Years in the making!
How did you choose Webbs Kitchens?
We were actually recommended by friends, we took it up from there.
We went round and had a look at their kitchen, they pointed out various things which they thought we might want in our kitchen which was very helpful. We then went to Webbs but as Ged mentioned earlier that was back in 2019, so that was some years ago, and then we returned just recently to finalise everything.
We had been to another retailer in Kendal, some other friends of ours had used them so we had a look at them but I just didn’t feel that they were as helpful, I didn’t think that they had quite as big showroom at the time, they were doing some work on one side as you walk in, it was being revamped but no, we decided to go with Webbs.
We talked to another firm in Penrith but they were over selling themselves which helped us to decide to come back to Webbs. Originally, we were thinking of just making alterations to our existing kitchen, get it to how we wanted it but the more and more we thought about it we realised that it would be better to go back to the beginning and start again, so Covid helped us do that because it gave us time for the wish list to become a hunger.
How was the design Process?
Very good.
Magical. To see what Alex does with that computer, it’s amazing, taking things out and putting them back in again.
I think our slight hiccup was the three-year gap. We weren’t quite on top of it and Alex had to talk us through it all again, so we were really able to tweak that with him which was fortunate. He actually took us right through from start to finish, each time we’ve been in, where we’ve chosen certain things, he was actually able to show us on the screen or show us in the showroom the particular piece of equipment we wanted. We found Alex very helpful and very clever in designing.
Well, he was just very patient.
In 2019 it was a different person who came out and took the measurements, he then went back to the office and gave them to Alex. Alex then put together the design, so we never actually had Alex in the house, he was working blind altogether so I think that might have been where the hiccup came with the measurements.
We were actually talking to Alex, there was one item which I’d made reference to actually wanting and he advised us not to get it, I can’t remember the reason but there was a some reason, he didn’t feel it was appropriate. Then there was actually one thing he pointed out which we said we wanted which you had there and he showed us and it was the actual bin but what we wanted the bin for was just to get rid of household waste, we didn’t want the bottles, we didn’t want the plastic, it was a recycling bin, we said no, that isn’t what we want, we said we just want a single bin and that’s what we have under the sink.
how did you choose your appliances?
We gave ideas of what we wanted to Alex, we wanted to come away from gas, we wanted electric and we wanted the glass top induction hob, he pointed out what you had in the showroom and he did the same with the cookers, Samsung, I was saying what we wanted, a microwave that you could cook in and just the one oven but again in the showroom you’ve got the oven which actually splits into two which he was able to show us and what we’ve now actually got. What we didn’t realise at the time was the visual controls, unfortunately, I think a lot of people would be in a similar situation to us, in the showroom you’ve got very high powered lights so you can see the controls very easily, unless you are lit up here at night, you’ve got to really struggle to see the little tiny white indicator, underneath the glass, with hindsight we might have gone for knobs, but apart from that its fine, both bits of Samsung equipment are very good, we’re getting to grips with them.
Now the hob, that’s not too bad at all but its very similar in terms of the lit symbols, the white underneath the black but you do have a light overhead. It is very easy to use, I’ve got to grips with that, Ged is still trying to find his way around. Instead of it being touch screen, it has the magnetic knob which is good, you just twist it round which is good. The dishwasher is fine, one plus about it which we’ve never had before with dishwashers, as we don’t really use dishwashers that much, but when we do use it, it’s got a light that counts down how long it’s got left which is helpful because it’s so very quiet.
The light shines on the floor, it tells you how many minutes are left on the wash cycle.
We both enjoy washing up, the dishwasher, unless you have full load, I don’t think they are value for money as such, hence why we’ve gone for the stainless steel sink. We could have gone for all granite or marble. We did actually look at that, but we’ve also have some friends who have a granite sink, and it looks lovely, it has all the deep groves in but what it doesn’t have is a lip at the side, they have to use a tea towel to catch the drips so we decided to go for the old fashioned stainless steel.
How did the kitchen insallation go?
All the lads came on time, were very efficient we felt and very clean when working.
We actually called the electrician back, you (Helen) and I got involved with that I think, because there were some lights that they hadn’t fitted and that was when we couldn’t get hold of Jonny, so I was involved with the electrician. He was great, he came out the following day, he fitted us in between two jobs he was doing, I’m not sure where he was coming from but that was great, he came back to put the lights in.
We liked the idea of having someone manage the installation so that we could just step back and that worked very well for the first two weeks, but as the job ran over into a third week, Jonny had been allocated to another job so we lost contact with him which was frustrating in the first instance. You (Helen) took over the project management aspect of the job and between us we sorted out the remaining bits which needed finishing.
Do you have a favourite part of the kitchen?
We both have individual favourite items in the kitchen, mine is the Quooker hot water tap which is an absolute godsend to me, you don’t waste water, it’s just all instant and when we said about us washing up, it’s so quick to just have the hot water there, you just need to add cold, you’re not running the tap waiting for the hot water to come in, so that’s mine, and yours Ged is?
The fridge!
You can reach the top shelf.
I didn’t have a love affair with the previous extractor so I love this one, you can’t see it.
And lastly, Would you recommend Webbs kitchens?
Yes definitely, definitely
I think it takes a lot of skill to do that and it’s apparent here. You’ve got it all under one roof really, you’ve got decent design, you’ve got plenty to show your customers in the showroom, not at any time did you show us any junk where we would say, oh that’s cheap, you’ve got to have a balance.
And you all appear to work as a team, I’m not sure what goes on under the surface, but as a client, whenever we were in, whoever we spoke to on the phone, you were all very helpful, and when we went in there, you were always a team and helpful.
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