Kitchens - cheap vs expensive

Kitchens - cheap vs expensive

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singlecoil

33,313 posts

245 months

Thursday 31st March 2022
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snowman99 said:
So I got my DIY Kitchen the other day, well 4 units to replace some storage we are losing. Generally all looks good albeit I haven’t unpacked much of it yet. Thoughts

- Surprised how light the cabinets are - I guess I’ve been doing some projects with 18mm or 12mm plywood and this is chipboard and seems way lighter.
- Doors look good
- the ‘tongue and groove’ end panels which were fairly expensive relative to the cabinets seem to be a sheet of (I hope) solid wood with some grooves in it. I thought tongue and groove would be actual tongues and grooves.
- Some of the cuts on the non visible cabinet panel edges are chipped - I got similar when I used my £30 circular saw on a laminate worktop. Fortunately nothing visible (that I’ve found) but not the best attention to detail. I guess maybe I’m being pedantic as it’s possible everything you can see once assembled is perfect and their price is good.
I'm pretty sure the end panel is MFC with a deeply ingrained melamine layer. The top is edge banded to match, you can see how smooth it is where the edgebanding has been radiused. Also the bottom of the grooves is pretty smooth too, so maybe it's melamine on mdf rather than on chipboard.

The chipped edges will be caused by cutting the panels on a saw and not using premilling on the edgebander before the edging was applied.

Premilling is a process whereby the edgebander removes uses special cutters to leave a smooth edge before the edgebanding is applied. I know a fair bit about this stuff even though I don't use that type of material or those processes. I daresay they didn't worry about those parts that don't show in a finished kitchen. Every penny counts when you sell at those kinds of margins.

snowman99

400 posts

146 months

Thursday 31st March 2022
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I think you are right, MDF I think having a look at others online. Kept that quiet on their website.

Sheepshanks

32,530 posts

118 months

Thursday 31st March 2022
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I was in our local posh kitchen place and the owner mentioned using t & g for the back of the island - I asked if it was actual t & g and I’m sure he rolled his eyes!

loughran

2,731 posts

135 months

Friday 1st April 2022
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Using solid timber for tongue and groove in a painted kitchen can be problematical. Once fitted, the boards invariably shrink across their width, leaving cracks in the paint finish.

Wozy68

5,387 posts

169 months

Friday 1st April 2022
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loughran said:
Using solid timber for tongue and groove in a painted kitchen can be problematical. Once fitted, the boards invariably shrink across their width, leaving cracks in the paint finish.
This ^^^^.

As I’ve pointed out before …. Using solid timber for everything is not a sure sign of quality. Quite the opposite at times or for certain (sometimes many) applications.

48k

12,981 posts

147 months

Friday 15th April 2022
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48k said:
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?
Our NEFF oven, combi, hob and warming drawer were ordered in December for a Feb/March project, delays at the time were "10-12 weeks". A couple of weeks ago they were reporting the delay could be another 10-16 weeks. Then suddenly the warming drawer and hob were delivered. The combi oven is due on 30th March, there's still no date for the main oven.

The kitchen company have fitted a temporary oven for the time being and will come back and fit the NEFF one when delivered. If you really really want NEFF (I did) then maybe see if your kitchen suppliers will do the same temporary solution for you? The stuff does turn up eventually (and suddenly, it seems).
Just boinging this FWIW - the combi oven that was due on 30th March was delivered yesterday. Still no date for the main oven. The kitchen company have said they are not going to be offering NEFF products going forward as it's not worth it (I think they are running out of loaner ovens laugh)

toasty

7,441 posts

219 months

Friday 15th April 2022
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48k said:
Just boinging this FWIW - the combi oven that was due on 30th March was delivered yesterday. Still no date for the main oven. The kitchen company have said they are not going to be offering NEFF products going forward as it's not worth it (I think they are running out of loaner ovens laugh)
We’ve had 90% installed now. Still waiting on the Neffs. Some kitchen panels were the wrong size so 5-6 weeks to get them replaced. The plumber couldn’t work out the Quooker tap so is doing homework before coming back next week. The Amtico flooring doesn’t reach the kick boards in a few places so we’ll need new tiles. Apart from that it’s great. 😆

Sheepshanks

32,530 posts

118 months

Friday 15th April 2022
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48k said:
Just boinging this FWIW - the combi oven that was due on 30th March was delivered yesterday. Still no date for the main oven. The kitchen company have said they are not going to be offering NEFF products going forward as it's not worth it (I think they are running out of loaner ovens laugh)
Can I asked which microwave you went for?

Microwaves are the one applicance we've had lots of trouble with and we (well my wife) only use it for warming stuff up so spending a chunky amount on one grates. But I don't want a standalone one on the worktop (which is what we do now).

