Have any mums got awesome kitchens?

[mooncake]

I believe Howdens and Wickes do free home visits and measure up for you... but you might then need to be a little sneaky to grab their measurements for use at other stores!!

Otherwise there's a paid for service at John Lewis where I think you can keep the plans whether or not you go ahead (online it says it costs ?50).

The kitchen designer we ended up with must have spent at least 14 hours in total actually with us present, carefully designing all of the details - and that was even though we already had a strong idea of the layout and appliances we wanted. That meant that by the end of it, we were essentially already committed as couldn't bear to go through the whole process again with anyone else!! In hindsight that made it difficult to negotiate on prices - particularly as we had to get the kitchen ordered in time for moving house / tied in with the building work.

[simonethebeaver]

Howdens measure up but don't exactly 'design'. It's pretty much left to you. That was our experience anyway - it may vary.

[loulou26573]

We are going with Howdens at the moment, been back and forth a few times but we're getting there.

Can I ask, does anyone have a recommendation for places to purchase integrated appliances? Howdens' Lamona range is so expensive and I'd rather go for names I know. Looking online is a stab in the dark at the moment! Thanks

Louise

[ladyruskin]

John lewis has a large range of integrated appliances as does Currys/Comet I think. There's ao.com which is supposed to be quite competitive with prices

[BeccaL]

We did a combination of ao.com and Currys for appliances - went to Currys to actually look at the appliances, to compare things like placement of shelves, internal dimensions, etc - bought some from them (think oven and fridge) so we knew we were definitely getting the exact thing we'd looked at, and bought others from ao.com (hob, extractor fan and dishwasher) - got v good service from them and good prices.

There is something a bit tragic about sitting and watching videos about how a cooker works and where all its shelves go (there are lots of these on ao.com), but they were surprisingly useful!! Integrated fridges are pretty small, so it is worth having a good look at where everything goes inside.

[loulou26573]

BeccaL Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> We did a combination of ao.com and Currys for

> appliances - went to Currys to actually look at

> the appliances, to compare things like placement

> of shelves, internal dimensions, etc - bought some

> from them (think oven and fridge) so we knew we

> were definitely getting the exact thing we'd

> looked at, and bought others from ao.com (hob,

> extractor fan and dishwasher) - got v good service

> from them and good prices.

>

> There is something a bit tragic about sitting and

> watching videos about how a cooker works and where

> all its shelves go (there are lots of these on

> ao.com), but they were surprisingly useful!!

> Integrated fridges are pretty small, so it is

> worth having a good look at where everything goes

> inside.

Tragic indeed but necessary! Thanks so much too, ladyruskin. My husband and I had a play in Currys the other day. Was surprised at how reasonable the prices seem there. APparently all we have to do is email dimensions of appliances to howdens and they will check they fit. What could possibly go wrong???!!

[mooncake]

Also try boots kitchen appliances!! you can get quidco cashback as well as boots points - and their installation charges are reasonable if you need them to fit.

we also got free tickets to ideal home show and grand designs where you cab get some great deals and see demos of things actually being cooked.

usually the kitchen supplier will take model numbers of your appliances to get the right measurements.

[EmiliaSanders]

We have designed our kitchen almost ourselves

In short, the basic kitchen design steps are:

Kitchen planning.

Sketch basic kitchen area.

Determine kitchen floor plan style.

Determine locations for all kitchen storage items (design cabinets).

Create kitchen design drawings.

And after that you can hire workers and implement your plan into action)

of course you should take care about what appliances you prefer to use, as for me, I chose http://rangestoreoutlet.com/

there are a big range of ovens (http://rangestoreoutlet.com/7-ovens) and microvaves (http://rangestoreoutlet.com/10-microwaves)

[sylviamaria]

We recently finished our kitchen. IKEA carcasses, doors from Picky Living in Sweden (another forumite gave me the details) and corian worktop. Pretty happy with the instant boiling water tap too! :)

Wrote a brief entry on my blog about it - http://bighungryfamily.blogspot.co.uk/2016/07/new-kitchen.html#comment-form

[Sue Stephenson]

Hi sylviamaria

How did you find the service from Picky Living? I love their designs but they've got such mixed reviews! Plus they don't seem to deliver to UK and you have to organise a courier to pick up from Sweden...

Thanks for any help!

Sue

PS.Kitchen looks great on your blog!

[sylviamaria]

Hi Sue,

I found their service to be very good and prompt. But you are right - they don't deliver to the UK and you have to sort out delivery yourself which is both a pain and an added cost (though still cheaper in total than getting a kitchen from many of the places in the UK)...

Hope this helps! :)

[Sue Stephenson]

Hi again - thanks syliamaria for your message. Do you mind letting me know who you used to courier the kitchen doors etc over from Sweden to East Dulwich? Also was the packaging good and all parts included first time? Ie no issue that they had to resolve?

Thanks

Sue

[yeknomyeknom]

The superfront website might offer options too.

[sylviamaria]

Sue

All packaging was intact and all parts arrived. One door had a mark on it and we emailed them and they replaced it within a month (sent it over themselves). We used a swedish company called artmove for the shipping. They were ok, but not great. You could check for alternative companies. Generally very happy with the end result and the pickyliving service.

Best of luck with it all!

[Sue Stephenson]

Thank you for your answer - will look into it!

[Sue Stephenson]

Sorry Sylviamaria - any chance you could let me know how much shipping was with Artmove? Thanks again!

[Swisscheese]

If it is a beautifully made bespoke kitchen you were after, simon benjamin in sussex. They are a smaller family run company and our kitchen is most definitely awesome! Really recommend them highly for quality and service.

[thatmissbooth]

Hi, we have an awesome kitchen! We used West and Reid, a local company who designed and built it to our exact specification. It's been in a year now and there isn't anything that I would want to change, the layout works really well, it's very solidly built and looks great.

www.westandreid.co.uk

[Ginster]

Looked at this thread for inspiration and now finally 4 months on I can say yes we have an Awesome Kitchen!

It's "Pronorm" from Germany (built there, shipped over) so fits quickly (tho our delivery was 2 weeks late).

Bought from and designed with Alaris kitchens in Bromley who both listened to my ideas and offered suggestions. They also fit it.

Builders were Martins. Very happy with the quality. Extension already there but they made great improvements.

Very happy. Best bits....

- either side of oven is a pantry cupboard. I love them!

- nearly all drawers and actually wish now the cupboards either side of hob were too tho we have found stuff that fits in ok.

- built in bin cupboard next to sink. Cannot live without.

- porcelain wood effect tiles inside and out and underfloor heating.

[ChloeDunbar]

Definitely a second shout out for local kitchen makers West and Reid. We searched all around for a nice kitchens and went everywhere from John Lewis to Ikea to higher end before we came across West and Reid who made a super stylish, bespoke kitchen for us which I absolutely love. They were great to work with and surprisingly well priced. You can see our kitchen with dark green handless units and marble worktop.

https://www.westandreid.co.uk/

Chloe

[HannahSE23]

Just wondered if anyone could recommend a good quartz worktop supplier and fitter... ours has let us down!

Thanks!

[n11]

Have a look at mrworktop http://www.mrworktops.com/

We had our worktop from them, very knowledgeable and very efficient . Came to measure and 4 days later installed worktop