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| UK diy (uk.d-i-y) For the discussion of all topics related to diy (do-it-yourself) in the UK. All levels of experience and proficency are welcome to join in to ask questions or offer solutions. |
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MFI or IKEA kitchen?
Hi
The wife and I (well...more the wife) are looking to replace the kitchen and are looking at MFI and IKEA as potential suppliers. The MFI kitchen looks good and has a good price, but I would like anyone's thoughts before I take the plunge. Can anyone help? THanks Tony |
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#2
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#3
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wrote in message oups.com... Hi The wife and I (well...more the wife) are looking to replace the kitchen and are looking at MFI and IKEA as potential suppliers. The MFI kitchen looks good and has a good price, but I would like anyone's thoughts before I take the plunge. Can anyone help? Couple of points, the lack of pipe space at the rear of IKEA units is a pain and MFI take the delivery risk but there are bound to be some parts out of stock at IKEA. Apart from that there are sizing differences which may make a diference, for example MFI drawer units are 600mm and IKEA are 400mm. Ditto tall units are different widths. That might make a difference if you are tight for space. IMHO MFI are excellent value for money assuming you get the (almost permanent) sale prices. Jim A |
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#4
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Jim Alexander wrote:
wrote in message oups.com... Hi The wife and I (well...more the wife) are looking to replace the kitchen and are looking at MFI and IKEA as potential suppliers. The MFI kitchen looks good and has a good price, but I would like anyone's thoughts before I take the plunge. Can anyone help? Couple of points, the lack of pipe space at the rear of IKEA units is a pain and MFI take the delivery risk but there are bound to be some parts out of stock at IKEA. Apart from that there are sizing differences which may make a diference, for example MFI drawer units are 600mm and IKEA are 400mm. Ditto tall units are different widths. That might make a difference if you are tight for space. IMHO MFI are excellent value for money assuming you get the (almost permanent) sale prices. I've just fitted an ikea kitchen. MFI's attitude and shop were a notable factor in the decision, but the choice of unit widths was also better from ikea - we've got a small kitchen, and fitted units 30, 40, 50 and 60 cm wide. 60 drawer units are now available. -- Spamtrap in use To email replace 127.0.0.1 with blueyonder dot co dot uk |
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#5
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Ikea.
Put my kitchen in last year and was really pleased with the result. Everything is modular too, meaning an average base unit requires 5 separate parts giving loads of flexibility if you need to customise any units. The cost of these parts added up is the price they advertise! All units are standard metric (300mm, 500mm 600mm etc.) but generally undersized by a few mm. Plus, they do those things now that stop your cupboards/draws from slamming. Things to watch for... The units are really deep (580mm) - you need to be really careful with pipework/cables behind units. The worktops are susceptible to splitting just under the front edge if they get wet. It's probably solvable with a bit of PVA though. "Darren" wrote in message ... On 3 May 2005 04:20:01 -0700, wrote: Hi The wife and I (well...more the wife) are looking to replace the kitchen and are looking at MFI and IKEA as potential suppliers. The MFI kitchen looks good and has a good price, but I would like anyone's thoughts before I take the plunge. Can anyone help? THanks Tony Maybe the insides or the fastenings will help you decide. I'd go more towards IKEA, but there may be issues with sizes/fittings being scandanavian, dunno though. |
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#6
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"Chris Hodges" wrote in message . uk... Jim Alexander wrote: wrote in message oups.com... Hi The wife and I (well...more the wife) are looking to replace the kitchen and are looking at MFI and IKEA as potential suppliers. The MFI kitchen looks good and has a good price, but I would like anyone's thoughts before I take the plunge. Can anyone help? Couple of points, the lack of pipe space at the rear of IKEA units is a pain and MFI take the delivery risk but there are bound to be some parts out of stock at IKEA. Apart from that there are sizing differences which may make a diference, for example MFI drawer units are 600mm and IKEA are 400mm. Ditto tall units are different widths. That might make a difference if you are tight for space. IMHO MFI are excellent value for money assuming you get the (almost permanent) sale prices. I've just fitted an ikea kitchen. MFI's attitude and shop were a notable factor in the decision, but the choice of unit widths was also better from ikea - we've got a small kitchen, and fitted units 30, 40, 50 and 60 cm wide. 60 drawer units are now available. That's interesting about the shop. You've reminded me that I sidestepped the poor MFI shop service by ordering online. Jim A |
