Kitchen Compare Blog
Welcome to the Kitchen Compare Blog. Here we introduce you to many of the key sections of the website, focused on saving you time and money in the search for your dream kitchen. Don't forget to check back regularly for new posts.
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20th Dec 2016
Top 5 Tips when designing your kitchen
Designing your kitchen is both fun and daunting. Here’s where to start if you feel overwhelmed:
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6th Dec 2016
How To Choose A Kitchen Fitter
Finding the right installer to fit your kitchen takes homework. You've invested in the perfect cabinets and accessories so you'll need someone you can trust who'll do the job well, at the right price and in a suitable time frame.
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22nd Nov 2016
What solutions are available for awkward shaped kitchens?
The 3 common layouts for kitchen design are galley, L-shaped and U-shaped. But what can you do if your kitchen space doesn’t fit the traditional mould? Here are some ideas on how to handle an unusual shaped kitchen:
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8th Nov 2016
Most Popular Kitchen Styles of 2015
Need a little inspiration to get you started on creating your dream kitchen? Here are some details on our most popular 2015 ranges to give you some insight into what’s in vogue and on trend.
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25th Oct 2016
Purchasing a fitted kitchen – your consumer rights
When you purchase a fitted kitchen, as with other goods and services, you have certain rights in law.
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11th Oct 2016
Handling common kitchen installation problems
In a recent survey carried out by Which? the main installation problems identified by their members were:
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27th Sep 2016
Choosing a Kitchen Installer
Your kitchen is the heart of your home. It’s a place where you want to feel comfortable and relaxed and it needs to work on a practical level too. Buying a new kitchen is a big purchase and you’ll want to get it right first time. Having spent plenty of time, money and resource on the actual kitchen itself, sadly, the less glamorous part of the overall process, the installation, can often be overlooked.
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13th Sep 2016
Kitchen Installation Process
Understanding the correct order of the kitchen fitting process is important. The different stages of the installation need to take place in a certain order. If both you and your fitter are working to the same schedule from the offset then the project should get finished more quickly and issues should be kept to a minimum.
All kitchen fitters do things a little differently, but the order of work will be more of less the same. This general guide will help you understand what is involved and what to expect from each stage.
Prior to arrival: Make sure that you have emptied out all your units and drawers before the installer arrives and make sure that you have thought through how you will manage without your kitchen services. In the case of a refurbishment, you will be without hob, oven and sink for a few days.
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30th Aug 2016
Kitchen Installation Costs
How long is a piece of string?
The cost of an installation by a professional fitter varies massively and is dependent on:
a) The amount of work involved (expected and relatively unexpected)
b) The quality and amount of material used -
16th Aug 2016
Key Installation Association & Institute Contacts
If you should have any issues with your kitchen installation, here are the details of the key associations and institutes that you may wish to contact for further information and help.
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2nd Aug 2016
Solutions For Awkward Shaped Kitchens
While the average shaped kitchen has four straight-ish walls, not all are so accommodating! Often a kitchen is L-shaped or has an odd niche. There may be a fireplace or an awkwardly placed window or door to consider. The options are i) work around or ii) turn to your advantage and work with.
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19th Jul 2016
Good Looking Kitchen Walls!
You’ve spent months planning your dream kitchen. You’ve spent weeks researching your ideal units. You’ve spent ages reading the best appliance reviews and you’ve spent many an hour deliberating in showrooms. You’ve even considered the less exciting elements of the kitchen planning process …. the impact of the actual kitchen installation itself.
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5th Jul 2016
Top Tips On Selecting The Ideal Oven
Buying a new oven demands serious attention to every aspect of making what is a high value purchase. It is not simply a question of deciding on the appliance that looks the smartest or has all the latest bells and whistles imaginable. Some bigger issues need to be addressed, in addition to a little background research into which oven is going to give you good service and value for money over the years.
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21st Jun 2016
Kitchen Jargon Buster
Buying a new kitchen is a rewarding process but there is so much choice out there that time invested in research and planning is time well spent. Whether talking to retailers, designers or simply reading up in books and magazines, the kitchen design process has a whole language
of its own!
Below are some key terms that are frequently used...along with an explanation of what they really mean!
