Need a kitchen (but not DIY)

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Magoo

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Need a decent fitted kitchen for a new build. One thing I want to avoid is te ieitating plastic strips that are ironed on to the side and which invariaby peel off after a short period.

Am willing to spend a good few bob on a high standard model.

Anyone any recomendations of suppliers in Dublin?

Thanks
 
We're about to make a deal with [broken link removed] who came recommended to me by a work colleague.
 
Magoo,

Would highly recommend McCauley Kitchens. They are agents for Scavolini kitchens and have showrooms in Malahide & Drogheda. They also do their own reasonable kitchen line. But, if as you say in your post you're willing to spend, then check out the Scavolinis, they are exceptional.

Like you we've recently moved into a new-build and McCauley's customer service, workmanship, reliability and after-sales was top-class.

Hope this helps.

Dec.
 
if you want to avoid iron on plastic strips (edgebanding) then you need solid wood kitchen doors, or maybe foil wrapped doors, which are doors wrapped in plastic.

No need to spend tens of thousands... probably get what you want from about 8K to 15K, depending on lots of things.
 
Very few manufacturers make kitchen carcases out of solid wood. The reasons for this is hygene, solid timber is porus and cannot be easily cleaned or maintained, i.e.after a period of time any sealer thats put onto solid wood wears off. A lot of companies now use a 2mm pvc edging which is hot glued on and is as resistant as it gets.Colour coded units are all melamine finished .
 
I have never heard that hygeine angle and would doubt it. How does a porous surface cause problems? Also I would disagree that 'any sealer' will wear off over time... (what about a two part AC lacquer?)

In my opinion manufacturers use chipboard or MDF for rreasons of cost and ease of use and storage... not some supposed hygeine problem with solid wood. I have never seen a munufacturer claim that he uses chipboard for reason of hygeine.

All glued on edging will degrade over time and will eventually 'delaminate'..i.e come off. It relies heavily on operator skill in applying it correctly.. so mass produced items made on 12,000 + machines should be better than some guy who's ironing it on with a household iron.

Anyway, the OP made his choice, he doesn't want glued on edging.. so solid wood or PVC wrapped are his only options for the doors. And PVC wrapped doors aren't very long lasting either.. I have seen many where the plastic has shrunk and cracked... especially over heat, i.e kettles, ovens or dishwashers.

Of course there can be problems with solid wood too... just different problems to those encountered with MDF.
 
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Melamine faced chipboard is always used . as for sealer not coming off look no further than a solid timber work top that has been installed for about ten months it looks like a glorified chopping board. solid timber worktops are a minimum 30mm thick, so why dont the manufacturers of same give any gaurantees with them against warping unless they are properly sealed? why because they cant . Also NO 2 part lacuer is hygenic. Any "solid" TIMBER carcass is made from block board so as not to twist or warp. If the OP HAS as you say made up their mind why come onto this site for advice
 
You may not realise it but you're coming off as being a bit on the aggressive side -
WIFESLIST said:
If the OP HAS as you say made up their mind why come onto this site for advice
Click to expand...

The OP only specified that there was one thing he/she did not want, there is still plenty of room for advice in response to the rest of the original post. He/she is looking for suppliers in Dublin.
Magoo said:
... One thing I want to avoid is te ieitating plastic strips that are ironed on to the side and which invariaby peel off after a short period.
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JoeBallantin - who I believe makes custom kitchens and therefore knows what he's talking about - simply referred to the point the OP had made as to what he/she doesn't want -
JoeBallantin said:
Anyway, the OP made his choice, he doesn't want glued on edging...
Click to expand...

OP, have you looked at Nolan Kitchens? I didn't actually use them in the end but their stuff was pretty nice.
 
JoeBallantin said:
if you want to avoid iron on plastic strips (edgebanding) then you need solid wood kitchen doors, or maybe foil wrapped doors, which are doors wrapped in plastic.

No need to spend tens of thousands... probably get what you want from about 8K to 15K, depending on lots of things.
Click to expand...

i presume the op was talking about the edging on the units not the doors.the 2mm pvc egding will not peel off unlike the usual .4mm melamine edging that comes on flat pack and even most of the imported "high end"european kitchens.most kitchens that dont use chip of mdf are either made from birch veneered plywood, Or birch ply covered in duropal laminate which is seriously exspensive in sheet form.these units still need to be edged though so solid wood units would be the only option,pine lam board is used but i'm not a fan of this as it warps very easy and marks easily.
 
