soulless corporations

[Griffin]

Another vote for Wickes. Our kitchen from them celebrates it's fifth birthday soon. We had a local chap fit it though and saved ourselves a grand.

[laurmurf]

The last two kitchens we've had have been Ikea - we loved the range of fittings and doors and found them to be excellent quality without costing a fortune.

[The Dogmother]

Just to elaborate.... my Wickes kitchen was fitted by my own contractor, the designer at Wickes was a real pain.... arrogant, didn't listen, never got back to me etc. This lengthened the process no end and made it quite painful My joiner/builder is a real perfectionist and did a fantastic job. Using the Wickes fitters would have costed double the fee charged by my chap. We also cut the price by doing the demolition etc of the old kitchen ourselves; it had to go back to the brickwork, so no mean feat.

[Willow]

I got my laundry room units from B&Q and am very happy with them.

 

I'm wary of relying on kitchen designers, work out what you want to achieve and try out ideas yourself before getting a designer to look and double check everything they do for feasibility (can't beat tape on the floor and working through what you'd do to make a meal).

 

My kitchen is great but the company who designed and supplied (based in St Albans) were beyond awful. I was fortunate a friend had just had her kitchen redone and she sat with me and worked through exactly what I wanted and our lovely builders found ways around the flaws the designer designed in

 

If you have the space design in a wine cooler. I didn't get an expensive built-in one, just designed a cabinet to fit around a cheap freestanding one perfectly and even my husband who felt it was a waste of a cupboard says how nice it is to have cool beer on hand

[Patricia W]

We have a Homebase one but fitted by OH. Some problems with delivery but overall very helpful and I love it. We went for standard units jazzed up with expensive handles so it looks plusher than it really is.

 

On the basis of this I went to them before Christmas looking at bathroom furniture fully intending to buy from them. They've changed supplier for these and they were ridiculously expensive with a long delivery time. So I tried Wickes and B and Q, and finally settled on B and Q as they had more flexibility and shorter delivery time. Again this is going to be fitted by OH so I can't comment on any of the above firms' fitting services.

[Snowy]

My Dad has had several kitchens from Ikea and they have all been fabulous!

Even if you don't use Ikea units, it's worth downloading their kitchen planner tool - play around with different layouts and designs, it's great fun! I've designed my dream kitchen - I just need to save up for it now!

[bluekarin]

Thanks to this thread, I have just been designing a new kitchen for us As its rented, we don't want to spend vast amounts. I've been looking on ebay for good condition but unwanted ones. There have been some cracking kitchens on there (no that I am suggesting you do that btw)

 

Right, lets see how much the one I have measured up will be...........

[Ms Marple]

Might sound mad but we went for handbuilt- which did help alot as our kitchen is quirky in size and shape and it had to fit around the existing aga. It actually came in less than Magnets quote by quite a bit. The guy, was recommended to me by a couple of friends. I gave him the Magnet plan and he tailored it to our needs perfectly. It is handbuilt, granite worktops, Neff appliances , double ceramic sink etc etc. It might be worth looking at handbuilt in your area? Our chap was really good with ideas and his units are far superior to any the I have seen in the shops.