New Kitchen!

Since we moved into our riverside flat last year, we’ve been meaning to renovate. The 80s original décor if functional, but doesn’t really give that satisfaction vibe we all seek from our homes. Hence we decided some weeks ago to get a new kitchen. There were several phases to this gargantuan project.

Exactly as you might expect the first task is to look at several kitchen companies and get a feel for their products and prices. We looked at Kitchens Direct, Wickes, B&Q, Screwfix, MFI and several expensive showrooms (located just north of Oxford Street). We quickly came to the conclusion that there was little difference in all the kitchens as all featured MDF carcases and most had laminate doors. Similarly prices didn’t vary that significantly between quotes.

We decided on the Kitchens Direct offering. Ironically it was the first quote we received and by far the nicest kitchen, featuring real birch doors, coloured pear effect laminate carcases and soft close on all doors and drawers. We agreed a couple of things to reduce the cost. Firstly we would remove the existing wall tiles prior to fit and second we took the finance package. Finance gave us a 10% discount against the full price. Of course the interest rate is silly, but the redemption penalty for settling in full is 1.65%. Hence we received an 8.35% discount and some useful credit history.

It's worth noting that Kitehens Direct and Moben are owned by the same parent company. Only Moben has showrooms where you can view a completed install. As always, don't be fooled by the 'sale must end' hype. There was a gap of a couple of months between order and delivery and the price hardly changed!