Mastercraft Kitchens www.mastercraftkitchens.co.uk

We recently had our kitchen fitted by Mastercraft Kitchens, and the results are stunning! From the initial consultation to the final touches, their team was professional, attentive, and highly skilled. They listened to our needs, provided excellent design ideas, and delivered on every promise. The quality of materials and craftsmanship is top-notch, transforming our kitchen into a stylish and functional space. The project was completed on time and within budget. We couldn't be happier with the outcome. Highly recommend Mastercraft Kitchens for anyone looking to upgrade their kitchen!

We were recommended by a neighbour who already had a Mastercraft kitchen to have Mastercraft Kitchens do ours. We were very impressed with theirs and the way they had done everything. We found their quote to be excellent value for money considering the quality of the units which have oak interiors and solid oak dovetail drawers and the fact they were providing all our new Miele appliances. We had to wait five months for our delivery and installation as they were completely booked up but it was well worth the wait. We wanted a high end, quality kitchen and a well thought out design for our home and that's exactly what has been delivered and acehived. We are more than happy with our decision and we absolutely love our Mastercraft kitchen.

After getting three similar quotes for a complete kitchen and utility room renovation we chose Mastercraft Kitchens as their design was by far the best along with the use of superior quality products.

Any questions and queries we had during the design process were always answered very quickly and the more complex explanations often came with accompanying diagrams.

The fitting team, comprising of the two fitters, two electricians, three plasterers, three quartz top fitters, and a floor layer were all totally professional, very polite and always punctual.

There was great attention to detail used throughout the transformation and we now are proud to own our beautiful new Mastercraft kitchen and utility/boot room.

I can confirm that this is a true and accurate description of my dealings with Mastercraft Kitchens

The deal I was offered – and it appeared to be their standard deal at the time – was “free installation”. Well, we all want something for free, don’t we. Of course, in hindsight, accepting this offer was a massive mistake.

The long and short of this “free installation” offer was that I paid 95% of the cost of the kitchen six weeks BEFORE any work was done. I have no idea what Mastercraft’s profit margins are but you can bet your bottom dollar that they’re more than 5%. In short, Mastercraft were in profit before they had even started. As such they had no incentive to do a decent job, or even, as it turned out, to complete the work.

And this lackadaisical attitude was clear throughout the installation process.

The biggest problem – right from the start – was the appalling lack of project management. We were warned not to expect the project manager to be on site each and every day but we weren’t told that, over the fifteen weeks it took to complete a ‘six week’ project, we would only see the project manager on site three times, on one of which he hardly spoke to us. It was quite clear that Mastercraft didn’t care about us or the job. Why should they? They already had the money.

This lack of project management – and, in particular, the lack of joined up thinking - had a major knock-on effect to the work. One classic example was the one where that the electrician drilled holes in the kitchen ceiling to take the new lighting only for the plasterer to come in the very next day and cover them over. You can imagine what the electrician said when he returned to find all his hard work obliterated.

A far more drastic example was the massive miscalculation as to how long the flooring contractor would take to lay the new floor. As far as I know – we never actually saw the project plan, if indeed, there was one – three days were set aside for the new flooring. The work, which ran without incident, actually took two weeks. Not only was this yet another massive delay on the completion date but, by the time the flooring was completed, all the subcontractors who had been assigned to our project had moved on to work elsewhere and were unavailable for work on our project.

For weeks we were living in a building site with never a contractor to be found.

So far this is simply a tale of apathetic incompetence. However, there is one area where Mastercraft were neither apathetic nor incompetent and that is in screwing extra money out of the customer. Midway through the build, with the kitchen in chaos and no end in sight, we were contacted by the project manager to be told that the NEF hob which we had ordered – and paid for – was no longer being manufactured. We were then offered an Elica hob as a direct and comparable replacement. Using a ploy reminiscent of confidence tricksters we were given very little time to think as we were told that we had to decide a soon as possible otherwise the work, already running late, would be further delayed. Of course we agreed.

Big, big mistake! Firstly the NEF hob was still being manufactured. Secondly calling the Elica hob a comparable replacement is like saying that a Fiat 500 is a comparable replacement for a Mercedes E Class. In particular the Elica we received is £600 cheaper than the NEF hob we paid for. Were we offered any adjustment in the contract price to allow for this? Of course not. We were simply screwed out of £600. Caveat emptor and all that. I have no one to blame but myself but beware. This gives you a clear insight into how much, or rather how little, Mastercraft can be trusted.

One of the most important parts of any contract is the final site visit. This is where an agreement can be made between the vendor and the customer as to whether the work is, indeed, complete and correct. Naturally, in our case, this never happened. By the time the last job was done we had seen neither hide nor hair of the project manager for over ten weeks. Whilst the bulk of the work was done, and most of it to an level of competence I am prepared to accept, there were a significant number of issues that needed to be addressed. Some of these were minor – like the cement stains all over my driveway – but some were significant, dangerous, and costly to rectify. Naturally I held back the last 5% of the cost pending some sort of resolution of these issues.

Mastercraft have no interest whatsoever in resolving, or even discussing, these issues. Why should they? They already had the bulk of the money and the cost of rectifying their mistakes would be far greater than the outstanding moneys. They just walked away.

Which brings us to the final twist in the tale. Because the final issues have not been resolved and the bill not settled Mastercraft now deem that their guarantee is not valid. I’m stuck with what I’ve got. Naturally I can – and will be – taking legal action to get what is right but that’s a long and arduous process. Mastercraft are betting that I’ll give up before it ever gets to court.

