Kitset Kitchens

[Metal Head]

Hi,

Has anyone ever used their products (or someone similar) to build their own kitchen?. We are keen to install our own but have been advised that it is more cost effective to have the kitchen made and installed by a professional company. From your own experience(s) would you say that this is true?.

Thanking those in advance who take the time out of their busy schedule to reply.

Cheers
David

[arms]

personally i dont know what kitset kitchens produce so i will not denegrate or aspire their product,when you are looking for a flat pack kitchen you will, i assume, realise that there is a certain amount of labour that you personally must perform before you will end up with a finished product which is where you save money ,this being the case you should seek whatever product SUITS YOU ,
i know in this forum that there are several kitchen companys promoting their product (me included) so my advice to you is to ,do as you would when you are going to buy something from some one face to face ,do your research,ask questions,ask for references from your area ,if none is in your area ask for phone numbers,remember that all states in au have statutory regulations regarding companies and foremost all banks have a very strict set of guidelines regarding internet transactions

[Guy]

I have installed 2 of there kitchens and in my opinion i would not buy for myself, there price was about $200 cheaper then Plyboard in Dandenong.
Problems i encountered were:
Corner wall cupboards had to have the holes drilled in them at the backs.
Panels were not able to be fitted due to poor design.
600 Base oven had insufficent space to fit the regultors for the gas oven and hot plates.
These were the major probs,

Should you wish to use Plyboard PM off list

[Metal Head]

Thanks Tom & Guy for your responses much appreciated.

[Wildman]

I have used Novaloc and Perennial Kitchens for two kitchen reno's.

Novaloc do not have solid back cabinets and the cabinets come pre assembled making transport more tricky. Customised sizes are expensive as are any variations from their catalogue.

Perennial Kitchens in Bayswater have a Flat Pack option (Pro Cut Components). Solid back cabinets, good quality door hinges but I have found the drawer runners a bit flimsy (fine for small drawers, not strong enough for pot drawers). Pro cut will customise at virtually no charge and will make all cabinets to your exact measurements.

If I had to choose again, it would be Perennial over Novaloc any day but I would get the drawer design changed a bit and would put heavy duty (60Kg+) drawer runners on any pot drawers.

Cheers
Ben

[Razor]

Hi Metal Head
I have used Ikea kitchen prepacks and was very happy with them. They had the rail and style type of door which I like better than the flat MDF. I have moved and the this house is getting a remodel job. This time I plan to build my own. The sums tell me it will be a fair bit cheaper but I am looking forward to doing it any way.
Good luck with your decision

[Markw]

First I'd be thinking about your own capability. After having a kitchen installed by a local company I now know that that was the right decision.

Houses aren't square either to walls or floors so how good are you at scribing the new flat pack to accomodate the house. My kitchen is shaped like an inverted capital "G". The laminated bench top which has a rounded edge was pre-cut and fitted with the screw joiners which prevents you from changing much of the shape other than the back edge. If the cupboard carcasses can't have the angle of the panels changed then they won't be going to sit square.

Then again your house maybe dead square :rolleyes: :rolleyes: or you may have the skills and patience to stuff around - not for me, for a few bucks extra

I ended up with a great looking kitchen:) :) :)

[rod1949]

I have installed 2 of there kitchens and in my opinion i would not buy for myself, there price was about $200 cheaper then Plyboard in Dandenong.
Problems i encountered were:
Corner wall cupboards had to have the holes drilled in them at the backs.
Panels were not able to be fitted due to poor design.
600 Base oven had insufficent space to fit the regultors for the gas oven and hot plates.
These were the major probs,

Should you wish to use Plyboard PM off list

Would these have really been the cupboard manufacturers fault? Drilling holes at the back for what? Plumbing, Powerpoints if it was such things, surely they need to be done on site?

[grinner]

I got quotes from Kitset, Ikea and a local cabinet maker for our kitchen. The cabinet maker was only a few hundred dollars more expensive than the kit units, so that is what we went for.
They had the hassle of fitting it into our 50 year old wonky house, we didn't have to compromise with our choice of colours etc, and they were able to customise to exactly what we wanted.

Grinner

[troppolad]

G`day guys
having worked for a cabinetmaker as an assembler/installer/template maker etc i`ve done a few kitchens, even installed a few of the flatpack kitchens......
the faltpacks vary in quality (as does anything) but i`ve found that they always seem very flimsy, they are always made in the workshop with no viewing or measurement of the site so if your kitchen walls are even slightly out of square or plumb you have a lot of stuffing to make them fit right.
they usually tend to have the cheapest fittings like plastic feet and clip on kickers
you only need to pull one cabinet out of square a fraction to have major problems getting the doors to hang right
they may save you a couple of hundred dollars but they will cost you hours of hair tearing frustration
personally i think it is worth the extra time to shop around cabinet shops getting prices, maybe even asking for references, it will be a lot easier, quicker and cause a lot less grey hairs in the long run
if you are confident enough to do it yourself, go for it but you have to have the basic knowledge, tools and most importantly the patience to see it through or SWMBO will forever be reminding you about "the gaps at the edges dont look right" or "the doors arent even" or maybe even "that looks terrible"
cheers guys
troppo

[shep]

gday
quote from kitset kitchens in portmacquarie with no benchtop was $7000 with me picking up and installing the kitchen. i ended up going with a small manafacturer who built ( more drawes then the kitset quote ) and installed the kitchen tracked down the benchtop i wanted (carbonfiber) and he was very padantic when installing the kitchen an absolute brillent job all for $5600 inc GST

finished the job and then moved. bugger.

shep

[Guy]

Would these have really been the cupboard manufacturers fault? Drilling holes at the back for what? Plumbing, Powerpoints if it was such things, surely they need to be done on site?

