We are about to move and will need a new kitchen. We don't have a ridiculous ammount to spend. We were looking at Ikea, although have read lots about John Lewis (pricey) and B&Q (highly rated, but have some reservations).
Which company would you recommend and how much did you pay and whats it look like include some pics...
Cheers in advance.
I have no idea how to post a picture but Benchmarx did us a quality kitchen at a nice price.
BnQ £9k including worktops from a local company intergrated fridge freezer,dishwasher and cooker,fitted myself except for worktops!
Bnq wanted £5k to fit 
house now sold 
DSC00108 by Richard Munro, on Flickr
Mmmm Granite by Richard Munro, on Flickr
We have just moved in and will be getting a new kitchen.
We're going with Ikea, my mum told me that they got a good write up in Which? recently.
Wickes - my joiner was very impressed with the quality of their kitchen he fitted for me - but never buy a full price kitchen.
Fitted by local guy (had to wait 8 months for him to start though - always a good sign if they are in demand!). He was brilliant and worth the wait. Took him just under 7 weeks working alone Mon - Fri.
Cabinets and worktop from DIY Kitchens (fitters recommendation). All new Bosch appliances from Benq. New boiler relocated in loft. Water softener fitted. Loads of background plumbing and electrical work including new ceiling.
Came in just under £14k all in.
I think Benchmarx make kitchens for Wickes.
We saw a kitchen we liked in wickes exact same kitchen in benchmarx was about a grand cheaper.
Just the thought of going to Ikea makes me feel ill and the cabinets in b&q are nowhere near as sturdy as wickes/ benchmarx.
I am nothing to do with Benchmarx just had really good service. Guildford is the best branch if you are near there. Ask for Ross.
We're just about to have our kitchen severely knocked about, aftger which I'll fit it out. Been messing about with Google Sketchup which is a brilliant free tool for 3D modelling and visualisation - very easy to use.
Anyone see any pitfalls in my design BTW?
Door in long wall is to the outside.
Door in short wall is to dining area.
Fridge is the drawer type unit by the dishwasher/sink.
Anyone see any pitfalls in my design BTW
Did you miss out a link in your post ?
Edit: Ah, you inserted PDF files as images, that won't work.
Your fridge looks like it is in the garden with your cooker. That may become annoying.
Wickes +1
fitted myself apart from the worktop, which I got fitted by a guy from the 'mr mitre' franchise - very good.
Dave
i fitted an ikea kitchen myself, with no prior diy experiance. Only bits I didn't do were gas (not allowed), electrics (not allowed in a kitchen) and the worktop. Even if you don't get your kitchen from ikea, their wood worktops are cheap.
Probably cost around £5k all in, including new floor, ceiling, loads of plumbing (the kitchen was in a different room before), not accounting for my hours
Supplied by a local company, who could get us units in odd sizes and trim stuff to fit before delivery. I fitted the units, the floor and worktops were professional jobs.....
BEFORE
iphone_pic by PeterPoddy, on Flickr
AFTER
IMG_0710 by PeterPoddy, on Flickr
IMG_0705 by PeterPoddy, on Flickr
IMG_0707 by PeterPoddy, on Flickr
IMG_0711 by PeterPoddy, on Flickr
Cost was about £12,000 but that includes over £2k for appliences (fridge delivered after pics taken), 2.5k for Quartz worktop, a plasterer, plumber for gas, and an electrician.
Ours, fitted and installed by B&Q. They did a great job.
url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/67409546@N05/6139281573/]
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DSC00693 by Gary_MacLean, on Flickr
DSC00685 by Gary_MacLean, on Flickr
DSC00688 by Gary_MacLean, on Flickr
Kitchen 1 by Gary_MacLean, on Flickr
Whoops.
Here's my proposed kitchen - ideas/comments wlecome.
Door in long wall is to the outside.
Door in short wall is to dining area.
Fridge is the drawer type unit by the dishwasher/sink.
BTW, I'm planning on buying my kitchen from ebay.
They seem to be almost free, and even kitchens that are only a few years old and which cost tens of £000's regularly come up for just a few £00
doesn't look like youve got any high level cabinets?
I'm not sure how a second hand kitchen would work. I did some fairly heavy duty customisation to cabinets etc to get them to fit properly, I guess that's why their cheap?
I scratch built my last kitchen and I'm absolutely positive that starting with something second hand would be easier than that. But even if I had to buy some bits new, or buy 2 kitchens and knock them into one it will still be miles cheaper than buying new.
You are correct re' the high level cabinets. We don't need them and think the kitchen will look better without them.
Here's the last kitchen (also without high level cabinets)
my mate installed an Ikea kitchen and it looks excellent. As with all Ikea stuff - if it's installed/assembled well, it is excellent, but if it's knocked together poorly by a muppet, it'll look crap.
PP - which local company did you use, kitchen looks great.
Pies, ABC Magnum in Aldershot - http://www.abc-magnum.co.uk/
They can supply units in sizes that certainly Homebase and Magnet can't, put it that way.
That diagonal sink unit was the key to getting the workspace Mrs PP needed, and the tall units near the door have only a 550mm depth to fit into. They cut the units down to fit, and still left enough room for the microwave and the pull out baskets in behind the taller door. Nobody else we tried had a diagonal sink unit.....
That kitchen has been in production for 10 years or more, and every year, instead of releasing a new range, their supplier just adds more sizes of unit and door to expand the range. They have units in 100mm width step sizes that fitted our space EXACTLY where other companies only had units in 200mm steps, which would have left us with a space to the left of the sink on the end.
The inside is IDENTCAL in colour to the outside, not just 'close' like the Howdens kitchen her mum has, and the units don't need end panels either (It's all built the same colour) which gave us 10mm more at each end to play with and reduces the cost by a BIG amount. Some end panes are £70+ and we'd have needed about 6 of them, so it all adds up.
We've had 2 bathrooms and a kitchen from them. They have always been the cheapest and I can't fault their service either. 
Oh, I constucted the shelves above the sink myself though, from an end panel.
Untitled by PeterPoddy, on Flickr
Untitled by PeterPoddy, on Flickr
Halfway through the fitting, but shows the baskets in the far cupboard, and the fresh plaster! (I know a superb plasterer as well, if anyone needs one?)
Untitled by PeterPoddy, on Flickr
Ta, new kitchen is on the list for early next year so always good to have recommendations.
rprt - where you having a bad day? 
No probs. We ALWAYS get at least 3 quotes for stuff like this, and we'd have been happy with any of the 3 we tried apart from a) the price! and b) those unit sizes!
Both Homebase and Magnet gave us some good ideas to work with though. It took us AGES to plan that kitchen
Oh, do not bother with Moben!
Bloke came round, gave us the hard sell, didn't listen to what we wanted, the quoted £16,000 + worktops + appliances + plumbing + electrical + this + that + the other. There was no list of parts, no 3D plan, no samples to look at.....
That was the point we decided to do it ouselves as a project, employing tradesmen as and when we needed them. Apart from a broken waste pipe we found when ripping the old kitchen out, it all went very well. I promised Mrs PP the kithen finished by Christams last year, and I had it done 2 weeks early.
(and I was allowed to buy a sledgehammer and an electric mitre saw as well, so I was happy too! )
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