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#8
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wrote in message oups.com... Hi The wife and I (well...more the wife) are looking to replace the kitchen and are looking at MFI and IKEA as potential suppliers. The MFI kitchen looks good and has a good price, but I would like anyone's thoughts before I take the plunge. Can anyone help? THanks Tony can't comment on ikea, but recently went in mfi and was pleasantly surprised iirc there were 2 main ranges schreiber and ??? , neadless to say 'the boss' picked the dearest :-( Also well worth a look is wickes range, I fitted one about 6 years ago, good quality with solid backs + very good service, will probably go with wickes again this time Regards Jeff |
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#9
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#10
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Our MFI kitchen was fitted about 6 years ago and still looks good. There
were no parts missing at all. |
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#11
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#12
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Jim Alexander wrote:
wrote in message oups.com... Hi The wife and I (well...more the wife) are looking to replace the kitchen and are looking at MFI and IKEA as potential suppliers. The MFI kitchen looks good and has a good price, but I would like anyone's thoughts before I take the plunge. Can anyone help? Couple of points, the lack of pipe space at the rear of IKEA units is a pain and MFI take the delivery risk but there are bound to be some parts out of stock at IKEA. Apart from that there are sizing differences which may make a diference, for example MFI drawer units are 600mm and IKEA are 400mm. Ditto tall units are different widths. That might make a difference if you are tight for space. You can get 400mm drawer...in most MFI ranges IMHO MFI are excellent value for money assuming you get the (almost permanent) sale prices. Jim A |
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#14
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Tony Eva wrote:
wrote: Hi The wife and I (well...more the wife) are looking to replace the kitchen and are looking at MFI and IKEA as potential suppliers. The MFI kitchen looks good and has a good price, but I would like anyone's thoughts before I take the plunge. I recently put in my Ikea kitchen and can throw a few more thoughts into the general pool: Pros: * (In my case) drove to Ikea on a Saturday morning - everything in stock, ferried it all back home (had to make two trips with an estate car) - job done in a day. No waiting for delivery, and there was not. One. Single. Thing. Missing. In £1500 worth of wall and base units. I was well impressed :-) Most expensive MFI kitchen I have installed was a shade over £600... |
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#15
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In message ,
"Jim Alexander" wrote: Couple of points, the lack of pipe space at the rear of IKEA units is a pain [...] Apart from that there are sizing differences which may make a diference, for example MFI drawer units are 600mm and IKEA are 400mm. Ditto tall units are different widths. That might make a difference if you are tight for space. We fitted an Ikea kitchen last year and got around the lack of pipe space by re-arranging pipework to run at skirting level. How practical this would be elsewhere is really determined by the layout of the kitchen. One potential advantage to this I didn't think of at the time is that it is theoretically possible... erm... well... perhaps, to get at the pipes and so on without dismantling the units. Services run behind units are effectively sealed in until you decide to remove the unit. Run them at skirting level and once you've removed the plinth you've a chance... if your arms are exceptionally long and thin. As it happens, I've arranged the pipe runs so that there are no joints in this area so hopefully it won't be an issue. As for the drawers, ISTR that there were 400, 600 and 800 units in 3-drawer and 5-drawer available when we bought. Possibly the 5-drawer wasn't available at 800 and certainly the 800 wasn't available in all styles. We have both 400 and 800 in our kitchen. They are standing up to a lot of abuse too - one of the 800 units has the bulk of our crockery in it and must be holding a heck of a lot of weight, the other has all the tinned food. As it happens both 800 units are near side walls so they're screwed to battens attached to those walls as well as