Buying a kitchen is a big investment.

Do you know what you're getting for your hard-earned cash?

At the lower end of the price scale, IKEA make great kitchens - no frills, nice clean designs and great value for money.

As you go up the price scale, I believe that whilst the prices may be higher, the value for money should remain the same.  Sadly, not all higher priced kitchens offer great value when you look below the surface of the sales brochures or, indeed, below the surface of the kitchen itself.

My kitchens aren't the most expensive - I have far lower operating costs than most hand built kitchen companies - but they're not cheap either.  However, they are great value for money.

So what do you get for your money with a Ketteridge kitchen?  Five things.

 

 

 

1. True made-to-measure. 

If the space between two appliances is 912mm, I will make you a unit of 912mm.  Every unit is a one-off.  Nothing is "standard".   

2. Comprehensive design consultation. 

The initial consultation offers you two very specialized pieces of equipment that high street kitchen companies tend not to offer.  A pencil and a sketch pad.  Before we get to the computer-generated design stage, it's really important to sketch out ideas at your kitchen table, you and me discussing ideas and solutions and seeing how they might look.  After this, a final hand-drawn sketch is followed up by a 3D computer scale drawing that we can "walk through" together.

 

 

3. Hand built hardwood that means hand built out of 100% hardwood. 

Some "hand built" kitchen companies use cheap off-the-shelf melamine-coated or veneered chipboard carcasses and face them with solid wood frames and doors.  These look good to the average punter and save the maker a lot of time and money.  I refuse to do this.  I make my carcasses from far superior marine-grade birch plywood.  It's extremely rigid and strong, will not swell, bend or deteriorate if you have a spillage in a cabinet, is very hardwearing, lasts a lifetime and looks great.  Visible end panels are made of solid hardwood.

4. Bespoke cabinet quality. 

What you get is not so much a fitted kitchen as a collection of separate bespoke hand-made cabinets that are built to last.  Pegged mortice and tenon joints, not machine-moulded joints.  Solid brass hinges that will neither sag nor need adjustment.  Glass door panels built integrally into the door, not stuck onto the back with silicon.   Short metal adjustable feet, not plastic legs.  Hand made handles and fittings.  Detail finishing by hand with plane and chisel, not machine.

 

 

 

           

 

LEFT: BACK OF OAK DOOR SHOWING PEGGED TENON, RECESSED MAGNET CATCH AND SCREWS FOR HANDLE

 

RIGHT: OAK DOOR SHOWING CHISEL-FINISHED RAILS AND HAND MADE FUMED OAK HANDLE

 

 
5. Made from local wood. 

Wherever possible I will use wood sourced as locally as possible.  Often the wood is from Scottish Borders sources.  I use Scottish timber wherever possible.  In all cases I use timber from responsibly managed sources and will explain to the customer where it originates from before work commences.