kitchen unit style

5 years ago

Hi. Can anyone offer any advice please? We’re in the process of buying a new kitchen and I wanted a handless white gloss kitchen. It seems there’s two styles. 1. true handless with a aluminium panel behind the doors or 2. j pull door.
I prefer the look of the j pull as on the handless style the aluminium panel looks lovely on the draws and cupboards but I don’t like the ‘stripes’ it provides on a tall bank of units.
However I’ve read that j pull is harder to open on appliance doors and to be honest I found them a pain with longer nails to open even on normal draws.

Wren do a handless with a white panel and so the stripe didn’t look so obvious which I prefer but I’ve read poor reviews about their kitchens and magnet also do one but theirs was £££££s
Howdens are the ones that are affordable but only offer a aluminium panel not white.

Anyone bought a j pull and regretted? Or any ideas what I can do?

Thank you

Featured Answer

Danielle H

5 years ago

I have a Howdens J handle matt white and matt graphite kitchen. I’ve had no problems at all opening doors/drawers/appliance doors. In fact I used to break my nails more in my old kitchen when I had a slim aluminium profile handle! I’m really happy with the quality and look of mine and all the units were about 3k, I’ve got about 10 including the drawers.

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Comments (10)

Daisy England
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
I’d look around small kitchen businesses. I’m betting they’ll have or be able to obtain them.

They are no more expensive than the larger stores.

Personally I’d avoid all those stores you’ve mentioned.
Jonathan
5 years ago
I would also avoid the stores you have mentioned in favour of an independent. There are lots of German manufacturers who produce true handless kitchens (not the inferior J-handle) and the ginger rail can be colour matched to the door. They also usually have a choice of whites - my preference would be for a soft matt white colour which I think looks more expensive than a glossy kitchen.
An independent is likely to sell true handleless kitchens starting around Magnet prices because these kitchens are more expensive to produce than a J Handle. But if budget is an issue the independent will have options other than the j handle - for instance lots of manufacturers also produce a door that fakes the look of a handless kitchen by adding a recessed handle to the top of the door (which can also be the same colour as the door), there are also contemporary handle options that are very discrete.
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PRO
Lifestyle Kitchens
5 years ago
If you're looking at the J profile handleless door then make sure you get a painted and lacquered 22mm thick door and not an inferior vinyl wrapped door. The differences are the painted door has a deep J profile which you can get your fingers in and open the appliance doors easily. Also you can now have a d/washer that is push/touch open doors, i know Bosch make one. A vinyl wrapped door due to manufacturing limitations has a very shallow profile and you can't get your fingers into the groove for d/washers and fr/frz to open easily. There are a few cut and edged deep J profile vinyl doors on the market now but tbh the finish of the edging around the J profile isn't the best.

As for the true handleless style as previously stated more expensive to produce, more fiddly to install (more expensive), limited choice of accessories and unit sizes unlikely to find any curved doors to suit and you have to make sure any appliances will fit underneath the handle rail. An independant supplier would be able to offer more colour choices for the handle rail than one of the sheds as there's plenty of different colours on the market.
K Owen
Original Author
5 years ago
Thanks. A German firm called Nobilia do a true handless similar to the Howdens and will provide white rails. But I’ve never heard of them and wary of using them encase the quality isn’t very good.
K Owen
Original Author
5 years ago
My first choice if I can get what I want is the handless rail style.
But if I can’t find one I like that’s within my budget there’s 2 j handled units that look ok. The Howdens is a 19inch mdf wrapped pet door. Whatever that means and diy kitchens is a 22inch polyurethane lacquered door.
Which of those two are the better ones?

My budget is £7-9k for units only. I need approx 14 units.
PRO
Lifestyle Kitchens
5 years ago
For the J profiled doors, the Howdens is a vinyl wrapped door and as its only 19mm thick the back of the handle section is quite thin. PET is a type of polyester. If it does have a deep J profile then it would be a cut and edged door. The 22mm lacquered door is painted and would be a much better quality door with a deep J profile and a thicker handle back section. For a budget of 7K for cabinets you shouldn't have any problem getting 14 units (if you are then i can easily supply them).

Nobilia is a huge German manufacturer, possibly one of the biggest in europe and supply independants in the UK, but tbh there's nothing that a UK independant supplier can't already do so if there's something that you really like from Nobilia this can be made in the UK using the same or better components.
Tani H-S
5 years ago
Yes - had one in our last house and hated it. Caught food - always dirty (white!) and broke numerous fingernails - especially on the fridge/freezer due to the suction.
:0(

Could you compromise and go for true handleless on all but the uprights? I didn’t like the vertical strips either and though it made it look very fussy. In fact plain handles on uprights would look far more discreet than the bars.
K Owen
Original Author
5 years ago
Thank you all. It’s good to hear the feedback from those of you who have had one of these kitchens.

We have a quote being done from a nobillia supplier who will quote on the true handle less units and if that comes in two expensive then we may be down to choosing where to get the j style from instead.

So far wren and magnet have quoted £9k which is a bit over what we wanted to pay for units.

I hadnt thought about combining the two Howdens styles together. I’m rubbish at imagining what things look like if it’s not in a picture already. So that’s an option.
PRO
Anderson Sinclair Ltd
5 years ago
We do both styles, they typical J grip and the true handlelsss style. We are a small independent company so our prices are much better than other companies.

We have found that ladies with long nails struggle with opening the J grip doors on integrated appliances such as fridge/freezers and dishwashers, so we usually go towards the true handless style.

However we do agree with a previous comment from Lifestyle kitchens that if you do go for a J grip make sure it is a 22mm thick door as it makes it sturdier - we've had customers come in needing us to swap all their doors as they have split in the J grip.

We as a company though prefer the look of the true handless style, and do multiple different colours for the stirp to open, including getting them paint matched to your kitchen,

Give us a call on 0208 508 1941 or email us on info@anderson-sinclair.co.uk if you want us to give you a price to compare with.

kitchen unit style

Danielle H

Comments (10)

Daisy England

Jonathan

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kitchen unit style

Danielle H

Comments (10)

Daisy England

Jonathan

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