Kitchen companies

Hello all,

I'm looking for recommendations for companies that may be good for planning and installing a new kitchen. Obviously national brands, rather than local to you as I probably can't get anyone to pop over from Wales or down from Mull! I've been told about a few to avoid, but not any to actually try.

I have a very dated kitchen with several challenges when it comes to putting a new one in: it's tiny (maybe I should be knocking down a wall or opening up a doorway - I want a company I can talk through options with), the consumer unit/meters are in a really awkward place and need to go somewhere else, there are windows and doors everywhere so limited options for where things can go, the leak has left some of my floorboards and probably one joist rotten, the plumbing is probably from the 50s and needs replacing, there also needs to be a full rewire though I will probably arrange that separately, I want to somehow squeeze a dishwasher into the available space as well as a fridge-freezer and a washing machine (though maybe the washing machine can go in the back porch?), and I'll probably be staying in a different town while they work so won't be around to monitor progress or micro-manage outside tradespeople.

Anyone know of any good companies that I can actually sit down and have a conversation with and who will come back to me with suggestions to make it work? The kitchen almost put me off buying the house but I hoped inspiration would strike me when I actually moved in. Sadly it has not, and I really need someone who knows what they are doing!

What a lot of people do here is get a design done by howdens

https://www.howdens.com/?cq_src=google_a...7kQAvD_BwE

Then go and buy all the units from ikea.

I clean a couple of fairly new howdens kitchens. Very small basic ones in holiday cottages. Just units & work top. Don’t think the cookers & stuff is theirs. It does seem to be good quality stuff.

Thank you. I have heard good things about Howdens but thought I needed a tradesperson with an account with them already lined up. I have just been playing with their online design tool and made a beautiful looking kitchen, but there's no way to make the kitchen tiny with no wall space so it's not very representative!

I had a Howdens kitchen in my little cottage down west. They gave me a design, which gave me something to work with. Needless to say, I changed things around but I did buy their units and they were good and solid. My builders fitted them and I bought the oven from elsewhere. Because I lived about 100 miles away from the cottage I used my local (Cardiff) Howdens to discuss options. They were very helpful even though they knew I wasn't buying from their branch.
I did buy their fridge but didn't want a dishwasher or freezer.

All I can say is.....I would not touch Wren with a barge pole

I bought mine from Howdens... I used Mikey's layout as a starting point. Then made a to scale plan that fitted my dining room table...and moved boxes around until it worked for me. I also bought their fridge/freezer, a dishwasher and a range master oven from them.
I got a carpenter to fit it.
I love my kitchen

Hmm, maybe I need to be finding myself a tradesperson so that I can go with Howdens since they are coming out in top in the recommendations department... Apparently my local depot should have a list of people that they deal with.

The difficulty is that I don't yet know if I want to extend into the dining room or not.

What do your friends and family think would be best?
I always float my ideas past people, wait for their views and usually ignore them .........but, it really helps to see things through someone else's eyes and experience.
A lot depends on your budget too.
How about putting up your floorplan here and we'll tell you what we'd do. I'm sure everyone will have a different take on it but it may help you crystallise your thoughts.

I'd vouch for putting your floor plan on here - all ideas from others are so helpful. Even if you don't use them it makes your thoughts go off and explore other ideas.

My washing machine is in another room - I like having the washing out of the kitchen. You can close the door on it when you don't want to do it

Can you block any of the doorways up?

Is it something you can live with for now until you are prepared to do a bigger project maybe?

If you opened it into the dining room would you be introducing more doorways into that room?
Do you entertain lots?
Do you like to cook?

I also think putting your floor plan on here is a good idea. I had some great advice that I’ll be incorporating into my kitchen when we get that far.