Kitchens Direct

I will come clean from the outset and tell you that this opinion is incomplete. It is incomplete in so much that I did not choose to buy my new kitchen from Kitchens Direct ,so I can’t tell you what the product and fitting are actually like ,if one went through with the fitting.

My reason for writing this review is because I was so unhappy with the parts of the process we did go ahead with that I would like to warn you to think hard before giving them your hard earned cash or bank loan!

We are having massive restoration work done on our Victorian house. We totally ripped out the bathroom .I designed that myself and the builders did all the work. The same happened with my study and I am thrilled with the results. The kitchen is our current project. We share the house with my fairly aged Mother in law .She wanted her own kitchen as she already had an annexe but no cooking area. This seemed reasonable so we converted a garage for her use as a kitchen diner. We valiantly suggested she keep her own solid oak units as we were having new ones anyway. This necessitated ripping out our kitchen 12 weeks ago in order for hers to be built.

Finally, a fortnight ago the work on our own new kitchen began in earnest. There is a colossal amount of rebuilding, knocking walls down, re- laying pipes, putting in a bigger boiler and moving that to be done before we will be ready to refit the kitchen. The problem with doing that is that we didn’t have the exact measurements and proportions until the last minute which left very little time to design and order the cabinets, worktops etc.

It was suggested to me that Kitchens Direct might be an option, so I contacted them. I explained the situation and said that in order not to waste anyone’s time there was only any point in them coming to the house if they could guarantee the kitchen would be with us in four weeks. I was assured that this was no problem and they made an appointment for the designer to come the next evening . I was told to expect a confirmation call. The appointment would last for a maximum of two hours. This all seemed fine so I made the appointment.

Then things got interesting- what was my address?

I told them.
Was I sure?
Yes, I think I know my own address. Well, it would not come up automatically on their system. I suggested that it was entered manually.
“Sorry, madam, we can’t do that, but do you recognise any of these other houses?” I did, they were neighbouring houses from around the corner.
“ Pick one of those and we will put that down”
Excuse me?
Well it seems I had to opt for a neighbours address and they would put a note that the address was incorrect and handwrite the real one at the bottom. I was told to make sure I advised the designer of this when he ‘phoned to confirm the appointment!

The appointment was for 7pm and by 5.45 we had had no confirmation call. I asked John to check if they were coming so that we could plan our meal time. They said they would call us back once they knew what was going on..

A most obnoxious man called me back on my mobile phone. He asked why we had called in . I explained that we wanted to know when the man was coming as we had not had the promised confirmation. He said he was to have come but he was sitting in the office in Bristol and if he left then it would mean not getting to us until 10pm. ( we live 20 miles from Plymouth). He said that he was unable to come, but offered no explanation as to why or why we had not been informed.

I explained that this was a problem as we had been relying on him coming. Our builders needed the design that week in order to plan the cabling and plumbing. I also repeated that we were cutting it fine for ordering the kitchen as we had a time scale of four weeks.

He then told me that I was looking at an eight week time scale. I asked why I had been given incorrect information and explained that the appointment was only made on the explicit understanding that they could supply within the month.

I also asked why an appointment had been made which could not be kept and why he had such a cavalier attitude to it. I was informed it was because Kitchens Direct were a victim of their own success and that they were just “ too good”. By this time my blood was boiling.

Re-scheduling the appointment was a waste of time from my point of view as they had now said they could not meet my deadline. I said not to bother me again and then the attitude changed, although only slightly and not for long! I was told that I could have it on time if I did not mind storing it for a few days before they could fit it. He said that as I had builders in I obviously would have loads of storage space! I am not sure what planet this idiot was from but every room in the house is brimming with the contents of other rooms which are being rebuilt!

Anyway, to cut to the chase, I allowed another appointment to be made for two days time as long as it was not going to be him! The supercilious idiot said very sarcastically, could we dispense with the confirmation call? I reminded him that had we not checked we would not have known they weren’t coming and it would have wasted our evening waiting for him.

