A "name" kitchen
Discussion
Gallen said:
m4ckg said:
Gallen said:
some of the kitchens posted here are beautiful! 
We bought our base units from Howdens. Don't discount them – We have friends with a very expensive brand kitchen and theirs are no better. Howdens are very good quality base units - especially for the price.
I'm sorry,but, no they're notWe bought our base units from Howdens. Don't discount them – We have friends with a very expensive brand kitchen and theirs are no better. Howdens are very good quality base units - especially for the price.
Of course they won't be the same quality as Poggen Pohl or similar, but they do the same thing and you dont see them. As you know, the Howdens Carcasses are chipboard laminate but are glued as well as dowelled I am led to believe (contrary to others in this price range!).
But that's me and personally I would save on carcasses and invest sensibly on fixtures, fittings and features to spec the kitchen, possibly doors if I wanted solid wood for example. I can not see the point in having expensive carcasses regardless of my budget - but do appreciate that there would be a high level of craftsmanship in hand made, and hinges etc.
I have a freind who has worked as a self employed fitter for a leading top-end kitchen and bathroom supplier. He did work on their behalf for someone paying over £70k for a fitted designer bathroom (would you believe - some people have more money than sense!). Had they gone elsewhere, they would have had change from £25,000 for the SAME thing! Money in some names that's for sure!
I think it is the individuality that you pay for. I am not arguing that designer kitchens are not beautiful - but I do not see, presonally, that they are worth their cost.
I may of course be wrong however
Edited by Gallen on Thursday 6th January 18:37
My argument is they are nowhere near the standard of Omega, Crown, Apple kitchens. Another route worth looking at is buying quality carcases made to measure by specialist manufacturers and buying some PWS doors and you will have a quality kitchen at sensible money. If you have a larger budget, Parapan as mention before is fantastic for a more modern look.
Re the carcasses – if you can get 18mm board with thick 2mm abs edging that doesn’t chip off, solid carcass backs and all Blum fittings, until you get to Siematic or Bulthaup level, you’re just paying for a name, a showroom, and an advertising budget. I do however agree something like an Ikea cabinet is technically not wood in any shape or form - likewise some of the DIY shed stuff, especially when it gets wet. The doors do matter – look at a B&Q ‘high gloss’ then compare their orange-peel to a proper multi-coat sprayed and laquered door – or the Parapan which is pretty good value for the exceptional quality.
The real high enders like Bulthaup and Siematic do their own clever bits that separate them from the rest of the market – drop down ally hideaway storage, supercool wall mounted taps, hidden ovens etc etc, but if you’re on a budget and go for a bottom-of-the-range Siematic with no bells and whistles, the kitchen you could have had from Crown Imperial for example would be amazing. And still half the price.
Standard carcass sizing can be got round by slightly deeper or shallower worktops, false walls etc, instead of tray spaces and bloody wine racks – that look as if the designer wasn’t (a designer).
Things to put in a modern-look kitchen that’ll potentially help sell it are IMHO the led lights (ebay - rgb colour changing), quartz worktops (find a local company that actually machines it, and use their offcuts if possible), the hot water tap (try Franke or ISE for a £400 uglier alternative to an £800 quooker), a wine cooler (slim 150mm no-name ones are cheap) and the coffee machine – Ikea do a stainless Whirlpool one that doesn’t actually grind beans, it just does pods or filter coffee but is way cheaper than a proper Neff grinding one. For laandaan propertay you probably wouldn’t get away with a Whirlpool! Maybe Gaggenau/Wolf/Subzero or similar is worth spending on, rather than a kitchen name, for name-dropping purposes?
If you’re doing it to sell, I suppose not too much individuality is important too?
Oh, have a look at this…. http://kitchendesigntank.blogspot.com/
The real high enders like Bulthaup and Siematic do their own clever bits that separate them from the rest of the market – drop down ally hideaway storage, supercool wall mounted taps, hidden ovens etc etc, but if you’re on a budget and go for a bottom-of-the-range Siematic with no bells and whistles, the kitchen you could have had from Crown Imperial for example would be amazing. And still half the price.
Standard carcass sizing can be got round by slightly deeper or shallower worktops, false walls etc, instead of tray spaces and bloody wine racks – that look as if the designer wasn’t (a designer).
