OK my faithful blogworms, my topic for this week is .... Hardwood worktops !
Hardwood worktops are wonderful and one of the oldest materials ever used as a kitchen surface, they are naturally anti bacterial, very design friendly, can be cut and machined to almost any shape or size and are eminently practical.
You disagree ! ...... Probably because you've had a bad experience with badly fitted tops and no instructions whatsoever as to how to look after them .... Am I right ??
Here's a couple of pics of some that we are restoring as part of a kitchen refurb at this very moment.
Yes, I did say RESTORE !. I should have taken some pics before I started really then you could have seen how bad they were but however, we caught them in time to achieve the results you see here.
They have suffered 15 years of lack of knowledge ! That was their only crime !
These tops were not the best quality to begin with but were fitted by someone who didn't really have an understanding of hardwood.
I'm not going to bore you with a list of problems I found but suffice it to say, we took them off, just in the nick of time really, and stripped them back to re-finish.
Starting from scratch with the finishing process, we do all the hard work so you don't have to, in their newly restored state they will now last for a good long time into the future and look fabulous for many years to come.
The essential difference is that now they are finished properly and a full set of care instructions will be left with the customer, they will be able to understand how to care for them going forward.
We've put together a 2 page A4 leaflet with a set of installation instructions on one side and care instructions on the reverse.
The installation instructions tell you how and why we do what we do to the timber and the care instructions tell the end user what do and when it needs doing to look after them
It's all very simple, written with 25 years of experience in the field and written in plain simple English so anyone can understand them.
Now the point to this tale of woe with a happy ending is that you too could have a happy ending too if you're in this position. I don't care if someone else supplied and fitted your worktops, if they're struggling and need help just simply email me on : julian@milestone.uk.net or follow us on Facebook: MilestoneEcoKitchens, like our page and leave me a message.
OR use the contact through our website and I'll email you a set of these valuable instructions ...FREE OF CHARGE ... so that together we can start to bring tired timber worktops back to life and looking gorgeous just as they should !
Don't delay and DON'T BE SCEPTICAL, this is a geniune offer with no strings attached
Trying to make the world of timber a better place, Jules.
T - I - M ..... B - E - R ... the lumberjack calls, don't let the trees he felled die in vain !
Ey up my faithful blogworms,
This week, I am puzzled and could do with some answers
I've heard and keep hearing horror stories about normal people making normal decisions about high ticket items such as kitchens and it going abnormally wrong.
It dismays me when I hear this whoever and wherever you are.
Do you know what the linking factor is ?
Go on, guess !!!!
You all bought kitchens from the big sheds !! ie: Magnet, Wickes, Ikea, Howdens and the like.
I have know personal axe to grind or any personal experience of this, it's all based on the stories I've heard from others. ALL TOO REGULARLY !
Common complaints are: Kitchens turning up with bits missing, doors damaged, parts the wrong colour, worktops short / wrong colour / damaged, handles missing, no sink, parts taking upto 6-8 weeks to arrive !! etc. the list goes on & on & on.
A poor fitter turns up to install your kitchen, he/she has got no bloody chance from minute one ! And who gets the blame ..... the fitter, come on people wise up ! It's often not his fault but he's used as the fall guy.
Some guy in a suit turns up to measure your kitchen in the beginning, he's probably never fitted a damn kitchen in his life ! How can you trust someone like that to consider every aspect of your project, which is vital for it's success, if he hasn't a clue what he's looking for ????
Bits of this tale of woe should by now be ringing bells with some of you, yet you still buy kitchens from these places.
That's my big question and why I'm puzzled. Please tell me why this still happens.
There is a fantastic network of independant kitchen retailers out there who are often: better, cleverer, think more creatively, more versatile, plan more comprehensively, who actually care about making sure you get exactly what you want, not want some pushy salesman wants you to have.
Get real, people, put your project in the capable hands of us, the independants, who have a local reputation to uphold and will do everything possible to make your kitchen go smoothly. And, shock, horror, you will probably find we're the same cost or cheaper. We have to compete to survive !
At Milestone. we pride ourselves on not having had 1 single complaint in the 25 odd years we've been in business, we thrive on recommends from satisfied customers.
We're not some big faceless company with outlets all over the country who are really not bothered by peoples complaints because we're big enough to stand a few unhappy customers.
We can compete favourably with the big concerns and 2 things have always stood out in our thinking:
1) If people are interested enough in what we do to walk through our showroom door, then we feel they're important enough to give their request our full attention, no matter how big or small that request.
We don't say, and I've heard this with my own ears ! , "Unless you've got £30,000 to spend on your new kitchen, we can't help you" We listen even if you've only popped in to ask for a couple of new hinges for a kitchen door.
2) We don't care how unusual, odd or curious your questions or requests may be .... Our answer's Yes, now ask the the question. This, perhaps unsurprisingly, catches most people out, as they've probably been everywhere else first and everyone else had said No !
Serves you right, you muppet, you should have come hear first. Don't be scared of your independant thinkers, try us first, we're really nice people and think of the legwork and heartache you could save.
OK, rant over, remember: things are not always cheaper or better from the "Sheds" or over the internet !!
Your best interests at heart. Jules
