Hi everyone.  We went for our IKEA appointment and the design the guy came up with is basically the same layout as we have at the moment bar a few tweaks, which is what I thought would happen.  Looks like we can get a dishwasher though, a slimline one, at the expense of some cupboard space.

So, more questions.  IKEA appliances seem to have a 5 year warranty and I have read that dishwashers can be a pain to fit due to the unit sizes IKEA use.  For 375 quid is it worth just using their own dishwasher?  Also their built in fridge freezer is 475 quid.  Any reason not to use this as it seems reasonable compared to branded units.  Microwave too.

I think we’ll go for an oven and hob from Currys and then re use our washing machine for now.

Pretty happy with the quote, was very similar to DIY Kitchens really.  Maybe not as good quality but I’d have to take the risk of ordering it all myself etc.

We’ve got a couple of ikea appliances and they’ve been good. It’s not something I get especially excited about but they’ve worked fine and they have a good warranty if they don’t. Never used the warranty so can’t comment on that especially but was in there recently and someone had issues with their 8 year old tap and the IKEA guy said it would be replaced, no problem.

IKEA appliances have been fine here, word on the street is that dishwasher compatibility can be a real problem so I’d def go IKEA on that to make sure the door fits.

My 2p worth – don’t use built in appliances with matching doors – they are a pain.  Just leave a standard space for a standard sized appliance.

don’t use b and q – i recently fitted one of their kitchens and every cupboard was inaccurately machined leaving slight level differences.  Ikea is the only other kitchen I have fitted and the machining of the units was great.  Everything fitted first time and well.

We want to go for the built in dishwasher and a built in fridge freezer just because our current fridge freezer isn’t built in and looks shit.

Worktops.  I wanted to go for wood effect laminate for cost but my wife, who is in charge of the worktop and handles and things like that, wanted wood.  The wood one would have been 500 or so whilst laminate was 100ish.  They showed us a vennered wood worktop and we liked the loomk.  Has anyone got one?

Just to add, this veneered worktop will come to 270 quid.

We’ve justahd a big kitchen refit done..

we went for Howden’s as had only heard good things about them – really pleased TBH.

THe kitchen design service was great – went by plans rather than real measurements as the build wasn’t done at the design stage.

Quoting was straight forward enough – once they had done our design, they managed to create a quote there and then. I then said “Warren (builder) said you can offer *2% discount” or something like that… and they did!

Yeah, 80% discount is mental, but it’s how it works.

I then sourced all the appliances (Neff) online from whoever was cheapest.

Then got the quartz top from another company (local) too.

THe thing i liked about Howdens was that there’s 2 branches locally, and practically everything is in stock. So when the fitter accidentally cracked a trim, 20 minutes later we had a new one and the fit wasn’t held up. Also..I changed the drawer layout a few times; and being able to just return and replace an item is great…

DrP