Kitchens - cheap vs expensive
Discussion
Tony Angelino said:
You manufacturers had your board increases through to you yet?
Which increases do you mean, the ones a couple of weeks ago or the ones last week? 
Yes
Going to start doing cabinets in solid wood now. They'll take longer to do but way better quality and no warping (unlike recent birch plywood etc).
Tony Angelino said:
You manufacturers had your board increases through to you yet?
When you mentioned this at the beginning of March I bought enough stock in to see me to the end of the year. A quick call to Lawcris and yes they've increased their oak faced MDF by 20% in the last couple of days. That's on top of the increase in the last couple of weeks. Interesting that the 19mm is less than the 16mm due to stock levels, so they say.
After having our order in for 6 months now, it's due to start going in on Monday.
Only snag is the kitchen supplier has just emailed to say NEFF oven and microwave are currently unavailable. WTF? It's been 6 months!
They've offered Caple as an alternative but initial browsing does not bode well. Any suggestions?
Only snag is the kitchen supplier has just emailed to say NEFF oven and microwave are currently unavailable. WTF? It's been 6 months!
They've offered Caple as an alternative but initial browsing does not bode well. Any suggestions?
singlecoil said:
Tony Angelino said:
You manufacturers had your board increases through to you yet?
Which increases do you mean, the ones a couple of weeks ago or the ones last week? Yes
Going to start doing cabinets in solid wood now. They'll take longer to do but way better quality and no warping (unlike recent birch plywood etc).
loughran said:
Tony Angelino said:
You manufacturers had your board increases through to you yet?
When you mentioned this at the beginning of March I bought enough stock in to see me to the end of the year. A quick call to Lawcris and yes they've increased their oak faced MDF by 20% in the last couple of days. That's on top of the increase in the last couple of weeks. Interesting that the 19mm is less than the 16mm due to stock levels, so they say.
This sounds about right, everybody stocks 8' x 4' 19mm so it's a bit of a race to the bottom price wise whereas the less popular thickness' aren't as abundant so there is a bit more margin to be made to subsidize the headline grabbing price of 19mm. It will also take a bit longer to get the newer more expensive 16mm stock through with it being a slower mover.
toasty said:
After having our order in for 6 months now, it's due to start going in on Monday.
Only snag is the kitchen supplier has just emailed to say NEFF oven and microwave are currently unavailable. WTF? It's been 6 months!
They've offered Caple as an alternative but initial browsing does not bode well. Any suggestions?
We had similar when planning / ordering ours, for delivery in a few weeks. That was with Miele stuff. I shopped around. Insane lead times.Only snag is the kitchen supplier has just emailed to say NEFF oven and microwave are currently unavailable. WTF? It's been 6 months!
They've offered Caple as an alternative but initial browsing does not bode well. Any suggestions?
Supplier could get the ovens in time & they are now in their warehouse.
Integrated microwave from a different supplier / warming drawer, the only place that had one was John Lewis! Both now stacked on my home office.
So bought from 3 sources!
James6112 said:
We had similar when planning / ordering ours, for delivery in a few weeks. That was with Miele stuff. I shopped around. Insane lead times.
Supplier could get the ovens in time & they are now in their warehouse.
Integrated microwave from a different supplier / warming drawer, the only place that had one was John Lewis! Both now stacked on my home office.
So bought from 3 sources!
I’ve spent today shopping around online. No one has them in stock and NEFF are saying they’ve got severe delays. I’m looking at Miele but they seem in a similar state. Supplier could get the ovens in time & they are now in their warehouse.
Integrated microwave from a different supplier / warming drawer, the only place that had one was John Lewis! Both now stacked on my home office.
So bought from 3 sources!
toasty said:
I’ve spent today shopping around online. No one has them in stock and NEFF are saying they’ve got severe delays. I’m looking at Miele but they seem in a similar state.
Have you looked at the online stores that do seconds and returns?So far I've bought a stoves induction range and a fisher and paykel double dish washer.
One from an eBay shop and another from appliances direct
The dishwasher was new and the cooker was ex display
I also bought a fridge freezer from Marks Electrical hundreds cheaper than anywhere else.
Edited by JeffreyD on Wednesday 23 March 20:19
JeffreyD said:
Have you looked at the online stores that do seconds and returns?
So far I've bought a stoves induction range and a fisher and paykel double washing machine.
One from a eBay shop and another from appliances direct
The dishwasher was new and the cooker was ex display
I also bought a firsge freezer from Marks Electrical hundreds cheaper than anywhere else.
Cheers, I’ll take a lookSo far I've bought a stoves induction range and a fisher and paykel double washing machine.
One from a eBay shop and another from appliances direct
The dishwasher was new and the cooker was ex display
I also bought a firsge freezer from Marks Electrical hundreds cheaper than anywhere else.
As a general rule I've always been crap looking for bargains
Thanks to PH tips I bought a refurbed PC with a virgin windows 11 install.
That meant I gave Microsoft Edge a go and it had some sort of extension already in it so when you are looking at a product it alerts you if they can find it cheaper and/or if the site has coupons.