RevHappy

1,836 posts

161 months

Friday 15th April 2022
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toasty said:
We’ve had 90% installed now. Still waiting on the Neffs. Some kitchen panels were the wrong size so 5-6 weeks to get them replaced. The plumber couldn’t work out the Quooker tap so is doing homework before coming back next week. The Amtico flooring doesn’t reach the kick boards in a few places so we’ll need new tiles. Apart from that it’s great. ??
Quooker do some decent install videos if he looks them up.

toasty

7,441 posts

219 months

Friday 15th April 2022
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RevHappy said:
toasty said:
We’ve had 90% installed now. Still waiting on the Neffs. Some kitchen panels were the wrong size so 5-6 weeks to get them replaced. The plumber couldn’t work out the Quooker tap so is doing homework before coming back next week. The Amtico flooring doesn’t reach the kick boards in a few places so we’ll need new tiles. Apart from that it’s great. ??
Quooker do some decent install videos if he looks them up.
Thanks, I’ll let him know.

singlecoil

33,313 posts

245 months

Friday 15th April 2022
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toasty said:
We’ve had 90% installed now. Still waiting on the Neffs. Some kitchen panels were the wrong size so 5-6 weeks to get them replaced. The plumber couldn’t work out the Quooker tap so is doing homework before coming back next week. The Amtico flooring doesn’t reach the kick boards in a few places so we’ll need new tiles. Apart from that it’s great. ??
May I ask which supplier it is, to take so long?

Groat

5,637 posts

110 months

Saturday 16th April 2022
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Our Miele fridge (ordered November) went from mid-March delivery to mid-April to end April and now 8th May. So were sitting here like turkeys with a posh kitchen, plus an old freestanding f/f , plus a 7 foot fridge cabinet door sitting propped up against a coffee table thingy in lounge 1.

rolleyes

toasty

7,441 posts

219 months

Saturday 16th April 2022
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singlecoil said:
May I ask which supplier it is, to take so long?
It’s a Schuller kitchen. It’s a pain but at least the kitchen is functional.


bristolbaron

4,756 posts

211 months

Saturday 16th April 2022
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Sheepshanks said:
Can I asked which microwave you went for?

Microwaves are the one applicance we've had lots of trouble with and we (well my wife) only use it for warming stuff up so spending a chunky amount on one grates. But I don't want a standalone one on the worktop (which is what we do now).
Put a stand-alone one in the cupboard. With the choice of a matching fitted one at £700 or a stand-alone at £100 I’m happy to give up a bit of cupboard space!

Sheepshanks

32,530 posts

118 months

Saturday 16th April 2022
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bristolbaron said:
Put a stand-alone one in the cupboard. With the choice of a matching fitted one at £700 or a stand-alone at £100 I’m happy to give up a bit of cupboard space!
I've seen one on a shelf in a tall larder unit which had a retractable slide-away door which looked fine, but we don't have space for that kind of unit - I think we've gone a bit mad but there'll only be one shortish run along a wall with sink and hob, and then a biggish island.

Microwave could go in the utillity room but it gets used frequently for warming milk for coffee as well as other things and I can see having to go in and out of the utility room wearing thin. I'm semi-seriously thinking about smashing a hole in the wall between the kitchen and utility and using one of those stand-alone units that have stainless trim to build them in.

Sport_Turismo_GTS

825 posts

28 months

Saturday 16th April 2022
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Miele seem to have a good reputation as a high end manufacturer and are advertised as being ‘designed for 20 years’ use’ (or whatever), but is it right that they only offer a 2-year warranty, the same as most other brands? It seems a bit inconsistent, unless I’m missing something?

Ace-T

7,688 posts

254 months

Saturday 16th April 2022
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Reading this thread avidly as we are about to embark on a kitchen refurb too. Loads of info and questions on here have been really helpful and informed some decisions we have made, so thanks all for sharing.

singlecoil

33,313 posts

245 months

Saturday 16th April 2022
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Sport_Turismo_GTS said:
Miele seem to have a good reputation as a high end manufacturer and are advertised as being ‘designed for 20 years’ use’ (or whatever), but is it right that they only offer a 2-year warranty, the same as most other brands? It seems a bit inconsistent, unless I’m missing something?
They need (and have) a good servicing setup, and giving away service (under guarantee) isn't as profitable as selling it (out of guarantee).

Jambo85

3,311 posts

87 months

Saturday 16th April 2022
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Sport_Turismo_GTS said:
Miele seem to have a good reputation as a high end manufacturer and are advertised as being ‘designed for 20 years’ use’ (or whatever), but is it right that they only offer a 2-year warranty, the same as most other brands? It seems a bit inconsistent, unless I’m missing something?
There have been full threads on here about Miele. You can sometimes get them with 5 or 10 yr warranties, but either way they tend to last a while before giving any problems and you can at least get them fixed when they do.

Sport_Turismo_GTS

825 posts

28 months

Saturday 16th April 2022
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Jambo85 said:
Sport_Turismo_GTS said:
Miele seem to have a good reputation as a high end manufacturer and are advertised as being ‘designed for 20 years’ use’ (or whatever), but is it right that they only offer a 2-year warranty, the same as most other brands? It seems a bit inconsistent, unless I’m missing something?
There have been full threads on here about Miele. You can sometimes get them with 5 or 10 yr warranties, but either way they tend to last a while before giving any problems and you can at least get them fixed when they do.
Sounds like it’s worth the upfront cost, in that case,