bloody Ikea

[Bob Eager]

Actually, supermarkets are not cheaper - not for the household goods and food we buy. I did a very careful analysis, and we easily cover the cost of membership, fuel and more.

We buy large packs of loo rolls, tissues, kitchen rolls (but not blue rool, Nisbets are cheaper). Plus catering packs of meat (mince, chicken, bacon, etc.) which we split up and freeze. Then there is the cat food, soup, Marmite, olive oil, etc.

I have to say that on our second visit we bought a load of storage shelving...

Typical spend for us is £500-£600 a visit - perhaps five times a year.

[Brian Reay]

It isn't just covering the cost of membership, the quality of the meat is outstanding. We certainly do cover the cost of the membership (and some) but then there is the convenience. We still have to do a regular shopping run for fresh stuff but having stocked up on bulk items means less to carry etc.

We've not used them for TVs etc but their prices look pretty good. Ditto white goods.

I did buy a laser printer from them, the price was better than I could find online etc.

Their batteries (AA, AAA etc) are good value and seem to have a good name.

[Brian Reay]

I 'scratch built' a kitchen back in about 1982. I'm not sure it was cost effective but it was certainly built to last. Since then I've either bought units or, in the current one, had someone do it. Although I did 'rearrange' the kitchen in the current house shortly after we moved it. It had an expensive kitchen which was ok and 'did' until we replaced it. It must have been 20+ years old when it was removed and someone took it to reuse. I think it was a Roseby. It was just a bit 'dated'.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

One reason I built my own is I really couldn't see just why you had to have a cupboard side every place you needed a hinge for a door, or drawer runner - just wastes available space.

[Bob Eager]

I get mine from CPC! Duracell or Energiser.

[Iggy]

replying to Rob Morley, Iggy wrote: I'm not sure I like it's adhesive properties from past experience, but it's definitely worth a shot and very much better than any wood putty.

[John Rumm]

+1

Their bulk packs of Philips batteries are also fine. Try to avoid the GP ones though.

[John Rumm]

The two part wood fillers to all intents and purposes *are* car body filler...

[Bob Eager]

I'll remember that.

I do! Except for short term throwaways.

[charles]

I've never had problems with those, but CPC seem to have dropped them in favour of "Pro-Elec" which is one of their own brand names.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

At a very large premium. ;-)

[F]

Did you ask about replacements? They offered old style replacements to us just over a year ago when a door became faulty. One faulty door but a complete door/drawer front replacement across the kitchen in any available style!

[John Rumm]

Depends on what you get... TS own branded filler is less than half the price of P38 from Halfords.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

A bit difficult to compare as TS sell their wood filler by weight - whereas most body fillers are sold by volume.

[whisky-dave]

I buy GPs here for students use, cheap and work well in the labs, that's the batteies not the students.

[John Rumm]

Try these:

250ml vs 500g

(unless the P38 is twice as dense as water, I guess you will get roughly twice as much of the wood filler in the tin)

Even the Ronseal branded one is probably cheaper per ml:

[fred]

So what would you mount the hinges and drawer runers on ?

Kitchens are made up from standard units, little boxes if you will. This eases manufacture and installation.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

A wood frame made for the purpose.

Which would be fine if room were made to standard units too.

[Terry Casey]

Having tried various sources - Maplin were the worst for leakage, even unused ones! - I always get mine from Poundland these days.

Kodak branded alkaline AA, six for a pound, long life and never leak.

It's a no brainer, really.

The same cells are available from other pound shops but you only get four whereas, at Poundland, you always get 4 + 2 free for the same price, so 16.66p per cell instead of 25p.

[John Rumm]

A face frame would be the usual way to deal with the doors. Drawer runners can be either suspended from the cabinet top, or separate drawer boxes can be fixed where required.

Indeed - if you need to produce a standard product that will mostly fit any location. If building a bespoke installation, then you can make it fit exactly.