As you can imagine, my impression thus far was a very negative one. I meant to phone head office complain and cancel the appointment, but I forgot, as one does.

At the duly appointed time the designer turned up. He was a middle aged chap called David and was utterly charming. He chatted to us about what we had in mind and eventually investigated the building site in the middle of our house where the kitchen will be. The builders had completed enough for him to be able to work on a design, which was a relief. The first thing he said was that I should not have any top cupboards. I had already said that storage was vitally important to us in the kitchen and he wanted to cut down the cupboards by 50%. I expressed my dislike of this idea and he told me that it was the design that counted in a kitchen, not storage and that we should store the majority of our kitchen “stuff” elsewhere in the house!

I pushed the point that we really had wanted lots of cupboards. His reply was that he tells people that if they want to fill their kitchen with storage then they should go to B and Q!

We hummed and hawed about the design.

John and I were not entirely sold on it although there were a couple of nice points. David kept repeating that it was important that it was what we wanted and not him, but then kept saying that he wanted to change our minds about things. This even applied to things I had said were a must at the outset. I felt a bit pressured despite his continually stating that it must be "our" kitchen.

It was a very long appointment, despite their promise that their designers will be out of your house in two hours. It was only after three and a half hours that he actually discussed their products. By this time we had lost the will to live!

We were shown a scanty brochure which was not impressive. The photos were of very poor quality and it was difficult to judge. However, not one kitchen jumped out and grabbed us! David seemed concerned by this and asked us to pick a selection so that he could bring in some doors to show us. The doors duly appeared in our sitting room. They were only 300mm doors so it was difficult to tell what a whole kitchen would look like.

David had done a rough pencil sketch of his idea, but it was difficult to grasp it really. I had hoped that he would do a comouter generated simulation as we had been given previously.

By now it was 11.30 at night and John had to be up at 5am. We both were unwell with the usual autumn bug. While David was at the car collecting samples I suggested that John escaped to bed, which he duly did. I considered that if John were not there then I could not be pressurised into signing anything.

We were not taken with the product especially. It was supposed to be excellent quality at a reasonable price. Quite honestly, I was hard pushed to tell the difference between that and the MFI kitchens we had previously looked at. The doors were not even solid wood and yet the kitchen was three times the price of a top of the range MFI Schreiber kitchen and with only half the quantity of units, bearing in mind he didn't want us to have top cupboards!!

Fortunately this chap David seemed a decent sort. He realised that we were not entirely convinced and he said there was no point in trying to close the sale as we obviously were not absolutely in love with anything he had shown us.
For that I was grateful. I am sure that a younger more pushy salesman would have pushed to close the deal. After all, we have no kitchen and have to get it from somewhere. This was one of the more positive aspects of the whole experience. BUT... he was in our house from 7pm until 11.45. I find this beyond the pale. He tried to change our ideas and when I said I wanted wine racks he said he didn't like them and we shouldn't have them, although it was "our kitchen" and it was up to us. This also applied to my wanting black worktop and.... so on.

So, we thought it was over priced, our requests we felt, were belittled, although ever so nicely. The contact we had with the office was extremely negative and we were not impressed with their cabinets. At the end of the day, if you are spending £14,000 on kitchen units you want super quality not something that looks as though it could have been B and Q or MFI. Their advertising blurb states that by cutting out the middle man you save a fortune, This appears to be a load of tosh!

Also, when spending a lot of money I would expect to see part of a cabinet and a couple of doors, certainly any decor doors or glazed ones. I don't see that you should be expected to choose from a third rate photo and a very small door. You get better than that at B and Q for goodness sake!

Sorry, Kitchens Direct but I wouldn't touch you with a barge pole.The one thing I will tell you, hand on heart is that this site (ie Ciao) is useful for it's intended purpose. When I thought there was a problem with employing this company I came here and read every op on them. Only one was positive. That finalised my decision, so thank you Ciaoers!!