Ooooh, its hapened again! Split with wife, moved house, no internet till end of August! Still, at le...
Ooooh, its hapened again! Split with wife, moved house, no internet till end of August! Still, at least I wont have to face the mother in law again! Just hope she hasn't put a spell on me! Catch up soon...
Member since:27.10.2005
Reviews:13
Members who trust:8
On returning from holiday last week, I found a rather fat cheque in the post from a car accident last year, and decided to get on with some long overdue home improvements, starting with the kitchen. I've tried to scrub mine until it looks new, but you cant make a silk purse out of a pig's ear!
I even invited the mother-in-law round to see if she could put a spell on it, but after much chanting and stone-chucking, it looked no different. I reckon she has watched too many Harry Potter films, and is trying to relive her childhood......
So I sobered the wife up with a cup of hot coffee, and off we trudged to our local B&Q in search of our dream kitchen. And that is what it turned out to be- a dream!
We put ourselves at the mercy of the in-store kitchen planning service, who initially tried to sell us about seven grands worth of stuff we did not want.I told
them our budget, and when they stopped laughing and got up from the floor, agreed to a home visit to see if there could be any salvation.
And I must admit, this was amazingly quick. Even though they knew that we would not make them rich, they turned up with a big black box of computer wizardry, and set about a new kitchen design.
I had decided by this point that I would fit the kitchen myself. I have no experience of this, but was always pretty handy with a bit of Lego, and I even managed to put an MFI wardrobe together once!
The main problem I had was that I did not know what I wanted. As I do the cooking and cleaning, my wife is quite happy to let me choose everything, although I try to encourage some input from her. All she wants is a bigger fridge for her precious beer supply!
And this is the part of the service that I REALLY wanted. Using the computer, young Tracy managed,under the guidance of her senior colleague( yes I always get the trainees!), to help me select the configuration of the new kitchen layout.
After much mind changing, we finally arrived at a design, and all the required components ( which were the cheapest in store!), were entered into the computer, and produced a final cost of £758 without the oven, sink, taps, or lights! A rough guesstimate of the finished kitchen took us to just over £2000, which was a bit too high for me, considering that I had to do the installation.
So I set about reducing the cost, which was very effective, and if you are going to buy and install your own kitchen, here are some money-savers:-
The original quote included new cupboards, and these are not cheap, although after much research, I decided the B&Q units were of good quality at a reasonable price. The only broken unit was the sink, so this HAD to be replaced, but all I am going to do is change the doors and draws on the others, and by the time I put new Cornice and valances around them, one would never know the difference.
I am looking on ebay for the new cooker and sink, but I think I will probly get the oven and hob from B&Q, as they do an oven/grill for £219 and a hob for £49. If I buy these I will review them.
Many of the fillers and sealants can be found in the local pound shop or market for a fraction of the price, and B&Q have an excellent range of handles. MIne are £8 a pair.
The worktops are £60, which are amazing value, although delivery is £20 (over £400 for free delivery). I intend to order them with the oven and hob etc to get the free delivery.
Most parts are available instore, but the actual cupboards and doors have to be ordered. This will take 2-3 weeks, and I can avoid the delivery charge by picking them up from the store instead of having them delivered to my house.
One drawback with the delivery service is that they only deliver to the kerbside, and I will have to make sure that I have someone here to help get it in the house. This will be awkward, because B&Q will not give a delivery time, not even a.m or p.m., just a date. Guess I'll have to use the mum-in-law's crystal ball...
The planners were in my house for 3and a half hours, and it did become rather tedious. Also at the end, I wanted to see what the finished configuration would look like in another style, but madam senior made it quite clear that she wanted to get away.
I would suggest that if you wanted this service, go to www.diy.com, and you can use B&Q's own kitchen designer program without a home visit. I was unable to do this, because I live in the dark ages, and my old computer just glared at me and blatantly refused to run the program.
At the time of writing, the final cost of my new kitchen, from flor tiles to light bulbs, with a new cooker, sink, and taps, is under £900. Dont be bullied by the kitchen planners- remember, they are all part of the Kingfisher group, and want to sell you as much as possible. My special order doors, draws and pelmets, cornices,valances and special panels came to a mere £117!
Once again, you can contact B&Q at www.diy.com Don't even bother trying to phone- even if the phone is answered the same day, nobody will know what you are talking about, and the planners will be out on a visit. And when you finally get to the checkout, you will find out what the Q is for.............................. A long one.
I'll add some photos as I go along, to see the cooker and hob, you can go to the hob review, which I have purchased from B&Q.
If you're still here, thanx for reading, and I hope you can save some money. The biggest plus about B&Q is the sheer versatility- I dont think you can do this anywhere else, and they have got a good range of products.
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good review. i got my kitchen from mfi and she tried to rip us off with stuff and they wanted £1800 to fit it. We got in local guys and paid around £1000. (this included new plumbing, elecs and everything). hopefully buying a new house so will have to go through it all again............................
Nov 26th, 2005
(Dec 9th, 2005)
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