Kitchen units - carcass from one company, doors from another?

[Mrs Trellis]

Our last kitchen was from Ikea and not a great success.  The doors are white painted and chip and stain easily.  We are wondering where else in France to buy reasonable kitchen units.  Went to Ikea recently hoping to find nice wooden doors but they have stopped doing the ones we liked.  Not into bright red or high gloss!

Would is be possible to buy the cupboards from Ikea and the doors elsewhere?  For example order from B & Q?  OH thinks there could be a problem as Ikea units come with pre-drilled holes which might not match doors from elsewhere.

Failing that, who else in France does affordable kitchen units?

[cooperlola]

Castorama are B&Q in disguise (in fact the brand name for their kitchens is the same) - have you tried them?  Also, Lapeyre might surprise you - we got an estimate from them for a piece of adapted kitchen furniture for me and they are suprisingly competitive.

[sid]

I've been a big supporter of Lapeyre on here but am VERY disappointed to find that our local store in Niort closed last year and relocated, and is now virtually an Argos-type of operation; order and collect, with very little in the way of display, and it seems a much reduced product catalogue. They used to have a good range of reasonable quality stuff. [:(]

 

 

[Pommier]

Don't forget that Ikea kitchens are guaranteed for 25 years, so if you've still got the receipts I'd take the doors back for replacement.

[Théière]

There must be lots of clauses (25 years) lucky if their stuff lasts 25 months, what do you have to do leave it in the box un-opened [:)]

[Pommier]

Gosh, are you always so defeatist?

[Quillan]

[quote user="Mrs Trellis"]

Our last kitchen was from Ikea and not a great success.  The doors are white painted and chip and stain easily.  We are wondering where else in France to buy reasonable kitchen units.  Went to Ikea recently hoping to find nice wooden doors but they have stopped doing the ones we liked.  Not into bright red or high gloss!

Would is be possible to buy the cupboards from Ikea and the doors elsewhere?  For example order from B & Q?  OH thinks there could be a problem as Ikea units come with pre-drilled holes which might not match doors from elsewhere.

Failing that, who else in France does affordable kitchen units?

[/quote]

I bought my new kitchen from Leroy Merlin (http://www.leroymerlin.fr you can find a store here) and am very happy with it. I used their planning software which is reasonably good considering it is free. If you get a store loyalty card prior to placing your order you get a 10% discount on the first order, even on sales goods. At present the sales are on and some ranges have 30% or more off. As bright colours are all the rage there is a strong possibility that the type of doors you like are in the sale, worth a look I would say. Leroy Merlin always have the same carcass's so in a few years time you will be able to fit new doors to the same carcass's very easily with not banging or drilling.

[sid]

Hmm! Is their stuff really so bad, or am I the only person who has had decent products from them? We've had quite a bit of furniture from IKEA, equipped our gite bedroom and lounge, and some in our main house too. All is still looking good 6 years from new, and was good value for the price.

So, is this a problem with just kitchens then? I did a cheap kitchen refit about 4 or 5 years ago using one of the cheapest ranges from BricoDepot; I mean really cheap as we were on a budget having recently extended the house, and it has been our intention to upgrade the kitchen at some point; we thought the IKEA units looked a strong possibility, so I'm disappointed to hear about this.

Is it just the finish on the doors or do they fall apart as well? Could it be a faulty batch? Are there reports from other dissatisfied customers, say in the UK too?

[andyh4]

Installed an IKEA kitchen in our barn 6 years ago.  Wooden doors.  Still looks very good.  My only complaint is that when we bought the guarantee was only 10 years and now it is 25 years - not that it looks as if there will be any grounds for complaint.

 

So still worth considering Sid.

 

[powerdesal]

As I recall, kitchen unit carcasses ( B & Q, Wickes etc etc ) are pretty damn cheap, we certainly thought so. The doors are where the expense is - so make your own, then you can have whatever style and colour you wish.

[Pommier]

[quote user="powerdesal"] make your own, then you can have whatever style and colour you wish.[/quote]

Mmm - that'd be (very) rustic style then in my case!

