Adventures In Renovating (MFI Kitchen Furniture)

Member Name: Lynsey100

Product:	MFI Kitchen Furniture
Date:	06/07/07 (1947 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good range of products.

Disadvantages: Can be pricey, delays with delivery

I have recently purchased my first flat, and it has proved so difficult to buy a property that I settled for somewhere that needed renovating. The previous owner needed a good seeing to from Kim and Aggie in my opinion. Armed with my marigolds and industrial strength antibacterial spray, I attempted to rid the kitchen of the layers of filth and rather questionable looking crumbs that may have been around since Michael Barrymore could take a swim in public. However hard I scrubbed, I was left with a kitchen that would be too unsanitary to cook dinner for a dog. This was not good news for my love handles; the future didn’t look rosy for them. After much deliberation I decided that the size zero lollipop head look just wouldn’t suit me, and that I should continue to eat. I needed a new kitchen.

If you look in the phone book there are numerous lesser known companies that will design and fit kitchens for you. I just didn’t have the time to shop around as much as I would have liked and opted to visit B&Q and MFI. My visit to B&Q was fairly traumatic to say the least – but that would be a whole other review. MFI seemed to be the lesser of two evils.

THE PRODUCTS

MFI has a large range of kitchens suitable for all budgets. Unlike B&Q, MFI is more of a showroom, and doesn’t hold any items in stock within the store. You can see all the kitchens on offer on their website, and I would recommend having a look at this before you visit the store. When you walk around the store, the ranges of kitchens and types of worktops etc are clearly labelled. I would advise that you take a notebook to jot down the name of any sinks or laminates that take your fancy as it is easy to get confused with the wide range of styles available.

In order to compare the prices of each kitchen range, there are information cards by each one that show the price of a typical 8 unit example. I opted for a Hygena Kitchen, which is in the lower price range (still waiting for that lottery win) and tried not to be seduced by the extremely snazzy granite worktops that cost more that a year’s salary. If you are loaded then the more luxurious Schreiber kitchens might be more your cup of tea.

MFI sell all the appliances that you will need for your kitchen, but unless you are getting integrated appliances, or you enjoy throwing your money away, get them elsewhere. To give you an example, a 60cm stainless steel chimney hood would have cost me over £160 from MFI, and I bought one from Curry’s for less than £100.

THE PURCHASE

It is best to book an appointment with a sales person before your visit to ensure that you will be seen. In order to obtain a fairly accurate quote at this point, you should take the measurements of your kitchen with you, and sketch a basic plan remembering to mark where your windows, doors, and sink are located.

Once you have decided which range you are going to go for, and you have chosen a worktop and any sinks etc that you need, you can sit down with the salesperson and they will draw out a plan for you on their fancy computer. Using your measurements, they will tell you how many units you can fit in, and help you pick the appropriate sizes. Then they print out a nice little picture of how your kitchen would look. After that, hold your breath while they calculate the cost. This is always going to be more than you anticipate by the time you add the cost of the pelmet, etc. Again, if they offer to supply any down lighters or drawer organisers for you, I would suggest that you get them for a third of the price elsewhere.

In addition to the cost of the kitchen, they will also give you a quote to have the kitchen fitted. This is very expensive, and will cost at least one thousand pounds for a small kitchen. You can check in your phone book for local kitchen fitters, which will almost always be cheaper, but this can prove to be a hassle as I discovered the hard way! If you are happy with the price, you must pay for the kitchen there and then, or agree to one of their finance plans. In my opinion, it is always better to shop around for a loan and I wouldn’t touch theirs with a very large bargepole. Finally, you are given a choice of dates for delivery, and you arrange an appointment for the salesperson to call at your home to double check the measurements.

THE HOME VISIT

This is a service that MFI provides free of charge, and it is relatively quick and painless. When the salesperson came to my flat, there was a 2cm difference in the measurements. You must be prepared for the fact that if your measurements are way out, then the cost of the kitchen could go up or down. In my case, the price didn’t change but the 2cm was serious enough to warrant a whole new order, and the delivery date had to be put back two weeks. When I was sent a new invoice, I noticed that an item was missing. They could not link this to my order, and I was told that I would have to wait a further 10 days for it. This postponed the fitting of my kitchen even further. Luckily, the takeaways I was ordering every night was ensuring the maintenance of my love handles.

THE DELIVERY

The delivery will be either between 8am-1pm or 1pm-6pm. You can phone the delivery line two days beforehand for your delivery time. Make sure that you have cleared plenty of space for all the boxes when they have arrived. My delivery arrived when it was supposed to. When I opened the door I was faced with a large hairy man with a rather confused look on his face, scratching his head. “Ah’ll no get that worktop up these stairs doll!” He said “Its tae long!”
“Well, what on earth am I supposed to do with it then?” I gasped.
“Ah’ll just leave it doon in the close outside like.” Like hell you will, I thought, thinking of how much I’d just forked out for my nice gloss laminate worktop. I had visions of buckfast drinking youngsters having their wicked way with it once it grew dark, and I was not prepared to have my new purchase violated in such a manner. I stormed downstairs to find the organ grinder and gave him a glare that I have perfected over many years in teaching, with my hands planted firmly on my hips. Luckily, this seemed to work, and my worktop was placed on my living room floor stretched out all the way into the hall, where I proceeded to trip over it approximately every five minutes for the following six weeks.

THE ASSEMBLY

Most Kitchen fitters will not touch a flat pack kitchen, and you will have to assemble the units yourself. Try to find some gullible chums to help you out if you can. I decided to embark on this project by myself, as I was in one of my “strong independent woman” moods, and I’m pretty handy with a screwdriver even if I do say so myself. If you’re really smart, you’ll check all the boxes as soon as they arrive. Two of the kitchen units had broken panels in my case, and I’m glad that I found this out sooner rather than later. MFI exchanged these without any problems, but I had to arrange for their delivery which delayed my kitchen fitting even further! The boxes have instructions inside, and these are pretty easy to follow. If you have bought décor end panels (they match the colour of your doors) for your end units, make sure that you use these instead of the relevant side panels in the box. I didn’t realise this straight away, and had to dismantle a couple of the units in order to fix it. I can assure you that the air turned blue. It isn’t necessary for you to affix the doors at this point.

THE VERDICT

I purchased my kitchen during the last week of a “sale” and was told that I got it half-price. As the sale is still on two months later, I think that this is a tad misleading. The MFI customer service is reasonable. I called the helpline for “stupid people who can’t put their furniture together” after I became confused over a drawer unit, and this was very useful. They also exchanged units with broken parts without any quibble. A word of warning – if this happens to you, don’t tell them if the box was bashed as they try to recover the cost from the courier and this will take twice as long. I was peeved that the delivery date of my order had to be changed over a very small changed, and then an item was missed off the second order. As I was a renovation virgin before this experience, I have nothing to compare their service to, but it certainly could have been better. The kitchen itself is looking good so far.

Summary: Must do better.