being attached to the wall behind where possible. Having never fitted a kitchen of any sort previously I was pleasantly surprised. Not only that, but (contrary to stories I have since heard) everything was delivered on time, complete and undamaged. The icing on the cake was that we went to the store when they happened to be having one of their 20%-off-everything days (we didn't know this until we turned up) and with the money we therefore saved we were able to afford the dishwasher we were leaving a space for. We did break one unit leg, but they're available off-the-shelf so it was very easy to replace. Our decision to go for drawers instead of cupboards where possible was definitely the correct one too - pull the thing out and you have instant access to everything inside without having to unpack the front of the shelf first. Brilliant. Hwyl! M. -- Martin Angove: http://www.tridwr.demon.co.uk/ Two free issues: http://www.livtech.co.uk/ Living With Technology .... Housework can kill you if done right. |
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#16
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RedOnRed wrote: Our MFI kitchen was fitted about 6 years ago and still looks good. There were no parts missing at all. I've bought plenty of MFI kitchens and other furniture over the years and there's never been one single thing missing. People who often say this either haven't ever bought anything from MFI in their life, haven't looked properly or used the wrong fixing or part in the wrong place to begin with. Take your time, read the instructions properly and you'll always have no problems. They also say that men who take their time with flat pack furniture are better lovers. |
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#17
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The Natural Philosopher wrote:
Most expensive MFI kitchen I have installed was a shade over £600... Not quite sure what this is intended to mean, but without knowing the number of units involved in each case, it doesn't really help in a comparison of costs. I remember that the Ikea prices were a lot less than those in the MFI price list, but as others have pointed out, MFI have a near-permanent sale on, so their price list was probably pretty unrepresentative of reality anyway. -- Tony |
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#18
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"The Natural Philosopher" wrote in message t... wrote: Hi The wife and I (well...more the wife) are looking to replace the kitchen and are looking at MFI and IKEA as potential suppliers. The MFI kitchen looks good and has a good price, but I would like anyone's thoughts before I take the plunge. If there is anything worse than MFI it has to be Ikea. (actually I have used MFI - well Hygena units actually - quite extensively. They are not too bad. Should do 6-10 years without completely disintegrating in a busy kitchen, which is par for the course, and they do have backs on em to hide pipes and wires behind..) Can anyone help? THanks Tony Have you tried Howdens - they are the trade outlet for MFI - haven't used them for a couple of years. They don't always have the full range but much cheaper and usually in stock. Might be worth a look Phil |
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#19
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In article , Philco
writes "The Natural Philosopher" wrote in message et... wrote: Hi The wife and I (well...more the wife) are looking to replace the kitchen and are looking at MFI and IKEA as potential suppliers. The MFI kitchen looks good and has a good price, but I would like anyone's thoughts before I take the plunge. If there is anything worse than MFI it has to be Ikea. (actually I have used MFI - well Hygena units actually - quite extensively. They are not too bad. Should do 6-10 years without completely disintegrating in a busy kitchen, which is par for the course, and they do have backs on em to hide pipes and wires behind..) Can anyone help? THanks Tony Have you tried Howdens - they are the trade outlet for MFI - haven't used them for a couple of years. They don't always have the full range but much cheaper and usually in stock. Might be worth a look Phil Except that they don't deal directly with the public.... -- Tony Sayer |
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#20
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I'd look at Wickes - well built, good service, good prices and good
delivery. I have used them for a kitchen and one fitted bedroom. The other fitted bedroom I used MFI and to be honest never again. Not only were parts missing and damaged on delivery, but they had sold me items from a range which was discontinued without pointing this out to me. So when I reported the parts missing and damaged they told me they could not replace any parts - despite the fact the range was still on sale. For the damaged part and one of the missing parts, it took me 6 months and letters to the MD to convince them to open a box of the same unit that they still had in their warehouse to get the parts I needed as their spares dept. could not supply the items. For the one remaining missing part I had almost camp out in one of their showrooms to convince them to remove said part from a display model. So MFI never again.......Wickes I'd recommend them....IKEA I know nothing !!! |
