Magnets or DIY kitchens?

[fourstardan]

I went into Wren and it was hilariously painful. Bloke next to me in his "design booth" moaning that he hadn't had a replacement part, apologetic bloke in burtons suit saying "its not open on a Saturday sir".

Also, did you know Wren have wall cabinets that fit standard dinner plates in LOL.

Its good fun sourcing/DIY'ing a build/design, you can save a lot of money.

[n17ves]

We've had two DIY kitchens now, and I really cant fault them - quality is great, they come prebuilt and have brilliant customer service. The only down side is you have to design it yourself, which isnt everyone's cup of tea. Also, if you can wait until January, they normally do 10% off.

Regarding worktops, I went with Quartz from Omegastone in Leeds and they were just about half the price compared to anywhere and that was for a specific brand (Cambria).

[caymanbill]

I've been looking in a couple of posh kitchen showrooms recently looking at the likes of leicht & poggenpohl. I really like thier handless ranges.

I can't get to a DIY Kitchens show room as it's miles away, but just wondering if I can get the same look with the DIY kitchens handless range? Or is that too much to expect given that the german makes I've looked at are double the price?

[V8RX7]

caymanbill said:

I've been looking in a couple of posh kitchen showrooms recently looking at the likes of leicht & poggenpohl. I really like thier handless ranges.

I can't get to a DIY Kitchens show room as it's miles away, but just wondering if I can get the same look with the DIY kitchens handless range? Or is that too much to expect given that the german makes I've looked at are double the price?

They send samples quite cheaply

[MJNewton]

caymanbill said:

I can't get to a DIY Kitchens show room as it's miles away ...

We drove up from Wiltshire and were in good company - a couple from the next road along had also gone and overhead me giving our postcode at the desk! The receptionist said they get people coming from all over the country. Can even have your lunch there for free if you're willing to have biscuits and cake!

I'd definitely recommend spending a good part of the day there. We did and it raised loads of questions for us that we hadn't considered and yet we're able to make decisions there and there with the options in front of us. Absolutely no sales people jumping out at you like they do in Wren either.

Edited by MJNewton on Monday 28th September 17:26

[bungle]

Looking at kitchens now, so will take a look at DIY-Kitchens.

Is it a "this is the price", no haggling-type place? (= good)

I can't stand the traditional "quote stupid high prices, and then give massive % discount"-type places (Wren, Magnet etc), so full of bullst and pushy salespeople.

Quite happy to travel to have a look at their place if they're recommended. (currently leaning towards Howdens, but even then it's the %-lottery on how much the end-customer ends up with discount-wise).

[V8RX7]

bungle said:

Looking at kitchens now, so will take a look at DIY-Kitchens.

Is it a "this is the price", no haggling-type place? (= good)

Yes - there is sometimes a 10% offer but that's it

I never looked at their showroom I just ordered sample doors, was shocked at how good they were and placed my first order.

I've had 5 more off them since then

[bungle]

V8RX7 said:

Yes - there is sometimes a 10% offer but that's it

I never looked at their showroom I just ordered sample doors, was shocked at how good they were and placed my first order.

I've had 5 more off them since then

Thanks, will definitely look into them a bit more, and order some samples. Just need to find a decent fitter now!

ps. 5 kitchens... you must get bored quickly!

[stichill99]

Another well satisfied DIY customer here. Took a day off to drive down from Scotland to DIY showroom. Well worth it and had help from a South African lady on the day and when we took delivery one wood worktop had been shifted a bit to energetically with a forklift and it was changed with out a quibble. Great company and great service.
Wife wanted a quote from Howdens and for me it was a painful experience. If you order before Friday you will get 85% discount. Why don't you fk off then as you were still nearly double the price with discount!

[Skyedriver]

Greendubber said:

Magnet are let down massively by their useless fitters and horrifically inflated prices.

We had no end of st with them, nearly ended up in court all over an incompetent fitter. Result was 8 months of hell followed by a blank cheque and competent fitter.

Edited by Greendubber on Sunday 27th September 17:33

Bought ours and fitted them ourselves, well two of them, the third was an insurance job after a burst pipe flood in the loft (nowt to do with my fitting, it was -16 Centigrade

[Angpozzuto]

DavidY said:

Fitted a DIY kitchens about a year ago, very pleased with it (worktop sourced locally), yes I did have a number of damaged doors, but they were very quick to replace, never quibbled even over almost indistinguishable marks. To me any company can have the odd QC issue but how they resolve the issue is the key.

I had the exact same thing with DIY kitchens, I was very impressed with how quickly they dealt with the issues we had

[V8RX7]

bungle said:

Thanks, will definitely look into them a bit more, and order some samples. Just need to find a decent fitter now!

ps. 5 kitchens... you must get bored quickly!