By the term drilling holes i was refering to the holes that one would put the screws into to secure the top and bottom to the backs of the wall cupboards to secure all the parts together.
If they were able to do the holes for the base cupboards then they would be capable of doing for the wall cupboards.
Other holes for pipes and electrical one would not expect these to be drilled out.

[arms]

(having worked for a cabinetmaker as an assembler/installer/template to)

(the faltpacks vary in quality (as does anything) but i`ve found that they always seem very flimsy)

Flat pack kitchens as is their very nature meant to save the end user (you) dollars as you will be assembling and installing the cabinets yourself,this leads me to quality ,any flat pack kitchen will only cost what it costs to produce it and further along "you only get what you paid for", this gets back to the advice i have offered all along in this forum ,ask questions ,ask for assembly instructions ,ask questions of any past customers in your area , ask,ask,ask ,
if the company gets tired of you asking then that gives you an idea of the service,
i get calls from all over australia about my flat pack kitchens and i have no qualms about helping the customer with anything they are uncomfortabe about,
i know what i do and how i support my product and have no problem with customers questions ,because really they(you ) are entrusting me to produce a product that will save you money and you can then fib and say that you bought the kitchen off the most expensive kitchen company in your area and no one will know the difference
I would suggest that the writer of subject really hasnt got the experience or the qualifications to comment ,but then again its always interesting to see what people have to say about subjets in this forum

[troppolad]

point taken arms
you seem to be a rare flat pack kitchen manufacturer, if i stepped on your toes i am sorry
i was only talking from my experience
there are good and bad, dont you agree or are you saying that ALL flat pack manufacturers are excellent???????
i think i said in my last post "in my experience" or such like, maybe not but you are stating that your kitchens are excellent. you seem to be off by my statement, how many of your competitors kitchens have you installed? how often have you been onsite to install a kitchen when the manufacturer has never even seen the house and only worked from plans and therefore the kitchen does not fit, but being the installer you have to make it fit or you are the bad guy
i agree with what you say about asking questions, the more detailed the better, but how many home handymen would have the know how to scribe a top? or ensure the cabinets are aligned?
there are some that would but there are many that dont
spose the same could be said about the manufacturers, there are some that are good and there are many that are not
troppo

[Metal Head]

(having worked for a cabinetmaker as an assembler/installer/template to)

(the faltpacks vary in quality (as does anything) but i`ve found that they always seem very flimsy)I would suggest that the writer of subject really hasnt got the experience or the qualifications to comment ,but then again its always interesting to see what people have to say about subjets in this forum

Hi Tom,

Was that comment in reference to me who started the thread?.

Cheers
David

[arms]

(but you are stating that your kitchens are excellent[

i have re read my insertion into the forum and i dont beleive that i used the word or term excellent in my posting ,sure there are problems with flat pack kitchens but we as manufacturers can only go on what the customer supplys to us so we can manufacture the asked product to what is ordered,this being said(typed) we (as a flat pack manufacturer) look at every job and if there is something not quite right we ring the person or email them about our concerns ,most time it turns out that we were wrong about our concerns but then again what if we didnt ring and the customer stuffed a measurement would they tell their friend that they (you) stuffed up ,
i think not ,we would be pillarised to the end of the world and our name blackened because some one couldnt or wouldnt tell the truth ,you may think i am going to far but this has happenened to us and i only found out about it through another customer that ordered from us and i got talking to them over the phone,
i am not ticked off with you , but i would ask that you dont bundle all flat pack kitchen manufacturers into the same package , because we (kitchen in a box) care about our product and name and then again there are manufacturers that only care about product moving

[arms]

Hi Tom,

Was that comment in reference to me who started the thread?.

Cheers
David
hi david ,i was actually referring to a comment from
troppolad (http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/member.php?u=9932)<SCRIPT type=text/javascript> vbmenu_register("postmenu_286069", true); </SCRIPT>
about flat pack kitchens

[China]

Metal head
My advice as a Cabinet Maker of 40 odd years, is find a company that produces modular kitchins in my opinion they are much better quality than flat packs.

[arms]

Metal head
My advice as a Cabinet Maker of 40 odd years, is find a company that produces modular kitchins in my opinion they are much better quality than flat packs.
i can only asume that you have seen all that is out there in regards to flat pack kitchens and the finishes available