Ikea do several designs of oak or birch doors, there don't seem to be pine ones any more - I suppose pine is less popular at present.

[powerdesal]

[IMG]http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h17/powerdesal/AugtoNov2008055.jpg[/IMG]

That wont work !!!!!

[powerdesal]

http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h17/powerdesal/AugtoNov2008055.jpg

This should

[Théière]

6 years ago the carcasses were much better quality than the ones today, now you can push your fingernail into the chipboard, there must be some clauses in this 25y guarantee it cannot be unlimited.  The biggest problem next to the quality of the materials used ( even Magnet are nasty now) although like a box of chocolate as long as the finish is pretty, is the lack of service gap at the back.

I have a waste carriers licence and have to transport so much Ikea crap to the dump I cannot believe people keep buying it. If you like the look buy Hulsta, that lasts. 

[Rob Roy]

[quote user="Quillan"][quote user="Mrs Trellis"]

Our last kitchen was from Ikea and not a great success.  The doors are white painted and chip and stain easily.  We are wondering where else in France to buy reasonable kitchen units.  Went to Ikea recently hoping to find nice wooden doors but they have stopped doing the ones we liked.  Not into bright red or high gloss!

Would is be possible to buy the cupboards from Ikea and the doors elsewhere?  For example order from B & Q?  OH thinks there could be a problem as Ikea units come with pre-drilled holes which might not match doors from elsewhere.

Failing that, who else in France does affordable kitchen units?

[/quote]

I bought my new kitchen from Leroy Merlin (http://www.leroymerlin.fr you can find a store here) and am very happy with it. I used their planning software which is reasonably good considering it is free. If you get a store loyalty card prior to placing your order you get a 10% discount on the first order, even on sales goods. At present the sales are on and some ranges have 30% or more off. As bright colours are all the rage there is a strong possibility that the type of doors you like are in the sale, worth a look I would say. Leroy Merlin always have the same carcass's so in a few years time you will be able to fit new doors to the same carcass's very easily with not banging or drilling.

[/quote]

We were looking for some kitchen units at the weekend; I had reaserched on the Net and found Leypayre was too expensive for us; we visited Castorama but it was difficult to tell what things cost and what was available as individual items. We then went to Leroy Merlin and found everything (carcasses) displayed with sizes and prices, a complete display of door fronts, that you choose, the same with work tops, as well as various display kitchens that gave you ideas of what was possible. The staff were very helpful and we were very happy with the service offered.

[Jo]

I fitted an IKEA kitchen for my sister that was a dream to put together, and it still looks good today 12 years later, but she does look after her stuff well. By and large I found their stuff to be excellent, wardrobes etc, My neighbours have just bought a kitchen from Brico depot, really cheap, and are very happy with it. They have jazzed it up with IKEA handles as the ones that come with it are pretty dull!

[Mrs Trellis]

We are happy with bedside tables and with wardrobes (although the inside is chipboard and one has torn).  The bedheads are a sort of woven wood and one has broken.  The cheap canvas chairs bought nine years ago are fine tho a pain as they have horizonal stitching and dirt collects in the seams

The kitchen cupboards seem strong enough but the white surface of the doors has cracked in places, including corners.  The work surfaces are the sort of glued together wood which went well with the cupboards but one surface has a big crack and they stain easily.  Having to keep buying oil for them is a pain and so it's probably our fault - they would stain less if heavily and frequently oiled.

Oh, and the bed we bought for our son had to be replaced as the slats kept falling through.  (It's such a pain to edit these posts that I can't be bothered to insert that further up!)

The kitchen is just over 3 years old so maybe Ikea standards are lower these days. 

Shame Leroy Merlin is 60 miles away, we will have a look at Castorama and LePayre.

 

 

 

 

 

[Manon]

We bought the carcasses from B & Q but got the doors from the Replacement Kitchen Door Company based in Kent. They have a huge selection of styles, colours and accessories and will deliver anywhere in the UK. They were remarkably cheap - think around £50 - £60 per door and were exactly what we wanted and couldn't find anywhere else. They also predrill holes amd supply hinges if needed. Check them out on the internet.