Have you considered a framed kitchen? Framed kitchens are not edged in veneer as the door sits inside a 40mm framework to match the doors. These are available from most kitchen suppliers and are very popular at the moment. My Aunt in Wicklow had one supplied and fitted by Egan's furniture in Co Leitrim.
 
Treetiger im sorry if i sound or come across as being aggressive to you BUT ive been in the kitchen business for almost 20 years and one thing ive learned along the way is that no one nows everything about everything.What annoys me is someone who does or thinks they do. IF replying to what was a fairly comrehensive reply, to my short reply, point by point i think it warrented the response it got
 
mr tiddles said:
Have you considered a framed kitchen? Framed kitchens are not edged in veneer as the door sits inside a 40mm framework to match the doors. These are available from most kitchen suppliers and are very popular at the moment. My Aunt in Wicklow had one supplied and fitted by Egan's furniture in Co Leitrim.
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yes but the internal shelves would be edged
 
samm said:
yes but the internal shelves would be edged
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I am a kitchen manufacture and the internal shelves can have a piece of solid wood glued to them. I know that some people do not want to pay for an inframe kitchen so we put 60mm deep solid frame for the hinges and 10mm solid slips on shelves, tops and bases of the units. I would not agree with lamboard at all it bows and twists as mentioned above. It is a selling point for kitchen manufacturers to add costs to the kitchen when it only cost €50 for a sheet of 8*4 as opposed to €20 for a melamine finish. This looks like a lot but in the overall material costs of a kitchen it adds €200 but people are charged way more. Also I see manufacturers using this to make painted kitchen doors! A definite no no, any knots in the wood will change the colour of paint on the doors over time.
 
Solid wood is not the most suitable choice of material for a kitchen worktop.. however people choose on looks and beauty,not just pure functionality. So the best material for worktops would probably be stainless steel as used in commercial kitchens, then maybe granite, cast concrete or cheapo laminated chipboard. The cheap laminated worktops would be the most cost effective.

Solid wood isn't suitable for flooring either, but loads of people have it. (Not suitable as it's noisy and easily scratched) (What's the point in a floor surface which can't be walked on.. as you might find out if you visit someone who requires you to take off your shoes before you can walk on the floor surface)

Some people do use solid wood for kitchen carcases.. me for example. Not blockboard, often solid laminated pine. No problem. It can warp, I'm not saying it's perfect... but to say it's completely unsuitable is simply wrong.

I also disagree that laminated pine in sheet form is unsuitable for kitchen doors.. as mentioned by Woodale... who then mentions that it is the knots in the pine that causes the problem.. not the fact that it is laminated. So the solution is not to use pine at all.. and if using pine then laminated pine is fine. (And on these grounds pine would not be suitable for any painted work, like skirtings, internal doors, external doors, and staircases.. but it is still used for these purposes). There are specialist products to prevent knots bleeding through the finish coat.

Kitchen manufacturers have to offer advice to customers.. and then the customer makes an informed choice.. customers may make wrong choices but if they have been made aware of the pros and cons then who is the kitchen manufacturer to tell them they are wrong? If a customer wanted a kitchen made from paper mache I would offer a quote.. and I would obviously refuse to guarantee the kitchen, and would mention that it is a totally unsuitable choice of material.. but if after all this the customer was insistent I would offer a quote as I said..

edited to add...
An in-frame kitchen will also require edging on the doors.. if no edging on the doors what will be? Chipboard edges?The edges can be clearly seen when the door is open...

In the USA chipboard and MDF are virtually unheard of.. most people are using veneered plywood for kitchen carcases, which is a good choice of material... and solid wood trimmings on the edges.
 
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An inframe kitchen has solid wood doors so no chipboard would be seen Joe. Any pine door that is painted will stain where the knot is regardless of a "specialist product" being used. Pine skirting, doors etc around the country if looked closely at you will notice a slight yellow stain coming through the paint colour. Pine is also very soft and will damage very easy. Popular wood is a better choice of wood although many other woods can be used. Who uses chipboard doors? I don't know one company except for some of the mass producers who would use a chipboard center panel in their doors but the outer frame would still be solid.
If a customer came to me looking for "paper mache" I would decline, I'm not that desperate for work regardless of recession. In saying this I use pine lamboard in my kitchens to but I prefere not to. We also use other solid woods in our carcass.
I have worked in the US and mdf is used quiet often. I worked for a kitchen company and they too used mdf and plywood carcass in kitchens. If you are using pine in your doors you are one of the only ones using it for painted kitchen doors. Ac two pack laquer is also out dated, PU would be a far better product and roads ahead of AC. Mdf is also widely used in painted kitchen door manufacture ie. center panels. It stops the crack lines around the center panel that can move with either a damp room or heat in a new home.
We could spend the whole day making points about the differences between material but the first post only asked for a kitchen that has not got iron on edging!
 
