Initial Kitchens - Kitchens Bolton

We purchased a fitted kitchen in June 2022 from Initial Kitchens. We went there because a family member had previously purchased a fitted kitchen. After a while we noticed: 1. Cupboard and extractor doors not aligned 2. Some doors had sticky plastic residue embedded on them 3. Gradually chips and cracks appear on doors and cornices 4. Screw missing from cornice making it loose 5. One door bubbling 6. Bosch hob and cooker both have faulty switches We contacted our family member who previously purchased their kitchen units and doors and was shocked to find, that they had similar issues with their doors. September of 2024, we contacted Initial Kitchens: rang and, as well as, visited their premises both in Bolton and Heywood. Mike (Manager) finally visited to assess the damages and agreed to do some repairs but it would not have resolved the whole issue. In the end, nothing happened!! Paul (Business Owner) then went back on what was previously agreed and argued that the damages was due to wear and tear. The work was still under warranty. And their website states: "their team will assist you in achieving a kitchen that you will be proud to show your family and friends and will look great for many years to come." That never happened; they have not lived up to their own standards. IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR A QUALITY KITCHEN AND GOOD WORKMANSHIP, A WORD OF WARNING, THINK BEFORE YOU GO INTO INITIAL KITCHENS. THEY'RE NOT PROFESSIONAL FROM START TO FINISH!.

My husband and I decided to go with Initial kitchens due to the excellent reviews on their website and Nigel’s enthusiasm about the product. However, sadly we have not had a positive experience like so many other lucky customers before us, as it has taken 3 months to complete the kitchen and even then we had to complete the last remaining jobs ourselves. From the outset of the kitchen fit there were countless problems including the wrong worktop size arriving; doors, shelves and handles missing; cracks in the doors of the units; the unit above fridge, the oven housing unit (the door above the oven had to be chopped down to size), the larder unit and the sink unit all being measured wrong to the point where we began to question whether this was even our kitchen! However, despite the issues with the mis-measurements etc we did not complain or kick up a fuss, understanding that mistakes happen and allowed the work to be amended by the fitters. Nigel did replace the doors that were damaged and did get us the correct size doors etc which we were grateful for and expected as part of a good customer service. We were however still missing doors, handles and plinths at this point so the job could not be completed. After weeks of waiting we had to chase up everything ourselves as no attempt to contact us was made. Eventually some doors and handles arrived and were fitted by the fitters 4 weeks after the initial time they had left the job; but once again we found ourselves in limbo with no communication from initial kitchens despite us still missing doors, handles, shelves, plinths needing fitting, corking needing doing etc – we chased and chased for the job to be finished with no attempt from the company to keep us informed of where things were up to. We were told the fitters were very behind and busy so we decided to continue with our patience. After some more mythering from us, Nigel came and fitted the last few doors and handles himself. Now all that was left to be done was some plastering to cover the plumbing, a few plinths to fit and the corking to do, which would only take a morning for the experienced fitters to complete, yet despite several more visits to the shop by my husband and once from me and a few phone calls to the shop, there was still no news on a completion date. Two months later, with still no update on a completion, we decided to finish the job ourselves. From the week or so that the fitters spent in our home we were confident we knew their temperaments, so when we were being told that the fitters were not prioritising us, it did not make sense. We are now questioning whether the fitters were actually aware that we had even been requesting the completion of the kitchen for months. New customer kitchen fit outs were now being made a priority over ours, and we are sad to say that Initial kitchens lost the fitters money on our kitchen because the job was not completed. We cannot fault Paul and Andrew (the fitters), they were fantastic. All we can say is thank goodness for them, because had they not fixed all the mistakes on the job for us we would have had to deal with a much more stressful situation. We cannot thank them enough for their efforts and skill and are not pleased with the way Initial kitchens constantly shifted the blame to them instead of accepting responsibility and taking charge of the situation. In the end they washed their hands of the completion and made it the fitter’s responsibility. After starting to feel like this whole lack of customer care was personal to us we have since learnt that we are not the only ones who have been experiencing problems and that there is a queue of customers also complaining about the same lack of completion issues from Initial Kitchens.

A big Thank you to Nigel and his super team for designing and fitting our beautiful kitchen, Punctual, polite, professional and very pleasant team. Special thankyou to Paul and Alex,. Would highly recommend. Kath and Craig Jackdon Bolton

Shocking service, poor quality kitchens, no aftercare when things are faulty, just about sums these people up. Just been contacted about the issues so hopefully we can change this to a better score depending on the outcome. UPDATE. We have now been contacted by the owner of the business and a lot of the issues have been resolved and items that were faulty have been replaced which we are pleaeed about and this was dealt with very professionally. The original service we received after purchasing and the the niggles we have been left with are the only reason we haven't given more stars.

Excellent and friendly service from first contact to completion of the job. Good price and fitted to a good standard.. Very happy and I'd definitely recommend. Thanks, Neil and Alex.