Kitchen

I have dark grey ceramic tiles on my kitchen floor and they do look beautiful and so easy to clean. The grout is darker than the tiles so I do not have the problem in the kitchen as I do with the hall and downstairs loo where the grout is so much lighter than the tiles and is difficult to maintain.

My eyesight is impaired but I think the fellow who fitted the kitchen was also because even I can see the problems so make sure you really trust whoever fits it and they will return to fix any problems. Mine took the money and ran.

I am waiting for my kitchen to be completely over-hauled and installed in May.
I spent several months, firstly working out what I need in a kitchen, and where. Not a very large kitchen, so required a lot of planning by me. Then went round as many showrooms as I could obtained loads of cagtalogues, and slowly decided what would be right for me.
Next stage was to talk to friends who had new kitchens over past few years and her of their experiences with different companies.
Took careful measurements of my kitchen, then spent a long time working out a design for me to fit in there.

Having got that to my satisfaction, the final stage was to take that design to one local and two national companies, to see how they coped. Local company showed me at the showroom the different cupboards, drawers, things I wanted then made an arrangement to come to me to measure up and then gave me a quote using my design, with their own hand drawn design sheet showing me exactly what would be where.

National companies used my measurements and tried to fit my design by computer. Not the best way, my measurements were not that exact.

Quotes for all three were not that much difference, BUT with the local company I got the lot included in their real quote. National Companies appeared cheaper, BUT had lots of tiny small print 'extras' like taking down and removing existing kitchen, taking down existing tiles, etc.

Guess who I have gone with?

Yes, I am having a Quooker hot water tap, at present I use a counter top hot water machine, I do have a kettle, but like to get my drinks, water for saucepans, etc. immediately and safely. I am having a full height pull-out larder (always wanted one of these. All base units (except corner ones) will be drawers, good corner storage areas, eye level combi/microwave (which I use instead of a main oven). Will have a fan oven above that also. Induction hob, no tiling, splash back between base units and wall ones, - no grout to worry about. New free-standing Fridge\freezer, my existing free standing washing machine and narrow dishwasher will have places for them. Going for the extravagance of quartz worktops.

This is the first time in my life I have a brand new kitchen and I have brought to bear on the design my sixty years of using a domestic kitchen. So, by designing it myself have what I want - not what a designer may think is good.

Would love to have room to have my washing machine put higher up than floor level. In a larger kitchen think this would be an excellent idea.

What has amazed me is the number of electric points I will need. Eight just for large appliances, then have a further eight above the counter top.

Forgot to mention, we have three usb sockets in the kitchen too.

I had a butchers block made with lockable castors, I could use it outside in the garden as well as in the kitchen.
It butted straight up to the sink so great for prepping lots of food.

If you can have a sink large enough for your oven racks.

I was so very lucky to be able to have a brand new kitchen in our extension 7 years ago - it still looks like new and I wouldn’t change a thing!

Double base units with deep drawers, swing out shelves in the corner unit, base unit with the 3 pull out waste bins (recycling, black bin and compost), induction hob (so easy to clean after having gas all my life), eye level Neff double oven, a joy for my back! 4 single base units in the island with pull out wire baskets, a plate rack located just above the integrated dishwasher. I chose to have a double basin sink with small one in centre, which works so well as you never see the draining dishes or saucepans. I didn’t choose a quooker as figured it would just be another motor to break down in due course. Having had cooker hoods in the past that were a nightmare to keep degreased, I choose the Neff one, which is set at 45 degrees above the hob and not encased in a unit. It’s also exceptionally quiet and very easy to keep clean. I don’t have any tiles except on the floor and only a 4” upstand from my granite worktops, which have a sheen, rather than high shine.

Try to visualise where you will actually work and make sure you have power points near, ie for mixer, whisk, carving knife, kettle etc etc. I find I do all prep cooking on the island. Think about the lighting too, I have lighting under the wall cabinets and spotlights on the beams directed onto the island.

Good luck during the installation, all the mess and hassle will be worth it in the end!

Trisha57

My pull-out larder is a joy (after a lot of faffing about - see below.) Really easy to see everything you've got and avoid those "back of the cupboard" out of date items and too much of one thing.

Oh and don't, whatever you do, use Wren Kitchens. Absolute nightmare after sales service, and the fitter they supplied nearly came to blows with our lovely tiler and walked out leaving so many unfinished things and issues that the kitchen was virtually unuseable. The pull out larder wasn't fitted correctly and when I first pulled it out (luckily there was nothing in it) it came off its top rails and tilted towards me. If I hadn't caught it it would have fallen sideways on top of me! Our tiler fixed it as Wren didn't come back to us when we complained. And when I went to clean the top pelmets, they weren't screwed in at all and fell off! We did eventually get things put right, but it took months...

I had similar problems with Wickes @Trisha57. Similarly to Wren they have guarantees of various lengths on different aspects of the kitchen fitments - none of which are worth the paper they’re written on in my opinion. Our kitchen fitter came to inspect the room and make sure the designer’s plans were ‘do-able’ before delivery of the units - I should have known there would be problems right then. During our chat he disclosed that he had been a fitter for Wren, but had not renewed his contract because they were a nightmare to work for and regularly left their customers in difficulty for long periods with substandard products. Knowing what I know now with Wickes I do wonder why he still works for them, because they’re really bad too. It took me 7 months of wrangling with them and I had to start a small claims procedure with trading standards before they got their act together and addressed the problems I was having. They initially tried to blame me and then decided they were installation problems and told me to contact the fitter at my own expense !! They actually turned out to be substandard products and had to be replaced, but it was an exhausting and frustrating process.

DS used Wickes and their installers and was very happy with the way the work was done

We used a company called DIY kitchens in South Elmsall near Doncaster. You have to design and specify your own kitchen, although they do check it in their offices, and come back with queries. You also have to arrange your own kitchen fitter. They are on a par with Howdens but more flexible and have a price list.

DH, as an engineer, was confident with plans and specifications and we were lucky to find a brilliant Kitchen fitter/Home improvement tradesman.

Induction hob - quick, turns itself off if you forget - very safe and economical (best pans are Ikea 356 suitable for induction). A dream to keep clean. Hope your new kitchen changes your life in a good way!

One of the (many) reasons I was reluctant to go with companies likes Wickes, Wren, Magnet, etc. is that I know that whereas they have lovely and helpful designers/salespeople in their showrooms, they then farm out the actual work to different fitters.

This is why such mixed reports on them. Some people have been fortunate and got good fitters, others have been unfortunate. Added to that is reports that these sort of companies are difficult and slow in payment to these fitters, and,, often the fitters themselves do not work closely together.'

So the company I have gone with covers everthing with their own people, electricity, plumbing (gas if I needed it), tiling, fitting. The only thing I have done separately is to go to my normal (local) flooring company and on my behalf they have been in touch with the kitchen people so as to work with them closely,

It is going to be enough of an upheaval having this done, really cannot go through any on-going problems. Both the flooring company and the kitchen person have emailed me telling me not to worry and they are sorting this out between them, Wonderful.!!!

I wouldn't want the designer fitting my kitchen, I would rather they got in a fitter.

But quality of tradespeople is always going to be a problem, whether you go with the fitter that has a contract with a big store, or you handpick your fitter from your local community.

We did the latter and came up trumps. We have had him back twice already to do other work for us and he is booked in to do more. But we could just as possibly have chosen carefully and chosen wrong and now be wrangling over work not done or not done properly.

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