Help needed, which kitchen manufacturer would you recommend?

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

we moved to a new area and needed tradesmen, , so we used checkatrade.com where you put in your postcode, and what trade you need, people write reviews about the work and give marks out of ten for price, cleanliness, etc so far it has proven to be brilliant and all the trades have lived up to their 10 out of 10 marks from checkatrade. I would recommend it!

Ikea - you get just as good a kitchen for far less than if you go to one of the firms that only sells kitchens.

We live too far away to help Jude2006 - but good luck and hope you don't mind if I gatecrash your message - I'm in the same boat and wondering if anyone has any good kitchen installers to recommend in Taunton please. Thank you

It depends where you live - I had a great made-to-measure kitchen when I lived in Berkshire - essential, because 30cm, 60cm etc units would not have fitted. The London Kitchen Company.
If standard sized units will fit, the world's your oyster - Wren are great for a modern look, Magnet for a country kitchen; would just add the warning - make sure sink bowls are big enough for your largest roasting pans - even if it means a butler sink!

Whichever kitchen you go for, it's your installer who is key. My husband has been a joiner for 40 years, and he says a good installer can make a cheap kitchen look fantastic and a bad installer can make an expensive kitchen look cheap and nasty.
There's so much variety to choose from, too, so hone it down to a style you like, and dont be fooled into going for all singing all dancing appliances if you're really not going to use them. Buy the best basics (oven, hob etc) you can afford so they last.
If you like colour, then I'd suggest having white or ivory units and painting strong colours on the walls. You could find yourself sick of the bright or dark units in a few years time, but walls can easily be repainted for very little cost.

20 he's ago I had a Magnet kitchen fitted, Shaker style and included integral dishwasher, fridge freezer and Neff double oven and 5 ring separate hob. I loved it, good quality and the girl who helped design it was amazing. She suggested putting on a few painted doors to break up the wood look and gave us the Dulux paint number so we could use it on the walls. The effect was wonderful. It worked fantastically and I loved it. I was very tempted to bring a Magnet kitchen with us when we moved to France, I now wish I had!

IMO it’s more about the installer than the units. The house we moved into has a Magnet kitchen, (which allegedly came out top in a Which survey,) and I’m very pleased with it because the installation is excellent. Perhaps it helped that the previous owner was a reputable local builder. I hope you’re pleased with whatever you choose, as it’s a huge layout!

Howdens kitchens are fabulous & a reasonable price for the quality but you have to buy via a registered fitter ie you cant buy directly yourself. Sounds obvious but the fitter is key so would go by recommendation if possible.

My kitchen is from kitchencollection.co.uk It's 5 years old now and is still in excellent condition. Their website is great and they offer all sorts of cabinet colours to match the doors (not just white which some of the larger suppliers sell) My doors are a dove grey shaker style and the cabinets match. Their prices are also very good. All their cabinets are ready assembled unless you want a kitchen quickly and then they have an express range which can be delivered in a week (which also has quite a large choice of styles)

I belong to a build it yourself community and a number of them have recommended DIY kitchens - the kitchens come ready made - all helpful for your installer.

I have always preferred Ikea kitchens myself - they've been recommended by which. Their online planning tools are excellent if you like to play with your design - it even produces the shopping list - so you can see immediately the cost difference between ideas. I've just ordered my third one (I've moved a lot) & am having all drawers for easy access.

As an indication of how old my kitchen is, it was supplied and fitted by MFI! I loved it from the minute it was installed and it has never aged or deteriorated.
What a shame MFI went out of business - another decision by accountants.

I agree with Thecat. I have had a B and Q kitchen for years and it still attracts nice comments from visitors. My son also has a lovely B and Q kitchen. Worth a look.

Lots of people I know have used Howdens over the years and have been delighted. I don't believe they have a lot of choice but quality is good.
Our Kitchen was from a smaller firm. Lovely quality but it closed down so maybe a big company a wiser choice for any replacements or problems

If you have Howden’s near you I would definitely get one from them . They only let reputable fitters fit and supply their kitchens

Another vote for Ikea. Better choice of features for half the price of some others. Mine is now 5 years old and still looking good.

Thanks GN's this is really interesting, especially about the local independent kitchen fitters.
Also MOnica, it was good to hear that you are going to use DIY kitchens and that you've visited their showroom. Unfortunately we live along way from them and would find it difficult to visit, so have to go on the recommendations.

My Wren kitchen was finished on Monday. We’ve a very small kitchen and their planners managed to fit in dishwasher, fridge freezer, double oven, microwave, washing machine and still give us lots of storage space. We had it fitted by a local man who came very highly recommend. (We had to wait six months for him to fit us in) he’d never used wren but at the end I ask him what he thought and said he was impressed by the quality and said the plan was easy to follow. He told us he’d rather enjoyed it.

If you are going with flat pack, good old B&Q has a good range, and their worktop selection was the best on offer.
The success of the installation, always begins and ends with a good installer, so as others have said - go by recommendation.
My latest kitchen was from Howdens, as their delivery time was so fast, and despite what they may tell you, they DO do the flat pack option, which l opted for. And you can bargain hard with them, as they seem to overprice the initial quote. (Under no circumstances should you accept their initial quote).

Also I'd suggest that you go for an MDF based kitchen as wood is prone to movement in centrally heated houses. Waterproof MDF used by good manufacturers is absolutely solid and durable.

We've had two kitchens from Magnet which have been fine, and they used a good subcontractor who also dealt with the plumbing and electrics. They also have a "trade" range I believe which is very good and less expensive.
A friend used John Lewis a couple of years ago and had problems with wrongly sized units, and (imo) the finished product doesn't look great.
If you have the budget to consider a bespoke kitchen I'd recommend Woodstock Furniture.
Otherwise do you know a good, recommended local builder? They can get better discounts that you. If you have an idea of the layout you want they can buy the furniture and fit it for you. If you have the budget for quartz worktops I would recommend that you have them installed by a specialist.

We used a local kitchen shop, two ladies run the shop and the husband of one of them does the fitting with some extra staff. We got a much better design than those we had had from Howdens and John Lewis, with "magic corners" deep draws ad cupboards right up to the ceiling. I'd avoid John Lewis. With the other large companies they design what you want and then modify or offer discounts to help you get in budget. At John Lewis they asked our top budget and then said take it or leave it to the rather pathetic offering they came up with.

Curlywhirly,
It really is a surprise when you realise that the mass produced kitchens are actually not as good value as perceived!
We could have had the same kitchen in MDF which would have looked fine and. Even a lot cheaper still.
We had excellent service, a joiner came to repair something last week and didn’t charge.... the kitchens 6 years old!!

Missfoodlove our kitchen is very similar to yours (except we have an island, rather than table and chairs) and ours too was hand built solid wood. It was an independent shop in our local village (which looked very swish) and I only got a quote to see how riduculously expensive it would be, well, it turned out to be just slightly dearer than the quotes we had from Wren and Mobalpa. The layout and kitchen plan was far better than the other quotes and the service we received was brilliant.

jude2006 we are planning to have a kitchen from DIY kitchens. Only delays with our extension mean that it has yet to be fitted.

We have visited their showroom three times and find them so helpful, with such a wide range of units and work tops. They will not design your kitchen. You must do that yourself, nor they install units, that you also have to arrange yourself. But they have an excellent online site, but nothing beats a visit to their showrooms.

DS and wife had a Wickes kitchen installed just before Christmas. It was a full service: design, supply and fitting and everything went without a hitch. They are delighted with the result.