Browse Forums Kitchen Corner 1 Jun 05, 2009 3:44 pm Hi everyone, My mum has always talked about getting the kitchen renovated as we have a pretty old house. Now she's finally given me the green light to get prices and get this renovation on the road . She's left it all up to me, which is not the best thing as I dont really know anything about renovations . That's why I've come on here to get some sound advice! I was told by a friend that if I buy the flatpack kitchens, it would save me considerable money. She suggest that we buy the carcasses only and get a local chippy to come in and install it. Then get the doors from another place where it's cheap etc etc. Do you think this is such a great way of going about things? The place that she recommended was armstrong flatpack kitchens http://www.armstrongcabinets.com.au/ Has anyone had any experience with armstrong? Or flatpack kitchens in general? Are they of good quality? Or should we just go to a kitchen person and get them to price the whole kitchen up? I"m not sure what to do. Some advice would be greatly appreciated! Idiots are fun, that's why there is one in every village! - Dr. House - Re: Kitchen Renovation: Need help with the cabinetry 3Jun 05, 2009 3:52 pm Good idea SuH, but I have a feeling that getting the kitchen experts to do it would be more expensive. I want to know whether these flatpacks kitchens are any good, or is true with the whole 'you get what you paid for'. Idiots are fun, that's why there is one in every village! - Dr. House - Re: Kitchen Renovation: Need help with the cabinetry 4Jun 05, 2009 3:56 pm Maybe you could also look at the kitchens available from Bunnings and also Ikea? I believe they come in kit form too. Blog: http://bluemistkids.blogspot.com "Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark, and professionals built the Titanic." Re: Kitchen Renovation: Need help with the cabinetry 5Jun 05, 2009 4:28 pm wonderland I was told by a friend that if I buy the flatpack kitchens, it would save me considerable money. She suggest that we buy the carcasses only and get a local chippy to come in and install it. Then get the doors from another place where it's cheap etc etc. Has anyone had any experience with armstrong? Or flatpack kitchens in general? Are they of good quality? Or should we just go to a kitchen person and get them to price the whole kitchen up? I"m not sure what to do. Some advice would be greatly appreciated! I am pretty sure that Arms is a participant on this forum (otherwise you can find him at *.com.au) and should be able to answer any questions you have for him. There can be good savings to be made in buying an unassembled kitchen and getting it installed for you - although I believe that you would be better off looking for a kitchen installer rather than a carpenter...there are quite a few around. The big difference between made to order systems such as those which Arms, Kevin Brown and I purvey and those supplied by Bungins et al is that all of the locally made systems are made to order, and guarantees you a perfect fit for all units (no infills) along with the ability to get special units made that are not part of the generic catalogue. Further, the locally made units are invariably made to a standard that is the same as the cabinetry that you would get from a cabinetmaker - infact many of the businesses supplying unassembled cabinets service both the trade and the retail sector, which is to say that many cabinet makers buy their cabinets from the same people you would be dealing with directly (just for a better price, as they do it at volume levels) - the cabbies then just assemble the carcasses in house and deliver them assembled "custom made". The savings involved really come down to how much you are personally capable of being involved in - if you want someone to do all the planning, measuring, assembling and installing then you won't see much price difference between unassembled and cabinetmaker product. Of course, if you do the specifying you wear the responsibility, but that is why professionals get paid to do their job. There are project coordinating designers out there who will do all the designing, specifying and installation supervision and you may still find this sort of service to be more cost/time effective for you; as said above, get a quote from both and most importantly if you are comparing one service against another make sure that exactly the same design, materials and services are being quoted on. Cheers, Earl Re: Kitchen Renovation: Need help with the cabinetry 6Jun 05, 2009 10:45 pm Thanks guys for your advice Earl, I plan on measuring and deciding myself on which cabinets to get. So all i need to do is buy the flatpack and get someone to come in and install it. I wonder whether I can even try installing it ourselves. My partner and I can be pretty handy with diy stuff, but we've never tried doing this before . I just wonder whether its really hard to install those carcasses. Or its something that novices can do? Is armstrong really on this forum? Is his username armstrong or is it something else. If it is, can you let me know, i would love to pm him and chat more about the flatpacks!!! Idiots are fun, that's why there is one in every village! - Dr. House - Re: Kitchen Renovation: Need help with the cabinetry 7Jun 06, 2009 1:26 pm hey wonderland we done the old kitchen flat pack from bunnings and it was easy but not great quality however the new design they have now are great before you couldnt get the benchtops made to order they are very easy to install and make up you may need someone to come cut out the sink and hotplate from the benchtop but definately a job you can do in a weekend. the old cabinets didnt have the leveling legs or kickboards like the new ones.keep in mind that bunnings gets them from a kitchen mob and sell them cheap as they buy in bulk so the quality is now the same as any other kitchen company but you are limited by sizing and gadgets but they are at least half the price too. we ripped out an old kitchen and put in the new one in a day so its not hard gl on what you decide. stay safe happy building Re: Kitchen Renovation: Need help with the cabinetry 8Aug 05, 2009 12:53 pm bingoshelley hey wonderland we done the old kitchen flat pack from bunnings and it was easy but not great quality however the new design they have now are great before you couldnt get the benchtops made to order they are very easy to install and make up you may need someone to come cut out the sink and hotplate from the benchtop but definately a job you can do in a weekend. the old cabinets didnt have the leveling legs or kickboards like the new ones.keep in mind that bunnings gets them from a kitchen mob and sell them cheap as they buy in bulk so the quality is now the same as any other kitchen company but you are limited by sizing and gadgets but they are at least half the price too. we ripped out an old kitchen and put in the new one in a day so its not hard gl on what you decide. Thank you very much for letting me know!!! I've yet to do anything with this kitchen reno because I dont even really know where to start. Altho mum wants it done asap so I better get cracking!! Idiots are fun, that's why there is one in every village! - Dr. House - Assuming the structure of your cabinetry is good then I would DIY everything as follows: - replace your counter tops entirely, - replace all drawer runners with soft close… 1 4779 I recently went through a similar renovation and move scenario when updating our family home. We also swapped some rooms around and tackled a major… 2 9884 1 1914 |