I am refurbishing a house and I reckon it's saved me well over a grand so far
No use if you are bargain hunter but for a Muppet like me it's been great.
Thanks to PH tips I bought a refurbed PC with a virgin windows 11 install.
That meant I gave Microsoft Edge a go and it had some sort of extension already in it so when you are looking at a product it alerts you if they can find it cheaper and/or if the site has coupons.
I am refurbishing a house and I reckon it's saved me well over a grand so far
No use if you are bargain hunter but for a Muppet like me it's been great.
Here's another take on expensive (looking) cheap kitchens besides DIY Kitchens (which we looked at). But wife really fancied a bespoke solid wood kitchen.
We went round a few rather swanky pine kitchen showrooms but figured it would be far cheaper getting something from a DIY shed.
Until we started looking at pine kitchen units on Ebay. amongst the offers was a small joiners firm not so far from where we lived, all made to measure, but built to a range of simple designs. Including a very attractive large standalone dresser which proved the dealbreaker as it needed to fit in a non-standard sized space that standard sized units just wouldn't work.
We went along to his factory (a large slightly derelict looking shed in a field) and showroom (a shipping container where he put finished units before distributing them to his Ebay customers). He had some particularly clever solutions for things like corner cabinets with doors that opened in a way that you could reach the whole of the space behind them, and bins that looked like any other cupboard. Instant sale.
Five years later we're just as delighted with the kitchen as the day it was installed and it is withstanding a high level of abuse from a growing family. The only lesson we learnt the hard way was that if you want solid oak worktops (again shop around on Ebay) don't apply Danish oil to them as you end up having to do it every few weeks. Eventually we gave up, sanded them down again and applied a layer of acacia (medium oak stain) and then clear Osmo oil. Nuclear bombproof yet still has that classic oiled look.
Total cost? Less than what one of the big sheds would have charged for something that actually fit our kitchen perfectly, rather than something with lots of odd bits here and there to cover the gaps.
We went round a few rather swanky pine kitchen showrooms but figured it would be far cheaper getting something from a DIY shed.
Until we started looking at pine kitchen units on Ebay. amongst the offers was a small joiners firm not so far from where we lived, all made to measure, but built to a range of simple designs. Including a very attractive large standalone dresser which proved the dealbreaker as it needed to fit in a non-standard sized space that standard sized units just wouldn't work.
We went along to his factory (a large slightly derelict looking shed in a field) and showroom (a shipping container where he put finished units before distributing them to his Ebay customers). He had some particularly clever solutions for things like corner cabinets with doors that opened in a way that you could reach the whole of the space behind them, and bins that looked like any other cupboard. Instant sale.
Five years later we're just as delighted with the kitchen as the day it was installed and it is withstanding a high level of abuse from a growing family. The only lesson we learnt the hard way was that if you want solid oak worktops (again shop around on Ebay) don't apply Danish oil to them as you end up having to do it every few weeks. Eventually we gave up, sanded them down again and applied a layer of acacia (medium oak stain) and then clear Osmo oil. Nuclear bombproof yet still has that classic oiled look.
Total cost? Less than what one of the big sheds would have charged for something that actually fit our kitchen perfectly, rather than something with lots of odd bits here and there to cover the gaps.
Edited by Chromegrill on Wednesday 23 March 21:28
shtu said:
Slight sideline.
We all know that PH loves DIY Kitchens, but who are the competitors in that market? It can't just be DIY\Wren\Howdens
Here's a thread for you We all know that PH loves DIY Kitchens, but who are the competitors in that market? It can't just be DIY\Wren\Howdens
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
toasty said:
After having our order in for 6 months now, it's due to start going in on Monday.
Only snag is the kitchen supplier has just emailed to say NEFF oven and microwave are currently unavailable. WTF? It's been 6 months!
They've offered Caple as an alternative but initial browsing does not bode well. Any suggestions?
Caple aren’t a patch on Neff or Siemens, plus they didn’t order them in time. Back then is was 18/20wks worse case. Only snag is the kitchen supplier has just emailed to say NEFF oven and microwave are currently unavailable. WTF? It's been 6 months!
They've offered Caple as an alternative but initial browsing does not bode well. Any suggestions?
I'm late to this thread, but I'm another of singlecoil's delighted customers. For the same price as chipboard cabinets and MDF or veneered doors from one of the mid-high DIY Kitchen ranges, we got a bespoke kitchen with painted veneered doors, plywood cabinets, and very high quality Blum hardware. The cabinets are perfectly solid, perfectly made and look so much nicer than melamine-faced chipboard.
I definitely recommend that anybody considering a new kitchen in a shaker style from one of the big companies first speaks to the small-volume makers who've contributed so much expertise to this thread.
I definitely recommend that anybody considering a new kitchen in a shaker style from one of the big companies first speaks to the small-volume makers who've contributed so much expertise to this thread.
RevHappy said:
singlecoil said:
My thanks to Threadlock for his endorsement, and I trust that that is an old photo and that the plinth boards have been installed by now
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