DIY Kitchens - HONEST REVIEW!

It’s time for a quick review of DIY Kitchens. This video is NOT SPONSORED. They didn’t know I was reviewing them at the time as I’d rather get an honest appraisal of the product and customer service. How did they get on? Did they get the Gosforth Handyman seal of approval??

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#Kitchen #DIY #Kitchens

[waller]

On the DIY kitchens website their "accessories" section has moisture barriers for plinths sold in 2.5m lengths. Thanks for your video, I shall be adding this to my order!

[Hamish_A]

I fitted my kitchen from them over 10 years ago now. It looks as good as new. They also had a huge showroom next to the factory, which you can also tour. It's highly automated with some amazing robotic machines. Great value as well.

[philfyphil]

I fitted my own DIY kitchen in 2017 and it still looks as good today as when I finished it.

[sta]

Kitchen designer here - based in a showroom on the other side of the river from you Andy! With corner larder units, if adjacent to another larder unit, I always provide an end panel (or an edged filler/blanking panel) to go in between them. Whilst it only provides an extra 1-2mm clearance depending on the range, it's enough for the diagonal angle not to impinge on door swing. In this kitchen's case, it would also provide symmetry and a 'frame' to the corner larder. Hope this helps - found your video insightful too, thank you.

[courtmanr]

We had a DIY kitchen 2 years ago and i would go straight back if we needed another. Despite getting a couple pieces of our order wrong they rectified it very quickly. The team on the backend managing issues were very good.

[MK-yojn]

Woohoo an extra video. About to order a DIY kitchens one for my parents. Really appreciate all the hard work you put into all these videos. 😊

[johnmit]

The not-glued top cupboard could either have been a genuine factory oversight (e.g. shift change over), where it was assumed to be glued and wasn't, or it's to allow for easy disassembly to cut the cabinet width down. Overhead bridging units can frequently need cutting to get the base cabinet spacing to match as there are more end panels to fit in if you change from wall unit to bridging unit.

And if you ever need spare blum hinges, then the cheapest source I have found is Ikea. Their standard kitchen cabinet hinges (utrusta) are all blum hinges - with the soft close version selling at £8/2pack, so £4 per hinge.

[jarv]

Hi currently fitting a diy kitchen for a customer (3rd diy kitchen in the past year ) the units are in just finishing touches to do. Great quality kitchen, supplied very well packaged (minimum chance of transit damage ) which i have had from other suppliers over the years. Have fitted kitchens from most of the big names over the past 30 plus years and i have to say i would rate diy kitchens as one of the best. A great range of unit sizes to chose from unlike some of the off the shelf suppliers. I few niggles similar to those mentioned in the video, door clearances can be tight between units with end panels on both ends. The gap between the two doors on tall units is bigger than i would normally leave. Would be nice if they supplied the plastic strip for the bottom of the plinth, as without it the mdf will definitely take up moisture when the floor is mopped. I’ve also had issues with dry joints on units too. Overall would highly recommend diy kitchens, also had a trip to their showroom at the factory earlier this year, without a doubt one of the best show rooms I’ve ever visited. Ohh and the Yorkshire tea and flapjack in with the delivery is a nice touch.

[CezarySiw]

We've done ours in the summer 2022. I can't say anything wrong about the quality of the unit material however we've struggled a lot with our order. As you mention, there is an issue with quality control so a few of the issues and tips:
- the FIRST thing you need to do is to check everything when it arrives. DIY kitches gives you only week to confirm if all units arrived and if you are happy with the quality. If you're not able to confirm it within a week, call them up and ask for this period to be extended.
- Many of our units came damaged during transport. Yes, they will replace it but it may take up to two weeks
- They've shipped the wrong direction corner post. Unless you are a professional kitchen fitter (or a very smart chap) you are not going to notice it before you actually start installation. In our case it caused a week's delay.
- Please double-check if all the colours are right. We've ordered our kitchen in a 2 different colours (The island is Graphite and the rest is grey) and they have managed to mix those colours. Even the label stuck to the unit saying "Graphite" and the unit was grey. The driver was very confused when he saw that. - of course, another 2 weeks of delay.
- Some of the fronts of the doors were damaged (chipped).
Your experience with the customer service was really bad. They have lied to use multiple times saying that missing/replacement units will be delivered on a particular day and they were not.
The CS' response was - We don't know Why and WHEN. We are sorry and here is your £20 compensation.
In that particular case, we waited over 2 weeks for the missing parts to be delivered. That is not what you would expect when you are in the middle of your installation.
Overall, our kitchen was delayed by 6 weeks.