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7th Jun 2016
How to get a Shaker look kitchen
Choose a Shaker kitchen and you’re buying into a tradition of craftsmanship. There are no frills just straight forward design reduced to the minimum. With panelled doors and warm wood surfaces, Shaker kitchens create a sense of calm.
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24th May 2016
Move or Improve?
Most of us have had occasion to think about either moving house or improving our current home to suit our needs and lifestyle. The answer to staying put is often to embark on an extension with kitchens being top of the list.
Today, kitchens are far more than the space in which to prepare meals. Extending the kitchen is a popular solution to integrate dining and relaxing alongside preparing and cooking food and ultimately makes a more sociable space to spend time with family and entertain friends.
Not for the faint-hearted, a kitchen extension is a major undertaking. Research and planning is critical to a smooth project and a happy end result. Experts at Kitchen-compare have compiled their top tips for consideration.
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10th May 2016
Kitchen Innovation From Ikea
Who doesn’t like to hear about something truly innovative? At kitchen-compare.com we love innovation! By which we don’t mean something that has been tweaked or adapted slightly, we mean something completely new, something that genuinely changes the way we do things for the better, something that makes you sit up, take note and want to tell others.
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26th Apr 2016
Worktops Made Easy!
You’ve spent months planning your dream kitchen. You’ve spent weeks researching your ideal units. You’ve spent ages reading the best appliance reviews and you’ve spent many an hour deliberating in showrooms but one area that can get overlooked or can be a source of confusion is the actual kitchen worktop itself.
For some, the choice of worktop is easy and how to go about getting one cut and installed is straightforward. However, for others, it’s just confusing and another headache in the kitchen planning process.
Together, the experts at Kitchen-Compare and Made To Fit have compiled a few tips to help you along the way and ensure that your final finished kitchen looks the best it possibly can.
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12th Apr 2016
How to Judge Kitchen Quality
It sounds obvious, but alongside price, layout and design, quality is a key factor when it comes to choosing a brand new kitchen.
However, the fact of the matter is that, here in the UK, we buy a kitchen on average only once every 15 years. So, how do consumers keep up with all the changing features and specifications and, even more importantly, how should kitchen quality be judged?
As we have already established, the kitchen market is a complex and ever-changing one. Kitchens come in all different shapes and sizes and it’s often really difficult to reach a clear view on the differences in quality between the ranges available from different retailers. To date there has been no universally industry accepted method to compare and measure kitchen quality – but it is possible.
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29th Mar 2016
Top 10 Essential Tips for Buying, Planning and Designing a Kitchen
1. Work out what your budget is prior to starting and don’t forget to factor in the cost of installation. You might also want to think about setting some of your budget aside just in case of a kitchen-related emergency.
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15th Mar 2016
How Retailers Price Kitchens
“How much is it going to cost?” is the key question we have on the tip of our tongue as we enter the dragon’s lair commonly known as a kitchen showroom. I’ve already decided what style I like as I’ve seen it on the TV, in a glossy magazine or even at friend’s house but is this dream kitchen really within my budget?
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1st Mar 2016
UK Kitchen Buying Habits
A survey of *100 independent kitchen retailers recently conducted by KBB Review highlighted some interesting findings regarding our kitchen buying habits including who wears the trousers when it comes to making financial and design decisions and what we really know about how muc
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16th Feb 2016
Create your own Kitchen Mood Board
Why create a Kitchen Mood Board?Buying a new kitchen is a big commitment. Not only will it require a large sum of money, but it will also require a great deal of planning. Knowing what accessories and finishes you want in your kitchen will help you determine your plan of attack as well as your budget.
Creating a mood board is probably the best first step as looking at magazines and pictures online can be really overwhelming. However a mood board can help gather your thoughts and narrow down exactly what you want before making any big decisions which you might regret.
A mood board can help to filter and organise your style and design preferences, for example do you love white cabinets and dark worktops? Do you love hardwood floors or are you more of a tile person? Collating pictures and ideas and putting together a mood board allows you to pick out common themes and narrow down your choices.
If you are planning a new kitchen, whether it’s in the near future or years away, Pinterest can be of significant benefit to designing your dream kitchen.
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