Buying a new kitchen

[Want-to-know]

Have you had any good/ bad experiences buying a new kitchen?

What companies do you recommend and who should I avoid?

I live in the East London/West Essex area and any recommendations or warnings you could give would help.

Thank you.

[arlibop]

We bought our kitchen from IKEA and it's fantastic. It was recommended by a builder friend, they are great value for money and you can download a kitchen planner that lets you see in 3D what your kitchen will look like.
www.ikea.com/ms/en_US/rooms_ideas/kitchen/download1.html
or you could use it for any kitchen manufacturers

[ELVIS68]

I got mine from MFI, they were very helpful, I took all the measurements in and picked what style kitchen and they designed it there and then
I haggled with them over the price and in the end saved �600

I fitted mine myself though cos they wanted �1500 for doing it
It took me about ten times longer than they would have done but it was worth it

[jollygreen]

My mate had a terrible experience with B&Q, avoid them at all costs!!

[dasherman]

I've heard bad stories about Ikea myself and one kitchen fitter I know flatly refuses to install them as some of the base units don't have a service gap at the back.Which means a lot of messing about cutting holes everywhere for pipes etc.

I bought mine from Wickes and fitted it myself. Like Elvis68 it took me ages but was well worth it.

[Want-to-know]

Thank you all for your assistance.

I should have added that in our household, nobody has a clue about DIY and fitting a kitchen would have to be done by installers.

[full-throttl]

my sister had an MFI fitted kitchen and it's blody fantastic, only took 18 months to fit....

things from supplying the wrong cupboard doors(wich happened twice), supplying the wrong dinning table, fitting the fridge/freezer door on backwards and a few other things meant the one week job took a lot a lot longer, invovled lots of stress and phone calls to all kinds of advisory services

i would suggest you shop around and ask to view fittted kitchens in peoples houses, there you can ask the relevant questions about the kitchen and it's fitters.

[ELVIS68]

I got a list of everything that was being delivered and was told to check each item, which I did, and everything was fine, I even got a new cupboard door sent out free of charge after someone drilled a hole in the wrong place for the handle...oops