DIY Kitchens competitors?

[rossyl]

Hi All

Lots of recommendations for DIY Kitchens, but I'm yet to see a recommendation for a genuine alternative.

Handmade Kitchens Christchurch, Olive & Barr, Classic Kitchens Naked Kitchens - all are more expensive, or considerably more, than DIY Kitchens.

The product is also a little different as well.

So is there an actual competitor at the same price point at DIY Kitchens?

Many thanks

[LocoBlade]

Have a look at Better Kitchens ( https://https://betterkitchens.co.uk ), they seem to be a direct competitor on price and there's been a couple of recommendations mentioned on here in various kitchen threads.

[rossyl]

Thanks

Will look them up.

If anyone has any other recommendations please let me know

[sherman]

Wickes, howdens etc with the right sale on or kitchen fitter discount will probably be competitive on price and you dont have to do the design yourself.

[Road2Ruin]

rossyl said:

Hi All

Lots of recommendations for DIY Kitchens, but I'm yet to see a recommendation for a genuine alternative.

Handmade Kitchens Christchurch, Olive & Barr, Classic Kitchens Naked Kitchens - all are more expensive, or considerably more, than DIY Kitchens.

The product is also a little different as well.

So is there an actual competitor at the same price point at DIY Kitchens?

Many thanks

Howdens were 10% cheaper for me. Got howdens to do the plan, priced it up on DIY kitchens, then went back to howdens and the matched less 10%. Also threw in a dishwasher! Got the worktops from a local quartz supplier as that was £1500 cheaper than anyone.

[Peanut Gallery]

Not sure of pricing, but I am a happy customer of IKEA, added bonus of a huge range of sizes, so you can chop and change unit sizes to fit the size you are after.

All the units are still very solid, soft close drawers and doors and very good customer service.

Note though, all their units are deeper than others, and do not have room for piping etc within them, so you need to find deeper counter tops and set them away from the wall for pipes.

[ColdoRS]

Road2Ruin said:

rossyl said:

Hi All

Lots of recommendations for DIY Kitchens, but I'm yet to see a recommendation for a genuine alternative.

Handmade Kitchens Christchurch, Olive & Barr, Classic Kitchens Naked Kitchens - all are more expensive, or considerably more, than DIY Kitchens.

The product is also a little different as well.

So is there an actual competitor at the same price point at DIY Kitchens?

Many thanks

Howdens were 10% cheaper for me. Got howdens to do the plan, priced it up on DIY kitchens, then went back to howdens and the matched less 10%. Also threw in a dishwasher! Got the worktops from a local quartz supplier as that was £1500 cheaper than anyone.

Pretty much my experience too. Priced everything with DIY and a joiner mate then went to Howdens on another joinery mate of a mates account and it was about 10% cheaper, plus less risk of getting it wrong and not being able to return/exchange parts, plus having a branch local to me, it all made more sense - no dishwasher though!

[Road2Ruin]

ColdoRS said:

Road2Ruin said:

rossyl said:

Hi All

Lots of recommendations for DIY Kitchens, but I'm yet to see a recommendation for a genuine alternative.

Handmade Kitchens Christchurch, Olive & Barr, Classic Kitchens Naked Kitchens - all are more expensive, or considerably more, than DIY Kitchens.

The product is also a little different as well.

So is there an actual competitor at the same price point at DIY Kitchens?

Many thanks

Howdens were 10% cheaper for me. Got howdens to do the plan, priced it up on DIY kitchens, then went back to howdens and the matched less 10%. Also threw in a dishwasher! Got the worktops from a local quartz supplier as that was £1500 cheaper than anyone.

Pretty much my experience too. Priced everything with DIY and a joiner mate then went to Howdens on another joinery mate of a mates account and it was about 10% cheaper, plus less risk of getting it wrong and not being able to return/exchange parts, plus having a branch local to me, it all made more sense - no dishwasher though!