Things to put in a modern-look kitchen that’ll potentially help sell it are IMHO the led lights (ebay - rgb colour changing), quartz worktops (find a local company that actually machines it, and use their offcuts if possible), the hot water tap (try Franke or ISE for a £400 uglier alternative to an £800 quooker), a wine cooler (slim 150mm no-name ones are cheap) and the coffee machine – Ikea do a stainless Whirlpool one that doesn’t actually grind beans, it just does pods or filter coffee but is way cheaper than a proper Neff grinding one. For laandaan propertay you probably wouldn’t get away with a Whirlpool! Maybe Gaggenau/Wolf/Subzero or similar is worth spending on, rather than a kitchen name, for name-dropping purposes?
If you’re doing it to sell, I suppose not too much individuality is important too?
Oh, have a look at this…. http://kitchendesigntank.blogspot.com/
@streetrod
That is f
king tremendous!
The kitchen which came with our house is from wickes and solid worktops from howdens. Its 'okay' but i will change it when funds allow, not too sure what i will do in terms of design though. Ours has no wall units at all which at first i thought was really odd, however living with it i love it, theres plenty of space for all manner of crap and the kitchen feels more like a normal room as opposed to a typical kitchen, we use it a lot.
Ours has been fitted quite badly, nothing joe public would notice, just a few things on the piss(fitted by a local firm who have a good rep for some reason). Really bugs me things like doors not being perfectly level and imo a cheap kitchen fitted well will look better than a badly fitted/designed expensive one (same goes for everything though).
That is f
king tremendous!The kitchen which came with our house is from wickes and solid worktops from howdens. Its 'okay' but i will change it when funds allow, not too sure what i will do in terms of design though. Ours has no wall units at all which at first i thought was really odd, however living with it i love it, theres plenty of space for all manner of crap and the kitchen feels more like a normal room as opposed to a typical kitchen, we use it a lot.
Ours has been fitted quite badly, nothing joe public would notice, just a few things on the piss(fitted by a local firm who have a good rep for some reason). Really bugs me things like doors not being perfectly level and imo a cheap kitchen fitted well will look better than a badly fitted/designed expensive one (same goes for everything though).
Some really good info here!
@Streetrod... wow great job
What I'm having trouble getting my head round conceptually is not the difference between a 10k and 60k kitchen but what, at the margin you get for increasing a budget from say 45 to 50?
I suppose this is where you get into the realms of whether it's for you dream house which you have to live with, or whether it's a development project where bang for your buck is the deciding factor.
Is it the done thing to get say 5 quotes for various kitchens and then just hone in on what seems to "work"?
@Streetrod... wow great job
What I'm having trouble getting my head round conceptually is not the difference between a 10k and 60k kitchen but what, at the margin you get for increasing a budget from say 45 to 50?
I suppose this is where you get into the realms of whether it's for you dream house which you have to live with, or whether it's a development project where bang for your buck is the deciding factor.
Is it the done thing to get say 5 quotes for various kitchens and then just hone in on what seems to "work"?
We looked at many kitchen companies before settling on Loxley.
We got about 5-7 Quotes and also priced up places like Ikea. I had the idea that I did not want Chipboard so was looking for Ply.
For us it came down to 2 things
1. Could we work with the company/man we had chosen. We found a local guy who does fully hand made and came well recommended BUT we could not imagine working with him. Something did not click.
2. Did we like the look of the product. Would it fit with the house. In our case a converted Grade II Listed Church. So it had to be in 'keeping'
Also check the breakdown of costs. A 40k Kitchen may be 15k units 10k Appliances 5k granite 10k building work and other stuff.
Ben
We got about 5-7 Quotes and also priced up places like Ikea. I had the idea that I did not want Chipboard so was looking for Ply.
For us it came down to 2 things
1. Could we work with the company/man we had chosen. We found a local guy who does fully hand made and came well recommended BUT we could not imagine working with him. Something did not click.
2. Did we like the look of the product. Would it fit with the house. In our case a converted Grade II Listed Church. So it had to be in 'keeping'
Also check the breakdown of costs. A 40k Kitchen may be 15k units 10k Appliances 5k granite 10k building work and other stuff.
