Steve Perriam

Possibly looking for a new kitchen as the wife is fed up with the one we have (although its perfecty functional and adequate )

She's had a look at B&Q's offerings and had a bloke around for 2 odd hours last nite going through the design on his laptop etc.

Wondered if anyone has had experience of using B&Q for a new kitchen including sik / oven and hob etc ? Or knows anyone whose had ?

Good points.......

Bad points.......

etc

Still looking to see if a smaller local company or 2 can also quote us to see how they compare.....

Thanks

Steve

MattPiece

Best mate had a B&Q kitchen. Looks nice now but had some problems with the local contractor installation monkeys botching some of the jobs required and B&Q not ordering/delivering correct doors. Eventually got sorted but took a fair amount of hassling to the B&Q suits to get the kitchen right.

555wrx

Specialised kitchen co's will charge you a fair whack, best bet is to get several quotes first. My mates just fitted his own kitchen, purchased from B & Q as a special and its of very good quality,including the appliances.

Reffro

Have you not watched Watchdog?????????

Tiggs

we put a BandQ kitchen in when we moved into our new house.....old kitchen was rubbish and we wanted a quick change without big expense........fitted it myslef and it looks great........its not a £20k looking job but it didnt cost £20k!

CrisPDuk

Wouldn't touch B & Q with a barge pole, my sister's was only installed about 3 years ago and already the hinges are coming loose & drawers are starting to fall apart. Also their appalling standard of customer service is second only to Dell's in most 'Which?' type polls.

If you must have a DIY store kitchen, get a Wickes one, they use decent quality chipboard in their carcasses, and all the hinges & fixings used are genuine German engineered Blum items, not cheap chinese imitations. Although be quick, as this is likely to change, as they have now been acquired by Travis Perkins

OllyK

B&Q is fine for cheap and cheerful. You won't get much cheaper. We fitted some B&Q doors on my old kitchen to "freshen" it up before we moved. The thing to be aware of is that the high level units from B&Q are not very high or deep compared to the likes of Magnet or Hygena (i.e. usually only get 1 shelf and not 2). If you are happy with that then fine.

If you want slightly better quality, try Wickes. Just fitted a Wickes one myself, no great hassles, all went together OK, plenty of spare bits in the bags (no I didn't leave them out by mistake). My kitchen isn't even close to square or level which made things interesting but it wasn't insurmountable.

Also worth a look at Ikea , a bit pricier again, but good quality and lots of innovative ideas.

Tiggs

Cant she just tighten the hinges up?

As for draws......they do a cheap and expensive version- as draws are allways on the move we went for the expensive ones and they are still greata few years on.

T

Blobster

Currently on day2 of our B&Q kitchen installation so I'll let you know.
So far everything arrived as and when promised. Fitters turned up on time and seem a good couple of guys.
Kitchen is now an empty shell, so take-aways for a couple of days.

Blobster

v8voodoo

My suggestion #1: Look at Wickes' range and prices. My girflfriend went for one recently an it seems MILES better than my MFI kitchen and better than the stuff in B&Q.

My suggestion #2: Find a reliable local carpenter to install it for around half of what the store's contractors will charge. The contractors may even fit it outside of the stores arrangement, but may still be a touch pricey.

Just my opinion....

Nige.

Kellicious

Steve, what part of the country are you in? I *may* be able to help, depending on where you're located

Steve Perriam

Thanks for the replys. Keep 'em coming.

Reffro : Nope i've not watched Watchdog...........what did i miss ?

Olly : She does not want cheap and cheerful but thats wot i'm afraid we'll get. And it wont look much better than what we have now which to me looks like a B&Q standard of kitchen !

Blobster : Keep me posted !

V8voodoo : Yep thought about the reliable carpenter bit.

Kellicious : We're in Devon.

We'll deffo get another quote or 2 before she decides !

Cheers

Steve

David_Dickson

My parents recently got their kitchen done by B&Q.

Hopeless delays, general incompetency, fairly shoddy installation, just an awful lot of niggles that all soon added up into 1 big ball-ache.
If it were my kitchen, I would have been livid, but my elderly parents "didnt want to cause a fuss"

I dont know if its just this local store, or a company-wide thing, but I certainly wouldnt get a kitchen from them now.

skoosh

CrisPduck, just a little info youmay have mised mate............yes TP has acquired Wickes, BUT, will be left to run under the group umbrella with it's own board of directors.

