em
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Hi,
I read your kitchen information pages with interest and was wondering if anyone had any advice for me.
I am at the stage where i am ready to choose my new kitchen, unfortunatley i am on quite a small budget so i have been looking at the kitchens in Ikea and MFI.
Does anyone have any advice on the quality and durability of these kitchens and whether they are worth the money?
Also would it be a good idea to buy the kitchen from ikea/mfi and then use a local joiner to install it rather than use the instore fitters?
I am also looking at buying a range cooker and i found two online made by Indesit and the other by Baumatic both in the region of £350-£550 this seemed to be very cheap and although the prices are perfect for my budget i was worried that if i bought at that price i would be comprimising on quality.
Does anyone know these makes of cooker or have any recommendations of other makes that would not cost a fortune?
Any tips and advice would be much appreciated
Thank you
Emily
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timfoley
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Emily,
I am not one to "poo-poo" competitors through this forum particularly as we too offer doors and cabinets alongside the Corian and Quartz worksurfaces we offer, but essentially you should always be seeking good value for the budget you are working to and if that budget doesn’t allow purchasing top quality goods then you are left deciding between what is on offer at prices that do reflect your budget.
Factors that should enter your decision should include the length of time you expect that kitchen to remain in good working condition, the warranty offered on the cabinets you purchase, determining the quality of one offering against another and of course, the cost.
One factor sometimes missing from this is cost efficiency and to use an example here, let’s say that you have purchased a kitchen from a large DIY outlet and given that this is probably the second or third largest purchase you have made after a car or a house, you expect it to last yet after three years the drawers are distorted and won’t open without at least three people, in tug ‘o’ war fashion, pulling at it, the edging is hanging off the carcass fronts, doors are hanging off by the hinges and the bottom of the cabinets act as a nest for any insect wanting a new place to stay. If you had paid 50 % more for a better quality kitchen that was still working well after six years then this had proved to be a better investment.
Don’t get me wrong here, I am not saying that there aren’t good quality cabinets to be sourced at a good price but I am saying you need to identify this as much as others need to identify that they are paying extortionate amounts for high quality kitchens.
It’s pretty well documented on this website and throughout the forum what I believe the criteria is to look for in the quality of a kitchen cabinet and if that is met at an affordable and fair cost then you are getting value for money.
Fitting of your kitchen is not a task that can be carried out without the relevant gas and electrical qualifications and your installer will not only have to have good carpentery skills but will also have or have access to a competent and approved status operative to undertake the gas and electrical work within your design.
If you are seeking to hire your own installer then you must determine this first and be sure to ask if you can view some previous installations to ensure others were happy with the work carried out.
As for appliances, to determine the quality, then you can do no better than seeking the answers from the experts who are working on these day in and day out so I point you in the direction of our colleagues at UK Whitegoods whose forum can be found at http://www.ukwhitegoods.co.uk/modules.php?name=Forums
I hope this is of help Emily and feel free to ask any further questions if you feel it can helps you in making your decision.
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