Ben
Guys may I add that a good use of lighting can really add to a kitchen and need not cost a fortune. We have an RGB colour changeing system that looks great. Its a lot more subtle in real life than in these pics but I hope you get the idea:
Edited by Streetrod on Friday 7th January 19:57
Do you live in a disco? 
There are some impressive kitchens in here. Must be satisfying if you've done a lot of the work yourself too.
Edit - with the lack of handles do you push the door in and it pops open? It looks like a great touch.
There are some impressive kitchens in here. Must be satisfying if you've done a lot of the work yourself too.
Edit - with the lack of handles do you push the door in and it pops open? It looks like a great touch.
Edited by gingerpaul on Friday 7th January 23:40
GTO-3R said:
m4ckg said:
The carcase is the backbone of the kitchen
Bang on, it's the quality of the material used. You will find MFI, B&Q etc will use poor quality board and will snap like weetabix. The product we sell has a high density board and if you pick a carcase up it will be much heavier than the likes of MFI etc, but they do look the same They design completely bespoke kitchens....you can have literally any timber or any paint colour/finish you want.
Having said that I don't believe having a "name" kitchen will always make a huge difference. We looked at a house last spring with a "Smallbone" kitchen...cost a bomb, in a magazine etc but they'd blown their whole renovation budget on the kitchen and everything else looked very,very tired. House is still on the market. So the kitchen has to be in keeping with the rest of the house in terms of quality of finish etc. The budget for the kitchen should really be set on what the house is worth if you're thinking you may sell one day...if you've got a house worth £750k the people with the coin that might buy that house will notice if it has a cheap kitchen.
At the risk of repeating myself - I just do not understand kitchen prices - maybe someone can explain
We had a solid Oak bookcase custom made - lovely cornicing and plinth 5 shelves, 75" x 45" x 10"
How much would that translate into compared to some of the high end crap in this thread ?
We had a solid Oak bookcase custom made - lovely cornicing and plinth 5 shelves, 75" x 45" x 10"
How much would that translate into compared to some of the high end crap in this thread ?
cuneus said:
At the risk of repeating myself - I just do not understand kitchen prices - maybe someone can explain
We had a solid Oak bookcase custom made - lovely cornicing and plinth 5 shelves, 75" x 45" x 10"
How much would that translate into compared to some of the high end crap in this thread ?
I agree, you could have a solid oak kitchen for 50% of the cost of the some of the kitchens mentioned. If you have the cash then why not spend it but don't think just because it was 40k it is actually any better.We had a solid Oak bookcase custom made - lovely cornicing and plinth 5 shelves, 75" x 45" x 10"
How much would that translate into compared to some of the high end crap in this thread ?
PS if anyone would like our 35 year old magnet kitchen (chipboard special) please let me know as it's being ripped out next week
PPS Marine ply is cheap too!
A lex said:
Our current place has a SieMatic/Siemens kitchen. It was installed by the previous owner but I have to say that we are happy with the quality and design of it and we will keep it for a good few years.
From the overall quality of the worktops/applicances/carcasses etc I figured it probably cost about 10-12k. When going through some of the house documents we found the receipt(s) - 26k! They spent 10k just on the carcasses.
Madness, especially when something decent from Ikea costs about 30% of the price.
The doors would have been included in that price. SieMatic units come ready made with doors and handles (if you have them) included.From the overall quality of the worktops/applicances/carcasses etc I figured it probably cost about 10-12k. When going through some of the house documents we found the receipt(s) - 26k! They spent 10k just on the carcasses.
Madness, especially when something decent from Ikea costs about 30% of the price.
Beardy10 said:
The budget for the kitchen should really be set on what the house is worth if you're thinking you may sell one day...if you've got a house worth £750k the people with the coin that might buy that house will notice if it has a cheap kitchen.
100% agree. We looked at a lovely period house down in Winchester. It was up for 500k + and looked nice.We went round and the lasting memory was the kitchen. It was exactly the same as the one we had put in our 3 bed terraced house worth 200k.
There is an expectation that a more expensive house will have a more expensive up-market kitchen. If not it can be a letdown.
Ben
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