Only 2 were in my homes, 3 were for customers

[DavidY]

caymanbill said:

I can't get to a DIY Kitchens show room as it's miles away,

You are spending thousands on a kitchen, without being rude, make the effort!!! if it was particular specced car at the other end of the country most people would go and see it- and make a day out or weekend of it.

Going there was worthwhile, we spent the best part of day there, looking at stuff, talking with the staff and refining our design - they have multiple computers available to retrieve your design. Lunch was at a local pub, Sunday Lunch and Drinks for two - less than £20 - even if the trip involved an overnight stay I would do it again. Its much better to get exactly what you want that not.

We came away with a selection of sample colours, as we wanted to see them at different times of the day in our own kitchen space. These all ended up being used to test my router bits and for test drilling of handle holes etc.

The money we saved by using DIY kitchens and getting exactly what we wanted meant that the whole exercise was worth it.

[UTH]

DavidY said:

caymanbill said:

I can't get to a DIY Kitchens show room as it's miles away,

You are spending thousands on a kitchen, without being rude, make the effort!!! if it was particular specced car at the other end of the country most people would go and see it- and make a day out or weekend of it.

Going there was worthwhile, we spent the best part of day there, looking at stuff, talking with the staff and refining our design - they have multiple computers available to retrieve your design. Lunch was at a local pub, Sunday Lunch and Drinks for two - less than £20 - even if the trip involved an overnight stay I would do it again. Its much better to get exactly what you want that not.

We came away with a selection of sample colours, as we wanted to see them at different times of the day in our own kitchen space. These all ended up being used to test my router bits and for test drilling of handle holes etc.

The money we saved by using DIY kitchens and getting exactly what we wanted meant that the whole exercise was worth it.

I think this is exactly what I'll be doing......I'm based in Surrey, so it's quite a trek, but from all the stuff I've read on PH is does sound worth it to go with DIY, so a trip to their showroom makes sense

When you're there I assume you can load up your design then talk it through with the staff until it's perfect, then check out colours and samples and so on, and you're basically done, right? I wouldn't feel 100% confident ordering straight off my own design without talking it through with someone first as I'm sure I'll make some basic design errors and end up with things not quite how I'd want it.

[DavidY]

UTH said:

I think this is exactly what I'll be doing......I'm based in Surrey, so it's quite a trek, but from all the stuff I've read on PH is does sound worth it to go with DIY, so a trip to their showroom makes sense

When you're there I assume you can load up your design then talk it through with the staff until it's perfect, then check out colours and samples and so on, and you're basically done, right? I wouldn't feel 100% confident ordering straight off my own design without talking it through with someone first as I'm sure I'll make some basic design errors and end up with things not quite how I'd want it.

Yes you can load your design while you are there, and go through concerns with their staff. We checked out colours, but since we were going with a metallic type finish, I wanted to see it in our own home before pressing the order button - hence the samples.

I must have done about 3 designs, and then having got the basic design we wanted spent several iterations refining it. Some of my items are a tighter fit than DIY-Kitchens suggested - eg cooker hood, but they do fit!!

Visiting them also gave us a new opportunity for under cupboard lighting avoiding a pelmut, giving a much slicker kitchen, and by cutting large end panels more economically I was able to make further cost savings

Before glass splashback fitted

[UTH]

DavidY said:

Yes you can load your design while you are there, and go through concerns with their staff. We checked out colours, but since we were going with a metallic type finish, I wanted to see it in our own home before pressing the order button - hence the samples.

I must have done about 3 designs, and then having got the basic design we wanted spent several iterations refining it. Some of my items are a tighter fit than DIY-Kitchens suggested - eg cooker hood, but they do fit!!

Visiting them also gave us a new opportunity for under cupboard lighting avoiding a pelmut, giving a much slicker kitchen, and by cutting large end panels more economically I was able to make further cost savings

Before glass splashback fitted

That's very nice, top job there!
Can I ask ballpark ££? I think my one might end up with a similar amount of units etc to yours, and I'd also like to get lighting similar to yours so would be handy to know vaguely what to expect. Did you pay for a pro to fit it? Do DIY suggest any to use, or do you have to source your own fitter?

[snotrag]

We did our DIY kitchens install about 3 years ago. First time I'd ever done anything like that, enjoyed it, did a lovely job all myself, and massively cheaper than if we'd gone to Wren/Wickes etc and paid for install.

If your inclined to do some or all the work yourself (you should!) I would suggest the process would be -

A) Do some proper measurements in your own kitchen. Check trueness / parallelness of walls in particular.