Hi

Ok, I don't see why an 'in-frame' kitchen can only be made from solid wood... and there are examples of people making in-frame kitchens from MDF or vinyl wrap.

Knots may bleed through top coats, or they may not... no material is perfect in all respects.. this could be considered a downside, but it is a minor one in my opinion. High quality pine only has dead knots, not live seeping knots and so I reckon a specialist product, like a knotting fluid, or a primer like Zinnser BIN is sufficient. Customers want to strike a balance between cost and suitability...

Poplar is also a (physically) soft wood and can be dented easily enough. I have used it on occasion.. i believe it is often used for painted work as it is relatively cheap, straight grained, relatively knot free, and it has a greenish tinge which renders it unsuitable for many other purposes. Also, being a solid wood, it suffers from warping, and expansion and contraction which can cause unpainted areas of central panels to become exposed. Using poplar will increase the cost when compared to solid pine, and so I would recommend the use of pine rather than poplar to cost consious clients.

What other solid woods can be used in carcases, and in what respects are those woods more suitable than pine? I can't imagine them being more suitable in terms of cost.... and I can't imagine them being more cost effective as there can only be some small benefits when compared to pine and quite possibly a large cost difference.

PU is better than AC, but not by miles, and it has its disadvantages, like pot life. AC had been the industry standard for years before the introduction of PU. PU is very popular in countries like Italy.. not so much here although it may become more popular over time.

Originally I only posted a very short post that directly answered the OPs question... then I responded to what I felt were inaccurate comments.

I fully accept that different materials have different pros and cons and that no material is super fantastic and perfect in all respects... so that is why I let my customers choose for themselves... many of my customers are my customers simply because they do not want MDF, not at any cost... and so I will make them what they want... mostly they don't want MDF for enviromental reasons, or health reasons (Formaldhyde etc), or reasons of longevity.

Cheers so,
Joe
 
The reason inframe kitchens need solid doors is that a butt hinge would last all of two days if hung on chibboard doors or mdf.
Tell you what you load up photo's of your work and I will load up mine to a post and let the public decide who knows more from our pictures!
 
Hi Woodale

I don't see this as a competation. I don't use MDF or chipboard so don't know all the ins and outs of it. I do know that woodworkers.ie sell 'framed' doors... and they're less than 30 Euro, so I don't think they are made from solid wood.. however I could be wrong. Costs are so incredibly high in Ireland that solid wood doors in frames could be had in other countries for 30 Euro, I don't expect it here however.

If a butt hinge will only last two days in a chipboad frame then why would anyone expect a normal 35mm kitchen cup hinge to last any longer in a chipboard carcase? This is considered a downside of chipboard carcases. Solid wood is clearly better than MDF or chipboard in terms of screwholding ability.

As I say, this isn't a competation so we can't upload pictures... the public probably realise that we have differing opinions on some matters.. and that there is no 'correct' answer. Our pictures will look similar.. as will the pictures from Argos.

I would suggest that people with questions go to a site like UKworkshops, a site dedicated to cabinet makers.. and post specific questions there... and sit back and watch the fists fly!, as different cabinet makers have different opinions, much as we do.

In the end it doesn't really matter what the kitchens are made from, unless the customer has a preference..
 
Hi Joe,
A cup hinge has the added support of the cup itself, the screws are only to hold the cup in place. The majority of your knowledge seems to me to be stuff you read. We manufacture the majority of our kitchens from start to finish, doors everything. Our solid wood doors are not bought from suppliers they are manufactured in our factory.
I am in businees and at my profession a lot longer than you and the majority.
You offer advice on these sites just to promote you website and work, cloking it with advice. People look at your comments click on your profile and visit your site. The majority of reader will think that your advice is out of the goodness of your heart when in fact you are building links to your site, a form of SEO I think its called.
I offer Pvc kitchens and the likes also to help people with their budgets, in saying this painted kitchens should not be the price they are, they are way over priced and can easily be sold for 6k upwards not starting prices of 15k as some companies state.
Popular wood does not warp as you state nor does it move this is the reason it is the most widely used wood in painted kitchens. It may be cheap compaired to other wood but is by no means the cheap way out and is far superior to pine lamboard...
I agree that this is not a competition but don't offer advice and tackle true professionals. Your advice seems to be stuff you have read online or in books while throwing in some technical data read online to polish off you comments and make you look good.
 
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