[davidwhittingham]

I've fitted three diy kitchens, the 1st one a few years ago, which I was really impressed with, on this I recommended them to two more customers. I have done these two since then recently, there standards seem to me to be slipping a bit mainly to do with the fabrication/production process, ie cabinets out of square, really awkward to level up especially with tall units, unit bases not aliening with sides, some center posts on wide units not fully cramped together and then glued, I think they need to calibrate some of there machinery a bit more often, touch up paint not matching, on the last two I did. I also have had a hand recently in fitting a Howden kitchen, I've got to say I was more impressed with the way that was put together, accuracy of construction was better.

[MM]

Honest? Excellent quality?🤣🤣🤣 You read their negative comments, as positives are fake. It's exactly what 100s of others have said. Paint chips off and is easily damaged,
chemical reaction with substrate causing hardening and poor adhesion. You won't be able to cut down without chips everywhere. 3m long worktops all scratched and corners damaged, good 50% of rest arrives damaged, replacement arrives scratched damaged and hinges drilled not as original panel. Waiting time 2-3 weeks to get replacement. Some panels have different length, some carcass panels are different length so the whole thing is not square, large unit shelves not supported all sagging under its own weight, shit . Units ordered as flat oack arrived glued. It's rubbish you've been warned.

[tezryu]

just a bit of constructive criticism from a full time kitchen fitter, when scribing your fillers and end panels you should add an additional 2 -2.5 mm to allow for the buffers on your doors, otherwise your doors and drawers are going to be further forward than the front edge of your end panels or fillers.

[ukprintshop]

I’ve fitted my own kitchen in my last 3 houses, as well as lots of kitchen units at work for a work areas. The first kitchen I fitted was a Wickes off the shelf kitchen which was a bit rubbish, and since then have gone with IKEA kitchen units (especially at work as we have about 40 800mm units so ikea worked out much cheaper).

Then a friend of mine bought a diy kitchens kitchen and I was blown away with the quality, so much so, that when our purchase of our project house completes, we will be ordering a diy kitchens kitchen :)

[savingelectric]

Floor still looking good! With regards to the hinges, I really dislike the piston soft close Blum hinge, always buy my Blum hinges from trade hinges with a built in soft closer which you can turn off if the weight of door doesn't need it. Like others I get a plastic foot for the plinths from Howdens which gives you the confidence that no moisture should be soaked up. Saw a grohe tap in one of the drawers, did you not fancy a boiling water tap? Makes tea much quicker.

[tomwills]

Love the series Andy but really spooky when these kitchen videos started - we had a DIY Kitchen already in the shopping basket ready to buy, not only that it's Clayton Sage! Great taste, obviously. Glad your conclusion matches what we'd already heard elsewhere. It's arriving end of November so wish us luck - doesn't look like we'll need it though 😉
Cheers!

[Factory]

An absolutely genuine and honest review. Thanks for this.

[tmmtmm]

All the doors in that corner area should be given a relief angle on the edge where they close, i.e. instead of the edge being cut 90degrees to the face they should have been cut at 85 or 80deg. That will give them a few mm of clearance on the back edge so they don't hit while closing, but the reveal around the face remains unchanged when they are closed. Looks like the doors on the corner unit are also a couple mm too wide overall.

[Filmchippy]

I always recommend DIY kitchens to people I've been very impressed by the quality. The carcasses are made from Egger MFC which I would use for any bespoke stuff I make . Only thing I spotted which is odd is that they seem to be still using those horrible clip on softclose where most companies have been using the built in softclose Blum's for years 🤔

[olijones]

I have just installed our DIY Kitchen and have been really overwhelmed with the quality. Makes it a treat to fit and the finished product looks amazing. We visited their factory, toured the showroom and spent many months in the planner and in dialogue with their ‘design’ staff on the chat module. Fantastic all round. Cannot recommend more highly.

[richardhart]

Used DIY Kitchens several times, for ourselves and friends. The last one I fitted 18 months ago. Just about to start our last ever renovation and we will use DIY Kitchens again. The fact that we will be using them again gives you a clue to how I rate them.