Wickes, Howdens, or...?

[Bozza]

42 minutes ago, Crofter said:

Thanks, IKEA looking good so far. SWMBO has decided that solid wood is the right look for the worktop, I have to agree but it kind of blows the budget. Somewhat cheaper solid oak worktops available from other suppliers but when you need the extra depth for an IKEA kitchen that narrows the choice greatly.

 

On a different note- what's the general consensus on the best types of doors? My feeling is that vinyl wrap is the cheapest and nastiest, painted MDF probably much better, and then there are various other options like solid wood, veneer, melamine, etc. But I also suspect that there will be variation in quality between different suppliers.

Ikea do wood effect laminate worktops which looks quite good and more practical than solid.  And much much cheaper.  They have a square edge which looks nice as I considered it having seen it in the flesh.

 

You are right vinyl wrap is cheapest.  Ikea doors have 25 year warranty.  If you are going for a more simpler and cheaper standard cupboardS just buy a couple of spare doors that you can replace in future.  
 

please note ikea carcasses are not standard kitchen sizes and as I said don’t have a recess at rear.  
 

 

[Kelly_Allana]

I have been kitchen shopping this week and had designs from both IKEA and Howdens. Howdens came in at about 40% more than IKEA and to be honest, I liked the feel of the IKEA units better, they felt better quality and I like the options they have with their hidden drawers etc. I can't comment on durability but they have a long warranty.

With the Howdens sale, we'd have to take delivery of it next week and we're not quite ready for it yet. 

[Crofter]

1 hour ago, Kelly_Allana said:

I have been kitchen shopping this week and had designs from both IKEA and Howdens. Howdens came in at about 40% more than IKEA and to be honest, I liked the feel of the IKEA units better, they felt better quality and I like the options they have with their hidden drawers etc. I can't comment on durability but they have a long warranty.

With the Howdens sale, we'd have to take delivery of it next week and we're not quite ready for it yet. 

Thanks for that. We had a second quote from Howdens which dropped the price by about 15%, still a lot higher than IKEA.

Have also ordered some sample doors from DIY Kitchens.

There are seemingly hundreds of other options out there, it's a bit bewildering, I'm seeing cupboard doors in my sleep now...

[joe90]

I vote for Howdens, have fitted them for years, although retired I fitted one fir a mate recently and some of their upgrades are even better than before, anything missing or damaged replaced immediately and no questions asked. I have fitted ikea but I don’t like their no void at the back.

[Crofter]

Sample doors from DIY arrived today- quite impressed with them, very thick and chunky, and even the foil ones feel a million times better than the cheap rubbish we have at the moment.

It really does go to show how important it is to see things in the flesh. We've both agreed that shaker probably isn't the way to go after all.

[Crofter]

On worktops again...

Ikea's 'solid wood' ones are actually only a 3mm layer on the top, a bit like engineered flooring I suppose.

How do these hold up in practice? I'd imagine your only get a couple of goes at sanding out damage, and it's conceivable that a deep cut could go right through. I know laminates have an even thinner top layer but it's tougher, and they're less than half the price.

[Bozza]

On 23/10/2020 at 19:04, Crofter said:

Sample doors from DIY arrived today- quite impressed with them, very thick and chunky, and even the foil ones feel a million times better than the cheap rubbish we have at the moment.

It really does go to show how important it is to see things in the flesh. We've both agreed that shaker probably isn't the way to go after all.

FYI I’ve ordered the handless Luca for our kitchen combined with their quartz worktops, then their cento range for our utility room, using ikea laminate worktops in there.    The cheaper cento range I thought was excellent quality for the price TBH and we were borderline as to whether to have it in main kitchen, but we really fancied handleless.   Our last DIY kitchen was shaker style which proved to be a dust magnet.  Don’t forget all their carcasses and internal fitting are the same High quality. 

[Bozza]

16 hours ago, Crofter said:

On worktops again...

Ikea's 'solid wood' ones are actually only a 3mm layer on the top, a bit like engineered flooring I suppose.

