Wickes has launched four new kitchen ranges, which have been designed to suit different lifestyles and styling preferences.

The new ranges are designed for all budgets and cover all areas of the market and include Oban Ivory Shaker, Melrose Dove Grey, Milton Midnight and Radley Dove Grey taking the total of Wickes kitchens to 28.

Wickes said the kitchens were designed to suit a range of lifestyles, and offers solutions for the ‘broken-plan living’ trend, which uses design elements to break up the living spaces, and ‘glamily’, which focuses on a balanced space designed for family living, coming through this year.

Michael Osborne, head of kitchens at Wickes, said: “The form and function of the kitchen has changed over the past few years and at Wickes, we have ensured we have addressed this change by continuing to invest in our kitchen proposition with the launch of four new ranges. The demands of customers’ kitchens are now really diverse and we’re reflecting this with the introduction of our new ranges, new lighting products, improved and updated storage and wirework, and innovative products from Neff, AEG and Zanussi, as well as seven new handles and 10 new worktops.

“Not only can customers buy their new kitchen from us, they can complete the look with tiles, paint and flooring at the same time. The designs we are creating are becoming increasingly bespoke, including features such as bars for entertaining and even clever storage and sleeping areas for the beloved family dog.

“Whether customers are looking for a classic, contemporary or traditional style kitchen, and whatever their lifestyle, our personal design consultants are on hand to offer a dedicated service to guide customers through every step of finding and fitting their new kitchen – from design inspiration to installation.”

50% off?

Kitchens don't have to cost the Earth but Kitchens Kitchens are always skeptical of 50% offers but its undeniable that such headline sales boasts do attract attention, whether they are genuine or have been massaged a little?

Nevertheless Wickes is a good choice if you are on a tight budget, or perhaps you are a landlord and don't want to pay over the odds for a kitchen in a rental property.

Which? consumer group have looked at the kitchen industry for a couple of years now and Wickes gained an overall customer score of 75%, putting it in the middle of their rankings some 13 percentage points behind top-scorer Ikea.  In the Which 2014 survey, it scored 72% and was second from the bottom so it has improved in the last 3 years.

But that isn't the full story though as although Wickes improved, other brands declined and lower scores from other brands this year such as B&Q with 66%, Wren Living with 64% and Homebase at the very bottom with 63% satisfaction rating, mean that those poor scores pushed Wickes up the table.

Wickes however picked up four stars for customer service and value for money, yet only three for quality of products and finish which is to be expected of the price bracket it sits in. 83% of people with a Wickes kitchen rated its customer service as excellent or good, while only 6% rated it as poor or very poor, and 10% as fair.  For quality of products and quality of finish, 88% and 91% of people respectively rated Wickes kitchens as excellent or good, with only 11% and 8% saying it was either fair, poor or very poor and finally 81% of Wickes kitchen owners thought it was excellent or good with regards to value for money, but 19% said it was fair, poor or very poor.

Either way, the additions to the range reflect the English kitchen buying habits perfectly and are very on-trend so if you are looking for a cheap kitchen you may well be well advised to choose Wickes over B&Q, Wren or Homebase but Ikea seems to top that market segment.