'Fitted' kitchen advice

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'Fitted' kitchen advice
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Behemoth

Joined: 01 Dec 2004
Posts: 19023
Location: Leeds

Posted: Mon Mar 10, 08 9:51 pm Post subject: 'Fitted' kitchen advice
Any tips on getting a decent kitchen built, not flat pack but not silly kitchen shop prices? Sources of information etc. I was thinking about getting a cabinet maker to make the carcasses and fit the bits and pieces finding the doors and surfaces somewhere sort of thing. Are there any selfbuild/renovation websites that have info/forums that may have more info? Cheers

Jonnyboy

Joined: 29 Oct 2004
Posts: 23956
Location: under some rain.

Posted: Mon Mar 10, 08 10:01 pm Post subject:
I was told my the joiner who fitted our B&Q kitchen that the carcasses are pretty similar even if you go to a posh kitchen shop. Plus B&Q sell bath panels

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46212
Location: yes

Posted: Mon Mar 10, 08 10:01 pm Post subject:
hand build is ace ,tt has a nice kitchen i will ask

RichardW

Joined: 24 Aug 2006
Posts: 8443
Location: Llyn Peninsular North Wales

Posted: Mon Mar 10, 08 10:21 pm Post subject: Re: 'Fitted' kitchen advice

Behemoth wrote:

Any tips on getting a decent kitchen built, not flat pack but not silly kitchen shop prices? Sources of information etc. I was thinking about getting a cabinet maker to make the carcasses and fit the bits and pieces finding the doors and surfaces somewhere sort of thing.

Cheers

I would think that a cabinet makers prices would be higher than a "silly kitchen shop" price. Even using chip / MDF boards (a real cabinet maker would not touch them in my opinion) his time alone would be costly. You can buy flat pack style cabinets but ready made for not much more than normal flat pack prices. Beware one offs as you will have trouble finding standard doors to fit.

I am nearly finished instaling our kitchen. We went down the flat pack unit route but finished of with real wood worktops & some nice touches like sliding wicker baskets & pull out chopping block made out of the same wood as the work tops. As our kitchen is more of a utility room that happens to have a oven / hob in it for back up use as we have a rayburn & prep the food at the kicthen table the units did not need to be top of the range. Top of my head figure of about �1200 for every thing (flooring, 16 units, 2 x 4 bulb lights, sink x2 & tap x 2, paint, tiles & fixer/grout, electric oven & hob, plaster, wood trims, plumbing bits & prob more other bits & bobs) for a 8m x 2m room. The worktops we got from some one on here for doing some work for them (thanks Bodger).

Justme

Behemoth

Joined: 01 Dec 2004
Posts: 19023
Location: Leeds

Posted: Mon Mar 10, 08 10:38 pm Post subject:

Jonnyboy wrote:

I was told my the joiner who fitted our B&Q kitchen that the carcasses are pretty similar even if you go to a posh kitchen shop.

Plus B&Q sell bath panels

We went to a 'posh shop' who made the mistake of having partially dismantled display models accessable to the public and the carcasses were not much better than the IKEA stuff I've seen. This undermined the �16000 they wanted for the uninspiring offering.

Could go the flat pack route but we've got the chance to afford (over 20 years) to possibly get some rigid, properly jointed, carcasses. Obvously 'cabinet maker costs' are prohibitive we'll re think but would ike to explore the option. The space it's going into has been designed to accept standard size units so it doesn't have to be unique.

snozzer

Joined: 19 Oct 2006
Posts: 296
Location: The Centre of Britian

Posted: Tue Mar 11, 08 7:51 am Post subject:

Our family company has fitted so many kitchens over the years and I can tell you one thing about the ready built carcasses, there is little difference in the majority of them.

Magnet kitchens are good, but even with 50-60% off (just ask) can still be expensive. We have found that the B&Q flat pack range are REALLY good if you assemble them well (use a decent PVA).

What I would suggest is that you spend your money very cleverly.

Use good cabinets (B&Q Cabinets, but not the real cheap ones))

Get decent door and drawer fronts (B&Q real wood doors are the same quality as Magnets)

Pay for decent hardware such as hinges and runners (B&Q hinges are SH*T, Magnets hinges ACE, but the runners are much the much)

Choose carefully the handles and accrouments, they make a difference in the look and feel.

Buy decent worktop, or better still go for granite. www.diapol.co.uk are excellent amd the granite worktop upstands really make a kitchen look ��Large.

Ensure you get it well fitted and finished, paying attention to unit alignment, worktop cuts (never use jointing strips), ensure all exposed electrical work is neat an level and tiling perfect.

