Kitchen suppliers

[Huge]

Can anyone recommend (or unrecommend) any. Middle market, please.

I already know to flee screaming from Moben.

[rbel]

From personal experience I would recommend Wickes 'to order' range. Good finish, good quality fittings and very good service from our local (Exeter) branch.

rbel

[Tony Bryer]

Used them for my mum's kitchen years ago and they were fine. When I replaced mine in the UK pre emigrating I used B&Q - they had the advantage of being able to buy odd doors for matching in purposes, and also do 400mm and 800mm base units which not everyone did, also you could optionally buy better quality drawer runners, 170 degree hinges etc.

[Lobster]

I'd definitely recommend Howden's, if you can blag yourself a trade account, as they don't deal direct with the public.

Good price, they arrive ready-assembled, and it's easy to buy all the components of cupboards etc separately etc so you can easily mix'n match or do customising jobs to your heart's content.

David

[Huge]

Ooh, thank you.

[Steve Firth]

[andrew]

Our handyman at work has fitted 3 kitchen's designed and bought from Howdens now, he says the quality is little different from Wickes' but every one has had significant parts missing from the delivery and because of the way they are packaged this has not become apparent till late in the installation. So the cost has been in wasted time either waiting for or fetching replacements.

AJH

[Tim W]

Almost every town has an industrial unit somewhere holding an outfit who call themselves 'manufacturers' of kitchens. Normally they really only cut up chipboard panels and edge them, and fit hardware, sometimes they make up their own carcases but anything wooden or involving joinery is bought in from door manufacturers who also supply all the matching end panels, mouldings and accesories. If they are accomodating and reasonably organised and efficient this kind of operation can be very good at supplying odd sizes and configurations, exactly the hardware you want, and being on hand to deal with any problem.

Whoever you use it will always all depend on the man who does the measuring, drawing and specification, be it you or a 'designer'. If he is careless or doesn't understand the requirement it will go wrong. Care, planning and checking everything will make it go right. Service is never cheap and as well as that all that chipboard has passed through a half a dozen different hands before it gets to you so the price of it has become ludicrously inflated.

Tim w

[Tim..]

tim.

[Tim..]

No thanks. Muppets, on more than one experience too.

Tim.

[Huge]

Ummm, no. They go in the same bin as Moben.

[Steve Firth]

Oh I realise your opinion of them. About the same as mine BTW and for the same reason. But I couldn't resist the open goal.

[A.Lee]

Chippendale are reasonable, though they come flat-packed. Their doors are good, but slightly let down by the cabinets which have too many holes in them for my liking (Howdens are the same). The cabinets are better than Howdens when built up, in that they have a solid back panel, rather than the 4mm hardboard/mdf of Howdens.

I've used them since December, and only had 1 shortage on delivery (a 45 degree shelf and hinges), when with Howdens there was always something wrong or missing, usually multiple parts missing. Howdens say they keep everything in stock, that's bollocks. Howdens also do not give you a good quote first time, you have to go back and haggle them down. I wont do that any more, and have told them give me one price. So they priced up a kitchen last month at £8000, I had already got a Chippendale quote at £6k, Howdens then said they could match it. I told them it was too late. (do you get the impression I've fell out with Howdens!)

[Huge]

Ok, thanks, on the list.

[Lobster]

Hmm, I've fitted three of them myself, and my experience couldn't be more different.

The point about 'the way they are packaged' is because if you order, say, a 'Hogwarts' kitchen unit, they enter it into their order system, and this will interpret it as a pick list of 1 standard carcase, 2 'Hogwarts' doors, 4 standard hinges, 2 'Hogwarts' door pulls, etc. You take your printout to the warehousemen, and they collect the order for you.

I can't say I've ever experienced an incorrect pick list or a mistake in assembling my order, but I guess the latter stage is more prone to human error.

In terms of their pricing, as mentioned in another post - I don't particularly like the fact that it's not transparent, but it's really no different to any other trade outlet, as compared to visiting Wickes or B&Q etc. And I certainly get lower prices at Howden's than at retail outlets.

David

[Moonraker]

Seconded

[MuddyMike]

I also rate Howdens highly.

Mike

[Appelation Controlee]

The fittings were, I thought, pretty good, but beware - the door and drawer fronts (those we chose anyway) are rubbish [1], and some of ours are now delaminating after just a few years.

[1] Which, perversely, makes the availability of odd doors even more beneficial.