Handmadekitchens Direct Reviews 31

Im really surprised to see the comments on here. As I'm about to order a second kitchen from them I thought I would leave a review.
I found the company professional and helpful from the off. When I was worried that I had gone over budget they suggested changes I could make to save money.
The kitchens are meant to be painted so they come unfinished. This does mean some sanding, rehanging doors, putting on your own handles, but I managed to fit mine myself with a friend. Having just sold the house I can honestly say that the kitchen sold the house for me. I have had 2 friends order from the company on my recommendation and both have been very pleased.

I love our new kitchen! Great quality for us. All the tradespeople we had in to fit the kitchen or work for us all commented on the quality and the price. Very helpful and polite when planning. Can't fault them. Would definitely recommend.

UPDATE. I bought my kitchen just over a year ago. The pull out bin mechanism has fallen and come away from the side of the housing unit.

I was disappointed with the quality, given all of the reviews on here. They were very keen to rectify the issues, however many can't be. I will list the negatives and positives of my dealings. The keys issues I found with my unpainted units were as follows. 1. Internal Oak veneers were rough at the edges and looked terrible. 2. There were pins sticking out of some of the woodwork. 3. Many of the units had chips and dents in them 4. The cutlery insert was terribly made and was sent to me damaged with very bad wood filling. The second one they sent was worse, 3rd time lucky! 5. I bought unpainted units, however when painted, some of the cupboard doors wouldn't shut as enough of a gap wasn't left to allow for painting (even though these are specifically created for painting!) 6. Some of the cupboard doors and drawers do not line up flush with the actual unit. 7. Some the edges on the cupboard doors are finished unevenly. 8. The gap around the cupboard doors on the wall units are not even, and are noticeable. All this very disappointing as I was told in the showroom before buying that these units were Martin Moore level quality....they most certainly are not!

Positives. 1. They were initially keen to pay for rectification of the issues. 2. They offered a discount for the inconvenience. 3.the units have worked out to be reasonable for bespoke units (especially given the discount)

In summary I would find it hard to recommend these units given the issues I faced. But please be aware of what you're buying, the quality is not the same as is displayed in the showroom.

Adding another big negative to this as we've had the kitchen for a few months after it's been painted. I'm sorry to say that the wood is so soft that the slightest knock dents it. I can see us spending a lot of time filling and touching it up over the years. Have downgraded to 2 stars.

This was our second purchase of a kitchen from this company and the quality has been improved with smart oak vener interior and drawer inserts. The choice and flexibility of cabinets is excellent and offers a handmade kitchen at a fraction of the cost if you look elsewhere.

My only obeservation would be, based on our experience, this company are not really geared towards giving you a showroom experience - in fact, apart from just seeing the finished article, there is little point in visiting the showroom and we had the impression it was a bit of an inconvenience for us to be there. No offer of tea or coffee.

Despite an appointment, the person we were suoposed to be meeting and we had driven some distance to see and talk through the plans with was not there. No later apology was offered, which was a little rude, we felt.

That aside, I cannot fault delivery which was on the expected date and very well delivered plus all units had numbers on, in the order in which they are to be fitted.

At several times, the plans were checked and confirmed by the company, by two separate people which we were impressed with..

I am delighted with the quality of build, the style, hinges and doors and know my kitchen is going to look amazing! I would certainly recommend and would use them again in the future.

Two stars, only because Rachel was so lovely when we turned up without an appointment, after being turned away TWO TIMES by, quite frankly, the most rude and officious woman I have ever met (Moira).Had she taken the time to book us an appointment, we might have mad better use of our dedicated Kitchen shopping weekend, in Dorset. Instead, we tried a third time and clashed with other customers who had appointments. If it wasn't for the fact that we were greeted so warmly nonetheless, we would have decided that our custom really wasn't wanted.
The quote we had was competitive but I'm not sure I can bear to deal with that woman again....

Beautifully made solid wood kitchen, lots of options for cabinets and a great service from the team. I am so pleased with my kitchen, even the people who installed the worksurface commented how lovely and solid it was. Also although I assumed it would be much more expensive than some of the other Kitchen companies it was, in fact, a lot cheaper than some of the mid range stores e.g. Magnet. Well worth looking at especially if you enjoy doing the designing with great help and advice from Jacky ensuring I didn't make any sizing mistakes!

We were primarily attracted to this company because they are one of the few who actually make their own kitchens in England, and we like to support British manufacturing wherever we can.

I was pretty confident after a visit to their showroom, and then the quote that came though was lower than our quote from Magnet, even though this was made to measure.

I have to say the quality of our kitchen is superb, and the customer service was spot on.

I’m happy to recommend to anyone who will listen!

We have just finished having our kitchen installed. It’s our second from handmadekitchens-direct.co.uk, as we are serial renovators, and have installed one in each of our last 2 houses.

We have a kitchen that is absolutely as good in terms of quality as
any we have seen, at any price, including the so called top companies who charge £50,000 plus. Ours cost £5400 inc vat.

But equally important is the fact that for the second time they were pretty much the only company we dealt with in our whole renovation project that were a delight to deal with. They are always helpful and knowledgeable, and did what they said they would do.

We are happy to recommend them, and the builders we used are also now using them!

I have never received such rude presumptuous and frankly obstructive service. I said I was enquiring about a kitchen and following up the email I had written. I was told it must be in the trash. I was informed that my enquiry was pointless since the sale was finished. I responded I didn't ask about the sale. I was told I wouldnt be able to order and receive a kitchen for 9 months. That there were no prices available and although I sent in the plans as recommended by a member of staff over the weekend I was rudely informed that they were useless and when I referred to the design service described on the website I was told 'well I'm not a designer'. When I said well can you give me an idea of how much the kitchen in gallery 1 cost. She said no, and that the non sale items were so expensive implying that I wouldn't want to pay or couldn't. Bizzare and unhelpful and I would say bad for business.

Recently installed a large (24 cabinets) kitchen and utility room. The website gallery shows some really nice kitchens, but what I was impressed about was that they were photographs supplied by customers, not professionally done. I visited the showroom to check out the quality and it matched the gallery photos and they seemed a really friendly bunch, no high pressure tactics. I used the independent designer they suggested, as I have trouble visualising what a room would look like. He did a great job, and I sent the plan off for a quote. The quote was really good value, it was actually less than half one of the other quotes I got. So I ordered. They have a system where you can sign off the order online to save another trip to the showroom.

The kitchen was delivered when they said, and fitted in 5 days.

It looks even better than it did on the plan, and has already drawn lots of admiring comments from friends and neighbours. I have to say that I would recommend them to anyone. (and do!)

The organisational management of my order was poor and I was convinced I would experience problems at some point. Unfortunately I was proved right. The kitchen is incredibly cheap compared to other competitors and in my experience it's because some of the workmanship was shoddy and the rectification process just made for more issues.
I had very poorly constructed drawer boxes. Handmade Kitchens of Christchurch agreed to replace the drawers, saying the photo evidence was awful, but failed to say until delivery was arranged that they were only replacing the 'boxes' and that I would need to organise a carpenter to unscrew the fronts and switch to the new boxes. For the sake of a few extra quid you would have thought they would have provided 'finished drawers' to draw a line under the poor work. Not so. To the end they decided to opt for 'saving a few extra quid' over turning an unsatisfied customer into one who wouldn't feel the need to right this review! If you want a hassle-free kitchen experience then shop elsewhere. If cost drives you then make the purchase but expect grief.
My finished kitchen is now great, not finished until 2 months after it was delivered, but next time I'd save up more and deal with someone else and I wouldn't recommend to friends.