How do these hold up in practice? I'd imagine your only get a couple of goes at sanding out damage, and it's conceivable that a deep cut could go right through. I know laminates have an even thinner top layer but it's tougher, and they're less than half the price.

They do proper solid wood as well, but obviously more expensive.  Personally, if it was a choice between the ikea engineered or laminate I’d go for their laminate as having seen it in the flesh with its square edge looks good, is cheaper, and will be very robust.

[Crofter]

On 01/11/2020 at 10:21, Bozza said:

FYI I’ve ordered the handless Luca for our kitchen combined with their quartz worktops, then their cento range for our utility room, using ikea laminate worktops in there.    The cheaper cento range I thought was excellent quality for the price TBH and we were borderline as to whether to have it in main kitchen, but we really fancied handleless.   Our last DIY kitchen was shaker style which proved to be a dust magnet.  Don’t forget all their carcasses and internal fitting are the same High quality. 

 

The DIY Cento is a very strong contender at this point. One of the big attractions with DIY is that they do a much wider range of unit sizes than IKEA.

[SimonD]

I can attest to the Ikea standard of kitchens whch I'd assume haven't gone down in quality. In our last place we installed a new one when we moved in. 12 years later when the estate agents came round they all remarked on how sensible we were to have just put in a new kitchen for the sale. It survived two young boys bashing it around too.

 

 

[Bramco]

57 minutes ago, SimonD said:

I can attest to the Ikea standard of kitchens

We can too. We've had them in our homes since we lived in Holland in the 80's.  We've had Howdens and IKEA in rental properties and IKEA are much better.

 

It might be a small point but with IKEA you have oodles of holes in the sides of the cabinets to set your shelf height - with Howdens (at least in the past) you get a choice of 2 or 3 positions, so lots of potentially wasted space and then there's the 'utilities space' at the back of the Howdens and other base cabinets I've seen, maybe great for the installer but an absolute waste of space. IKEA are very well thought out. For the new house we've already speced IKEA cabinets - the work surfaces we'll get from somewhere else though. We'll also get IKEA appliances.

 

Our own kitchen is on it's 2nd set of doors and as @SimonD said when anyone comes round they are always wowed by it (it's not that wow really), it just still looks pretty new.

 

Simon

[Crofter]

Just to update, we got fed up and plumped for DIY in the end. They had the fastest lead time and the greatest choice of unit sizes. We're paying £250 in delivery but despite that they're coming in a little under the rest, and I won't have to build the units.

 

[Bored Shopper]

We went for DIY Luca gloss handless + quartz worktops, and I sooooo love it.

Also love all the functional units, the way they all play along - I have soo much storage space now and the drawers exactly where I want them for my personal ergonomics. 

We've been admiring the gloss of our high-gloss kitchen - up until we've discovered that actually they are all covered in thin plastic wrapping which we didn't notice (us being too preoccupied with getting the build done and chasing our electrician for the certificate) - and now we started to peel this stuff off (from all 36 units - takes a while!) - and it's even glossier! ????love it even more

[Oz07]

Photos @Bored Shopper

[Bored Shopper]

Still not fully unpacked and cleared but the closest we are now to being decent. ?

[MJNewton]

Now *that's* a light!

[FraserK]

We're having our house built on Isle of Mull. Builder recommended Howdens in Oban who'd done quite a few for him. Next thing we have a design 'proposal' from Howdens - they didn't even ask what we wanted, just came up with a design. We asked for some change but emphasised that we were working to a budget - apart from 'mid range' they never came up with a price after asking repeatedly. Eventually, via our builder they've come up with a price 50% over our budget, and then want something like £300 for soft close hinges and a further £300 for delivery. I'm not even bothering to haggle.

 

Went onto DIY Kitchens and priced up a similar design for 60% of what Howdens want - better though as they have a bigger range of units sizes so less compromises in terms of the design. Awaiting samples for doors etc. Having to arrange extra transport from mainland is only downside as far as I can tell.