Kitchen Carcasses & Doors

[Ian]

I've just started to turn my attention to the kitchen and intend on fitting it all out from scratch. It's a complete mess and I'm looking at selling up probably next year so don't want to splash the cash but also don't want to install flimsy cheap units.

Can anyone recommend a good supplier ?, the easiest option is to go to B&Q and buy off the shelf but are the cabinets flimsy ?, anyone got experience with B&Q kitchens.

Any recommendations of where not to cuts costs ?, i.e. cheap hinges etc ?

Any advice would be much appreicated. Ian.

[Grunff]

There really is very little difference between carcases from the different sheds. B&Q ones are very similar to Wickes. Hardly anyone does

15mm carcases anymore, most suppliers do 18mm only.

MFI stuff is again almost identical to the shed stuff, and very similarly priced. But MFI are evil.

The only real difference is the doors, and that's more a matter of personal preference than quality.

In order to get something significantly different from the shed carcases you'd have to start looking at hand made stuff.

So my advice is this: Pick nice doors and handles, decent worktops, and

18mm carcases. Fit nice splashbacks. Take time fitting pelmets, cornices etc, and lining everything up right. Spend some time thinking carefully about layout - what is next to what, and does it make cooking easier.

[Arthur]

I used B&Q cabinets and quite satisfied with them, very sturdy. the only thing wrong was that the 800 base unit is intended only as a pan storage box with 3 wide drawers. I had to mark my own hings holes to fit it with

2 x 400 wide doors.

Arthur

[Ian]

Thanks for the advise.... Do you happend to know if B&Q do a cabinet for housing an under the counter cooker (600 wide).. It doesn't list it on thier website but I assume they do them instore or do you have to buy fittings for a standard 600 cabinet.

Thanks.

[Ian]

Cheers... think it's a trip to B&Q then.... luckily the kitchen is laided out well so I'm just swapping like for like other than the cooker which will be changed for a nice steel (Reasonsible priced but expensive looking in my opinon) one, with matching hood, hob and splash back.

I'm going to do the carcases, work tops, sink, appliances first and then choose the doors and handles last. I have a habit of buying stuff and then by the time I get round to fitting it I've gone off it!

Thanks again.

[Arthur]

I have a slot in cooker so I don't know. I would ring one of their warehouses to ask.

Arthur

[Ash]

Stainless Steel looks great when new, but give it five minutes and it's covered in finger prints, which are a pain to get off, burnt on food is also difficult to remove without damaging the finish. You can't beat a good quality enamelled cooker for still looking good years after you bought it.

Ash

[Paul R]

I used B&Q cabinets in a remodel of my kitchen last year with no complaints - particularly liked the ability to order on the web, and have delivery for only the delivery price of the most expensive component. Be careful about the large side-panels though, build in enough time to get them to send you two or three deliveries, the corners on most of the large panels they delivered were mashed through handling (they are heavy, and don't like landing on the corners). But B&Q reacted well every time I complained, and I was left with a ton of spare panels (with bashed corners), which came in handy for miscellaneous fill ins.

I got my doors however from

as these were solid birch, not the veneer from B&Q. I also got a higher quality worktop from them as well.

If you know someone in the building trade - take a look at Howden Joinery - they sell at trade prices much of the MFI range (same company) - this is the route my brother took, with very effective low cost result. (I got my steel rod handles from them for just over £1 each!)

[Ian Stirling]

Induction hob? Almost no burnt on food at all...

Then you've got a roaring open fire. Really hard to damage the finish on one of those :)

[Tony Bryer]

Yes, but when I unpacked my Belling build-under oven it came with a couple of lengths of angle to screw to the adjoining cupboards to support the oven. I had already bought the build-under cupboard but as my (double) oven was slightly higher than normal I had to cut away bits of the unit to make it fit. Ultimately all you need is two vertical strips of Contiplas for the sides to rest against and a shelf (or angles as above) at the right height. Unless your oven is at the end of a run of units that is.

[Tony Bryer]

They do a regular 800mm base with centre mullion too, but only to order.

[rockdoctor]

I'm in the middle of fitting an IKEA kitchen. I got the carcases from them, as well as the doors, but sourced worktops and everything else from other (online) suppliers. IKEA units are pretty quick to assemble, and the doors I'm using look very good (Tidaholm range).

One nice thing about IKEA (may apply to all the DIY shed ranges) is that if wifey changes her mind about what she wants inside the carcases you can just buy the bits you need and replace them.

If she changes her mind before you have unpacked the flat-packs you can get a full refund on the returns. (If unpacked but not fitted there is a 70% refund).

Downside to IKEA carcases is that the backs of the cupboards are at the back of the carcase (normally the back of the cupboard is inset a centimetre or two to allow adjustment against a wobbly wall). This can give problems.

Another problem is that IKEA carcases are deeper than others, so a

600mm worktop is flush with the cabinet fronts once the doors are on. I am running the splashback tiles below te edge of the worktop to give me an extra cm to counteract this.

[Derek *]

Take a look here.:

Best described as somewhere between "simple" and "basic".

I did a utility room out with their stuff 3 years ago and still going strong. Our local branch assembled the cabinets for us FOC.

DG

[Dave]

Ian, do not, under any circumstance, buy anything from that company. They buy cheap, sell expensive and try to give you only 12 months guarantee, contrary to the sale of goods act.

Find a local kitchen supplier and pin them down to a cost and quality contract, even if you are contemplating DIY. That way, you will have a local contact that you can take to a small claims court for a smaller amount than Buy and queue (wriggly snake comes to mind here), if anything goes wrong. I doubt it will go this way with a local contractor, as he will want to get referenced work from what he does for you.

HTH

Dave

[Ian]

Thank you all for your responses. Going hit the yellow pages tomorrow and see what I can come up with! like the sound of Howden Joinery though.

Cheers.....

[Paul R]

Sorry, but I must express my own experience. In fitting my DIY kitchen, any time I had a problem (like dented sink unit or bashed in corners of panels) B&Q resolved the matter at their cost without any delay or issue.

The ONLY negative was when I had half fitted the sink into the worktop cutout, and found I was a couple of clips short. B&Q couldn't help (although I could have returned the sink!) and the manufacturer took a week to send me some - in stepped Howden Joinery, who gave me a pack of clips at no cost, which solved my problem.

So I personally would not slate B&Q, and I am entirely happy with the quality of their carcases and fittings (I bought my doors and handles elsewhere).

[Arthur]

Useful to know. Thanks, Tony.

Arthur

[Dave]

Yes, I can agree with you on that. Their returns policy is probably beyond reproach. However, they do not understand the concept of the sale of goods act, as do none of the other high street stores.

My gripe, is what they sell and the quality of it.

Having seen the company from the inside, I have never bought anything from them since. No further comments on that.

This is where Buy and Queue fall down. They offer the product but can't/won't offer the individual minor parts that you may require. This is caused by their buy to price policy, which results in Chinese contractors supplying them with kits that does not allow them to give you the odd screw that may be missing.

Oh, I would, without question.

For the price you pay, I can not doubt you.

Were they better and or cheaper?

Dave

[Paul R]

Solid birch doors for about the same price as B&Q veneered. Steel bar handles at less than one third the B&Q price. See my earlier entry in this thread for details. Paul R

[nog]

For a retailer to offer that granularity of service would cost rather more though. I don't think that a quid for the "Assembly Spares Pack" they sell is a bad compromise.