B) Work out your desires/needs/wants. Appliance slots, where are the services, radiators etc. Plan what you are gonna move. Plumbing, electrics etc.
Think laterally. My experience of kitchen 'design' services is they will simply give you a new version of what you already have (see notes below).
See the little slot next to my oven - I made up using a spare end panel and ten minutes with a circular saw, its brilliant, with a little hook where the oven glove slides onto, stops it living hanging off the oven door. Easy to do, cost almost nothing, used up dead space.

C) Get familiar with the DIY kitchens 3D planner. This, again based on my experience, is as good, if not better, than the tools that you are paying someone else to use in Wickes/Magnet/WREN etc etc.. It is very good.

D) after some iterations, when you come up with your finished design, take your information and design up to the showroom and they are mega helpful. Confirm your colours, choices etc, make changes on their reccomendations.

I really enjoyed it, did the whole job from bare walls and floor myself only paying for the tops cutting (see below) plastering, a certifcate for the gas capping off and a certifcate for all my electrical changes. Moved plumbing, added dishwasher, totally changed layout, changed the lighting etc, changed to socket circuit completely. It was only a small kitchen but I actually think a larger space makes it easier.

The quality was absolutely 100% - as stated above, the laminates are thick and good quality, the paint is think, the joins are neat, all the units were built arrow straight etc. My Dad is kicking himself for going to Wren last year as his 1 year old painted high gloss kitchen has worn through through the microns thick paint already at the touch points and door corners.






Good things -

See the extra tall wall units above the washing machine - use these EVERYWHERE. I have now realised, whats the point in the dead space above a normal unit? And then you dont need that nasty cornicing, which also makes installation massively easier . You gain cupboard space for those rarely used items, the christmas stuff etc, all hidden away. Just keep a little folding step stool for when you want them once a year.

Pan draws. As many as you can. Pan draws are infinitely more useful than cupboards DIY kitchens do them in tonnes of sizes and variations. Should have used more of them.

900mm wide cutlery draw over the common 600mm.

Under counter lighting. Dirt cheap to do, Brilliant. Often use this alone in the evenings with the main lights off. Needs to be planned right from the start (see my note below).

Plinth heater. The simple additon of the plinth heater allowed us to drastically change the installation made room for a dishwasher, etc. Easy to install, cheap, very effective and very useful to have a soruce of blown warm air for drying shoes etc.

Flooring - Karndean/Ployfloor was laid across the whole room, to the edges. No cuts. Nothing leaks under it and gets the floorboard wet. You dont get floorboard dust under the units. We can change the dcupboard layout in the future if we want. 100% this is the way to do it. Floor first, right to the edges.

Door handles can be bought literally anywhere. I honestly think our lovely stainless steel door handles came from a 99p shop. Found them and cleared the shop out. 1/5th of the cost from a kitchen shop. Worry about handles at the end. I made an MDF jig/drilling guide so they are all perfectly fitted, line up etc.

The double opening corner cupboards - easy access right into the depths of the corners. Do not buy those awful rotating fold our circular shelf things! See the one under the toaster, both leafs open right up back against the pan draws to the right of them.


Bad things -

Should have paid more for solid worktop. Couldnt afford it at the time. Bought cheap B&Q worktop and paid someone (a highly reccomended fitter!) to fit it, and guess what, thats the only bit I dont like.Bad job, not cut or joined well. Should have bought the cutting jib and done it myself.

Easily changed if we were staying in the house.

I WISH the boiler was fitted 90deg round, such that we could have had a straight run of units along the end wall, hidden extractor etc. Cost to move the boiler and flue was just too much at the time.

Should have run the flex for the under counter lighting under the floor and done the bit above the washing machine aswell.

I may be rose tinting it a bit but I am almost certain we did the whole lot, for about £4000. And it does not feel at all like a cheap kitchen, its nicely put together, very nicely built, has some good touches.

I honestly am really looking forward to doing another one, this was literally knocked up in half an hour on the DIYkitchens plannet for my Brother in Law and is more detailed than what Wren did for them.

[snotrag]

DavidY's post shows how both a small/modest kitchen and something rather more impressive can both be done with a similar level of satsfaction using DIYK. Looks great.

[UTH]

Snotrag, gonna give your post a read a bit later, but I notice your 3D image has the same issue as mine - the colours are nothing like the actual colours you ended up with. Why is that?? It's so frustrating not being able to see what the actual colour is going to look like!?

[snotrag]

UTH said:

Snotrag, gonna give your post a read a bit later, but I notice your 3D image has the same issue as mine - the colours are nothing like the actual colours you ended up with. Why is that?? It's so frustrating not being able to see what the actual colour is going to look like!?

That 3D image (done for someone else) is nothing to do with the kitchen in my photos - dont worry about that!


For colours - we had some samples sent out and then made our final decisions in the showroom.

Honestly, if its at all feasiable book an appointment and have a day out. Its easily access off the A1 (its not Leeds as stated up there though!).