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#21
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`Hi,
Dont know if this has been said befdore couldnt really be bothered to re-read it all. Just fitted a IKEA kitchen, after getting a quote from MFI and the guy in the store told me to wait till after some date (Cant remember what) as the prices have just gone up to accomodate the sale they were about to have, kinda made my mind up that I wasnt going to go for MFI. Anyhow designed kitchen using the ikea kitchen program, then wentt o store with piece of paper and they ordered it all for me, (about £1000 for about 14 cabinets) they said delivery may be up to 2 weeks but within the week got a call. All products were there some over pieces the only problem being that I have 2 metal bars that I have no idea where they go. Got the worksurface from there and worked out so much cheaper than say wickes and looks breally good esp when u get mitered joints, from a local cabinet maker (If you in essex region let me know have a great contact) Anyway cut a long story short I would go for IKEA again, just bear in mind the pipes which ok are a bit of a pain but does give you very big draws. Olly |
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#22
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"deep in some" wrote in
oups.com: So MFI never again.......Wickes I'd recommend them....IKEA I know nothing !!! My biggest gripe about Wickes is their lack of range of wall cabinets. Their standard ones simply do not work for us so we shallbe going to... umm, somewhere else. -- Rod |
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#23
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snip
* A bit basic and lacking in finesse - no soft closers, etc, though another post leads me to suspect this may have changed recently. yep, little black things that fit just inside the units to stop the doors/drawers slamming. These have been added since I bought my kitchen, and I couldn't find them anywhere so I assume you get them with the units :-( Actually, does anybody know where I can get these (or similar)? |
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#24
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"RayDavis" wrote in message ... snip * A bit basic and lacking in finesse - no soft closers, etc, though another post leads me to suspect this may have changed recently. yep, little black things that fit just inside the units to stop the doors/drawers slamming. These have been added since I bought my kitchen, and I couldn't find them anywhere so I assume you get them with the units :-( Actually, does anybody know where I can get these (or similar)? You can get self adhesive buffers from ebay. http://stores.ebay.co.uk/The-Kitchen-Specialist-Shop |
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#25
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"Kaiser" wrote in news:427933ab$0$303$cc9e4d1f@news-
text.dial.pipex.com: http://stores.ebay.co.uk/The-Kitchen-Specialist-Shop Or http://www.isaaclord.co.uk/ - and they sell various special housings for them. (I did check and Wickes fit genuine Blum fittings. Don't know about the other shops.) If visiting in person, go to the trade counter (which has different opening hours). From memory, something like £17-50 for 10. As you might have guessed, I am thinking of fitting them when we do the kitchen. Does anyone have a good method of drilling 8mm holes straight into the carcases? I wondered if any of the dowelling jigs could be adapted? Go to http://www.blum.com/group/en/03/02/05/index.jsp for details fo the full range, etc. -- Rod |
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#26
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yep, little black things that fit just inside the units to stop the
doors/drawers slamming. These have been added since I bought my kitchen, and I couldn't find them anywhere so I assume you get them with the units :-( I bought mine from B&Q. Fitted the preexisting holes in my MFI kitchen carcasses. Much nicer that those old tacky stick on bumpers. Christian. |
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#27
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Have you tried Howdens
Except that they don't deal directly with the public.... They also don't stock the colour matched carcass side panels, which is important if you're not going for white. They just give you a chunk of coloured chipboard to cut to size and glue on, which looks cheap and nasty in comparison to the correctly manufactured replacement side panels. Christian. |
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