TP sell quality kitchens from both Symphony and Bernstein and can match, if not beat any uk supplier on supply and price. I am a branch manager for TP and also happen to have had alot of kitchen design experience. I offer a service that is unrivalled in my local area and HAVE NEVER SUPPLIED A KITCHEN INCOMPLETE................!!

Rant over.

Skoosh - staffs area.( work number deleted by me b4 mods do )

Nick Wadeson

Don't do it.....

I ordered a B&Q kitchen and 12 WEEKS later I cancelled it after several broken delivery promises, the non-return of my phone calls.

Bought one from Ikea instead (everything in stock and no problems).

Nick.

OllyK

And yet I ordered a bathroom from B&Q, asked them to delay delivery as we weren't ready for it, no problem. They rang every couple of weeks to see how things were going, the store bought from also rang now and again to make sure all was well. Finally agreed a delivery date, deliver between 8am and noon. Look out the window at 7.30am and the van is sitting theree waiting for 8am. Everything delivered and all in order.

I admit it is rather "cheap" but it's for a second bathroom, the main bathroom will come from plumb centre and will be much better quality kit.

Pick any company and somebody will have a horror story to tell.

CrisPDuk

Skoosh, I meant no offence mate, I just made the assumption (incorrect obviously) that Wickes would start selling kitchens made by TP's existing supplier, which although better than B & Q's, IMO are not to the same standard.
As for unrivalled service, I can't speak for your area, but where I am Wickes have been beating our local TP for both service and price (even including my TP a/c discount structure) since they opened.

BTW tiggs, it's not the screws that are coming loose, it's the hinge pins/spring assembly that's falling to bits, and the drawers, whether cheap or expensive, they should be fit for purpose.

Kev_turbo

bought a b+q kitchen earlier this year. delivered on time in full. Absolutely no complaints what so ever.

Again though we only wanted the kitchen so the house is fit for sale and looks better.

Steve Perriam

the problem i have is that we are not planning on selling anytime soon so if we do have issues with or it does not last very long we'll be in need of another one by the time we do come to sell !!

we need to get a quote or to from a local supplier and we'll look at Wickes as they seem to be well recommended.

salsa-king

I had the B&Q guy come last wednesday... designed it how i wanted it. (from their take away range that has 70% off)

went in to pick the stuff up off the shelves and didn't have everything in.
SO saw a sales assistant and he ordered everything in for me taht comes in next week.
thing was the designer guy had things on the lst i didn't need... like 6 end panels and i only need 2!!!
so with my discount the whole lot can £200 cheaper!!

I'm fitting it myself and have a joiner who will do butt joint work tops for met etc and cut sink out.

BTW... Nottm Fitting date were running 14 weeks lead times!!!


nothing wrong with the kitchen stuff tho

can't wait for it coming.

Phil

salsa-king

Wickes Kitchen good too... bought one last year for a rented flat i have.... cheap and looks the bizzz.
pix here....and info
http://www.salsa-king.fotopic.net/c28865.html

Phil

Tony MY03WRX

I got B&Q round to design my kitchen and the fitted it all just over a year ago now. All the units are fine still. One thing i would recommend is don't buy gloss work tops as they scratch dead easy

http://bbs.scoobynet.co.uk/showthrea...84#post3274484

Tony

dba

Steve

B&Q were on Watchdog due to teething problems with a new Installation Service centre (stores no longer deal with installations,) and also a Supply centre was set up and volumes were massive,causing more problems.These problems seem to be pretty much resolved but the service still depends on the quality of your local store.Despite improved processes a branch could still screw it up if you order stock delivered from the branch,but these problems are now rare.In my opinion,you can order supply and fit with a lot of confidence from B&Q now,and if things go wrong you don't have to liase with the stores.

The 70% off deals are also genuine,unlike MFI that hike prices up the month before an event only to reduce them again.

the current delivery delays mentioned a couple of times above are due to demand for the 70% doors.If you can't get the stock in stores,and some stores stock the full range,then you can order direct to home,ie the stores don't get involved and there is 15 hr a day 7 day a week call centre to call without going near the stores

B&Q have had a chequered history with Kitchens because stores couldn't handle the volume and complexity of the product,taking the process away from the stores and stocking the bulk of the range in all stores have solved most problems.

where do you live?

Deep Singh

If you are in that price range, Wickes is generally higher quality. I've been told this by a number of tradesman