To be fair the dishwasher was their cheap own brand affair and when it goes wrong I will replace it with better. Built in though, so no one can see the cheapness lol.

[rustyuk]

DIY Kitchens also have a silly £375 delivery charge. Unless of course you can wait in a full week.

[Sheepshanks]

ColdoRS said:

Road2Ruin said:

rossyl said:

Hi All

Lots of recommendations for DIY Kitchens, but I'm yet to see a recommendation for a genuine alternative.

Handmade Kitchens Christchurch, Olive & Barr, Classic Kitchens Naked Kitchens - all are more expensive, or considerably more, than DIY Kitchens.

The product is also a little different as well.

So is there an actual competitor at the same price point at DIY Kitchens?

Many thanks

Howdens were 10% cheaper for me. Got howdens to do the plan, priced it up on DIY kitchens, then went back to howdens and the matched less 10%. Also threw in a dishwasher! Got the worktops from a local quartz supplier as that was £1500 cheaper than anyone.

Pretty much my experience too. Priced everything with DIY and a joiner mate then went to Howdens on another joinery mate of a mates account and it was about 10% cheaper, plus less risk of getting it wrong and not being able to return/exchange parts, plus having a branch local to me, it all made more sense - no dishwasher though!

Our builder is strongly pushing us to Howdens but they're being evasive until nearer fitting time which is making life awkward. Went to local kitchen place and they quoted £30K with units being around £14K DIY Kitchens is looking more like £2K! - Builder is telling us £10K through Howdens for the whole kitchen should be fine but means nothing without knowing Howden's trade pricing.

What's the Howdens quality like?

[kryten22uk]

I dont see why you say there is no real alternative to DIY Kitchens, there are quite a few. We've don a few orders now, and none have ended up with DIY Kitchens as there were always better matches at the time. Not that DIY is bad or anything, I'm just saying it didnt come out trumps for my projects. Most recent for a full kitchen refit we went with UnitsOnline (Mayflower Kitchens). We found their units to be excellent, solid and high quality ironwork. Most notably DIY Kitchens dont do the true handleless designs (yet?).

[lufbramatt]

Just had a look on DIY as want to refresh our kitchen but don't want to rip it all out just change the layout of one side slightly. So just want a base unit, couple of beech/oak worktops, a sink and new plinths. All looks reasonably priced but the delivery cost kills it.

Any other places worth looking at without breaking the bank? Kitchen places not interested as they want to sell me a whole kitchen. Perfectly capable of fitting it all myself.

[kryten22uk]

lufbramatt said:

Just had a look on DIY as want to refresh our kitchen but don't want to rip it all out just change the layout of one side slightly. So just want a base unit, couple of beech/oak worktops, a sink and new plinths. All looks reasonably priced but the delivery cost kills it.

Any other places worth looking at without breaking the bank? Kitchen places not interested as they want to sell me a whole kitchen. Perfectly capable of fitting it all myself.

Sounds to me like you dont really need a dedicated kitchen place then. Just get the sink anywhere, amazon for example. Get worktops from somewhere like WorktopsDirect, get the plinth from B&Q or wickes as there is next to nothing to differentiate a good plinth from an average plinth. Then if you only want one single base unit, I'd be tempted again to get it from any retail outlet like B&Q/Wickes etc. To source the door for the new base unit you will want to match your existing ones, so that may limit your choices, but even the likes of DIY Kitchens will send a single door for a reasonable delivery charge, but there are loads of dedicated kitchen door websites out there who will sell a door without worrying about the back unit.

[lufbramatt]

Doors are just plain flat gloss black so no issue there, should be able to get something 99% the same.

The kitchen was new just before we moved in, but we later discovered the idiot installer from homebase must have cut the hole for the sink about 50mm from where it should have been, as a result rather than get a new bit of worktop he's bodged it and cut the side of the unit away so the sink fits in the hole, meaning I can't get a dishwasher under the worktop as the side of the sink is in the way and destroying the structural integrity of the unit :angry: