How do I bathroom / kitchen / extension? etc.

Yeah, I wanted to do it but added it together and was no way I was going to be able to do it, it's not affordable at all anymore. Cheaper to buy full kitchen from DIY, Wren, Magnet than just the front from Plykea

Are we yet at the point where you can just buy solid wood for less than fancy ply? Feels like we must be close.

Solid wood is still 4x the price

Maybe Plykea need 86 sheets of plywood and 20 litres of Osmo oil to make enough panels, seems wasteful.

Business plan:

• Buy cnc machine machine, plywood and osmo oil
  
• Fancy website with pink hues
  
• Money
  

Inside/outside.

Totally flush bench top and window threshold. Bench top extends into cill, for a platform deep enough to nap on.

Table in front = integrated outdoor bench seating.

3 Attachments

For sure, I'm going to make my own and it gives me an excuse to buy the tools for it.

You'd think with the CNC they will use the sheets to get the max out of them for fronts.

Maybe the CNC machine is single use? Struggling to get the maths to work for £18k in plywood.

To be fair CNCs are 50k +

Also to be fair I’ve managed to make a lot of kitchens without a CNC

Do they only do 3 kitchens worth of fronts?

We looked at it too, it was just insane money, I bought a track saw and some good ply and got a friend to hold my hand through the first bits, it isn't as neat as it could be, some of the gaps are slightly out but it was £1000 in materials including the saw. Our aim was less £40k kitchen, more £4k.

On that note, anyone able to point me in the direction of somewhere good to buy two sheets of decorative veneer 18mm ply, don't mind paying delivery?

OR, has anyone used something like this?:

https://sawmillwoodcraft.co.uk/collections/furniture-boards/products/oakley-furniture-boards?variant=47123301892432

Would like to make two wardrobe doors, but a bit worried the 201 x 75 cm door is going to be very hefty in 18mm ply and pull the PAX carcass apart...

I mean it’s all pretty simple isn’t it?

Customer pays a premium for a kitchen, they don’t want it not as neat as it could be, they also don’t want to make it themselves. Company has overheads, salaries, rent, pensions, insurance, depreciation, VAT etc.

It makes more sense to me than, for instance, paying an estate agent £7,500 to be borderline obstructive to a house purchase.

But yeah, those companies are pricey. I could do a whole small kitchen including worktop and fitting for £18k

Yeah, but 18k for some fronts….

Oh yeah, Estate Agents can get in the bin too, it just feels dreadfully cynical to be asking so much money for it, I dunno.

Company has overheads, salaries, rent, pensions, insurance, depreciation, VAT etc.

Exactly. It's not a scalable business and even though people have been willing to wear high material costs you're still going to be susceptible to any changes.

Also being brutally honest, as a trend it's not going to last forever.

They have a good niche, good brand, you assume a decent order book, so make hay.

My wife's friends run Holte, and even with mates' rates their quote was the best part of £15K. To be fair, this did include several bespoke elements aside from the cabinet fronts (bench seating with drawers, shelving built into island, custom ASHP plant cupboard etc).

They said their order books got decimated by trussonomics.

In the end, we bought £2.5K's worth of fancy ply and are using our builder's chippie to knock up all the above bits for very cheap. We will be sanding and finishing the ply ourselves. It won't be perfect, but it'll look & feel nicer and won't be costing too much more than basic Ikea fronts.

Make sure you sand the edges properly. First thing I see when builders have done cabinetry is burn marks or whiskers from the saw on the edges.

Nice Doug fir there

Are you booked up for spring 2025? 2.6x3m SE

They have a good niche, good brand, you assume a decent order book, so make hay.

Quite. So they'll charge what the market will bear. At their current prices they'll either have enough custom and stay in business, not have enough business and reduce their prices, or not have enough business and go bust. I doubt many people go into business just to make enough to cover their costs while making minimal returns.

Nah got time next year for sure, drop me a PM ✌🏻