Ownership of kitchen and DIY store by Travis Perkins - where to buy kitchen?

[David]

I started out to buy a couple or three kitchen units to use in a home office.

Firstly, we went to Wickes for a looks see. They were akin to a chocolate fire guard with useful information, but we came away with a book for bespoke kitchens (the kind you have to order through the sales droids) which are apparently different from the boxed self-assembly ones in store.

We then went to the nearby Benchmarx kitchen place, which we initially thought was a public (as opposed to trade) version of Howdens (which was next door). Turns out that they are owned by TP and allegedly I can use my TP trade account to buy there.

Comparing the brochures at home afterwards the unit measurements at the back looked suspiciously similar.

Turns out Wickes are owned by TP as well, so it looks very much as if a bespoke (retail) Wickes kitchen and a Benchmarx (allegedly trade only) kitchen are the same range (or at least the same manufacturer).

I am now looking at the TP website and they offer kitchens as well, although I haven't delved deep enough to see if they are only flatpack or if they come pre-assembled as you would get from Benchmarx.

All very confusing.

I would opt for pre-assembled (as from Howdens and Benchmarx) instead of flat pack because you get it the next day and also you don't have the issue of missing or broken bits in the flat pack. Plus the time taken to assemble.

Has anyone else been down this route and compared the prices etc. from these three separate routes to possibly the same kitchen units?

Is there yet another route to the same kitchen units?

TIA

Dave R

[Andy Burns]

I though everyone knew, along with toolsatan, bss, pts, city plumbing, etc, etc

[spuorgelgoog]

I don't think most pre-assembled units are any better quality, as I assume the shop assembles them for you from flat-pack before putting them on the van.

They're also a lot harder to get up stairs etc.

However, DIY Kitchens which seem to have a large number of fans do prebuilt units, 17 colours so you can get a colour match etc.

"assembled using glue and dowel construction techniques and with doors and drawer fronts factory fitted." They can also supply unglued if getting up stairs is an issue.

For comparison, this is real wood, about £180 for a 500mm base unit without door

Owain

[newshound]

Last time I did one (admittedly a few years ago) I was surprised to find that B&Q had a good range of carcase sizes, reasonable prices, and quite good quality. (I did just buy the carcases, and made the doors myself as there were three random sized "waste bin" slots in my layout).

[David]

Thanks for the useful links.

The solid wood kitchens are out of our price range. One 900mm wide 3 pan drawer unit is £765. Our quote from Benchmarx for:

600mm 3 pan drawer 900mm 3 pan drawer 800mm tall wall cabinet 2 decor ends for the drawers 1 decor end for the cupboard

Handles

Came to £742.38.

So no competition in the pricing stakes. Noting that this is one up from their base range because the cheapest range doesn't do the 900mm wide pan drawer.

Legs are one length plastic but can be cut right down.

DIY kitchens are of a comparable price to Benchmarx (no idea about the quality) but Benchmarx can deliver next day and because they are local they are currently offering free delivery.

So at the moment Benchmarx look to be a good option.

We may well have a look at B&Q just for comparison. Hopefully they no longer stick you with 8 weeks delivery time plus another 8 weeks for any fault rectification.

Cheers

Dave R

[Andy Burns]

22 days from order to delivery of a full kitchen refit last autumn.