And one last thing, plan, plan, plan and then plan somemore.

Mrs Fiddlesticks

Joined: 02 Nov 2004
Posts: 10460

Posted: Tue Mar 11, 08 8:09 am Post subject:

snozzer wrote:

Buy decent worktop, or better still go for granite. www.diapol.co.uk are excellent amd the granite worktop upstands really make a kitchen look ��Large.

we went for a reconstituted stone that looks like granite but has some acrylic in it making it less likely to stain. Agree about the upstands instead of tiles. We also went for a big piece of 'granite' to sit behind the cooker up to the hood. No grout to clean!

snozzer wrote:

And one last thing, plan, plan, plan and then plan somemore.

Definitely. We had a very clear idea of what was wrong with our last kitchen which then helped us work out what we wanted the new one to do. Especially in terms of storage. Although I would add that I had a huge clear-out so that we weren't trying to create storage for things we no longer needed.

Behemoth

Joined: 01 Dec 2004
Posts: 19023
Location: Leeds

Posted: Tue Mar 11, 08 8:12 am Post subject:
Thanks for the info - very helpful. Are there any manufacturers of hard ware that have a good reputation? Particularly pull out larders. I'm leaning towards the contemporary laminate doors - any good quality suppliers at reasonable prices. - although a plain wood isn't out of the question. Thanks all

Behemoth

Joined: 01 Dec 2004
Posts: 19023
Location: Leeds

Posted: Tue Mar 11, 08 8:15 am Post subject:
What's an 'upstand'? is it the bit that goes up the wall?

cab

Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

Posted: Tue Mar 11, 08 8:22 am Post subject:

I built our kitchen with Ikea stuff. Easy, seems to be tough, I have no complaints about the quality. And extremely cheap compared with other shops. If you can get to a branch of Ikea, go and have a look, you may be pleasantly surprised.

The upstand goes at the back of the bench; if, say, you're putting in wooden worktops then the upstand covers the gap you leave at the back to allow the bench to swell or contract (as wood can do).

Behemoth

Joined: 01 Dec 2004
Posts: 19023
Location: Leeds

Posted: Tue Mar 11, 08 8:29 am Post subject:
I've got an IKEA corner unit at the moment and have been impressed. It would seem that given standard units will fit that good quality flat pack is probably the route to go. So that leaves doors and fittings.

cab

Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

Posted: Tue Mar 11, 08 8:33 am Post subject:

Behemoth wrote:

I've got an IKEA corner unit at the moment and have been impressed. It would seem that given standard units will fit that good quality flat pack is probably the route to go.

So that leaves doors and fittings.

Well, our doors and fittings are also from Ikea. Haven't yet encountered any problems with them. The only thing I didn't like is that like any flat pack stuff, if you have to modify them for any reason (there wasn't a corner unit that did what we wanted, and I had to do some fiddling about with the sink area) then they're a little harder to engineer. But its do-able; all the fittings for Ikea cupboards can be re-positioned if you're competent with a drill and/or router.

boisdevie1

Joined: 11 Aug 2006
Posts: 3897
Location: Lancaster

Posted: Tue Mar 11, 08 9:09 am Post subject:

I'm a trained cabinetmaker and when I redid the kitchen last year we bought cheap as chips carcasses and then got nice doors on them and nice worktops.
if you use a cabinetmaker for everything it will cost you a fortune. But you could use one to create doors and small bits and pieces to fit in with the big off the shelf units. If you go for a commonly available timber like oak or beech then a cabinetmaker will be able to fit in with that OK as both timbers are easily available.

judith

Joined: 16 Dec 2004
Posts: 22789
Location: Montgomeryshire

Posted: Tue Mar 11, 08 9:39 am Post subject:

boisdevie1 wrote:

I'm a trained cabinetmaker and when I redid the kitchen last year we bought cheap as chips carcasses and then got nice doors on them and nice worktops.

My BIL did that in his kitchen, and it looks brilliant.

He recommends getting the carcases from Wickes.

Vic

Joined: 16 Feb 2005
Posts: 387
Location: Sherborne, Dorset

Posted: Tue Mar 11, 08 9:59 am Post subject:

If you're getting new appliances (you probably know this already) just shop around for them as much as possible. Google is your friend...

we hve just discovered that a 90cm dual fuel range-type cooker is about �150 cheaper than a standard 60cm dual fuel cooker which is continuing to baffle us...

We're getting the kitchen from Howdens since it will take the builder half the time (= half the expense) to fit it.

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