So my advice, my heartfelt advice, is to go nowhere near Mastercraft. You might get the kitchen of your dreams or, like me, those dreams might end up being nightmares.

I would like to thank the designer, the builders, and the fitters from Mastercraft all of whom were pleasant, professional and always cheerful throughout.

Now that the work is finished we are extremely happy with the result. Our kitchen is everything we wished for and more.

I would highly recommend this company if you are looking for top quality job and a top quality product.

I confirm that the following review is an accurate and truthful account of my experience with Mastercraft Kitchens. We purchased our kitchen on 7th December 2020. The process was initially relatively smooth and the company seemed interested before we parted with any money. We paid and the fitting began by the company on 22nd February 2021. It had however remained incomplete with several jobs outstanding until 16th September 2022. The work was completed after seeking assistance from the Federation of Master Builders. Although we tried numerous times to contact the company to reach a resolution, no contact back was made until the dispute raised with FMB. The kitchen is now complete and in my opinion looks of low quality. I regret using this company not only because of the poor customer service but also because of the look of the finished kitchen. Due to being unable to find much information regarding this company online, I wanted to share my experience in the interest of readers being provided with a fair and genuine account of my experience; so that they can make an informed choice when looking for a kitchen supplier. As an honest and hardworking family, a kitchen is a large expense to trust a company with. Unfortunately I found the company to be poor and unprofessional so on this occasion I am unable to recommend them or leave a positive review.

We have recently had our new kitchen supplied and fitted by Mastercraft Kitchens. I'd just like to say how pleased we are with everything, from the service we received to the quality of the units and the finish of the overall job.

The decision to go with Mastercraft was a no brainer really. We'd already seen a neighbour's kitchen they'd installed and we were highly impressed by the look of the design and the fact that our neighbour was so pleased with their purchase.

They also were able to quote for new oak flooring and removing and replastering our old artexed ceiling.

The fitters were nice guys and a pleasure to have in our home and apart from a few days delay with our Neff dishwasher were able to complete everything more or less on time. We'd highly recommend.

Our nightmare began in February 2020, when the fitting date was postponed twice. Eventually the work started and carried on in dribs and drabs over many days, we had a wall removed to open up the dining room and kitchen into one large space and a door closed up as well. We were ensured that Mastercraft would take care of the whole thing and that the salesman would practically live here as he project managed the job from start to finish. That was utter rubbish we saw him twice once to order the kitchen (big mistake) and once to choose the taps!

The workmanship was quite appalling in every detail, a shortened version of the faults is:

walls plastered but left short of the skirting boards

main kitchen door and broom cupboard door taken off and never replaced

the water stop tap can no longer shut off as it was damaged by the fitter

electrical sockets badly fitted and left loose

the window sill left with a gap so that water can get down

The list can go on and on, but our frequent phone calls and the promises made that "someone" would get back to us never materialised and at one point we were informed by customer services that we were not on the system.

As the months dragged on we had to pay other workmen to rectify and finish off what Mastercraft had started. Following advice from Trading Standards, we sent two letters giving Mastercraft the chance to put matters right, we have had neither a reply or indeed any acknowledgment

At the time of writing now some ten months later we are still waiting for Mastercraft to get back to us and at least offer to put the job right. This was an £18,000 kitchen which was paid for up front and which has cost us considerably more to put right everything that Mastercraft did wrong.

With our experience we would advise you not to deal with this company, yes they have a nice website and the salesman is very plausible but the delivery and service is appalling BUYER BEWARE AS WE ARE STILL WAITING

I have debated writing a review for the last 18 months now but always thought I wouldn't do it, as what's the point? Even at the time when I was livid about our experience I thought 'what's the point' but especially now, after this length of time. But every day I walk into my kitchen I just want to cry or shout and it's getting worse. So hence why I am leaving this review 18 months later.

We were pleased at very first with how the rep/manager handled the early stages. He came out, told us they could do everything we wanted and it was all really easy. He came out to measure up for a BESPOKE kitchen so we were looking forward to having it all completed. Being bespoke, we thought everything would look fab, all fitted in perfectly etc. We were told it would take three weeks tops which was fine, we planned around that as we know it's always hard when you're having a kitchen done.

The kitchen was fitted in just less than two weeks, which at first you might think is a bonus, hurray you get to use your shiny new kitchen. Except it wasn't a bonus, it was clearly a rush job. We walked round the kitchen and found so many things wrong it was unbelievable. I understand that when fitting new rooms, there'll be a snag list of things that just need tweaking here and there and that is fine. I get a bit of damage might be expected but I would equally expect it to be fixed if they have caused it. However a list of snags and damage as long as ours was just a joke. I could list every one but I'd be here all day. They broke two of our large floor tiles when putting them down - they were not cheap either so I was cross about that. They damaged the ceiling when moving units around and didn't fix it - just left big dints in the ceiling. The so called bespoke measuring was a load of rubbish. They supposedly measured around the beam that runs across the ceiling so the cupboards would sit underneath it. So can anyone tell me why this wasn't done and they cut a chunk out of the top of the cupboard unit to fit round the beam? Can anyone tell me why there is a huge cut into one of the units too? Just a random cut in the top - looks like the saw slipped or something to me. They sealed maybe one or two of the kickboards to the floor but that's it - the rest was left. Same with the upstands around the work tops - think they got fed up and only did approximately half. Which is all peeling off now too, clearly top quality stuff used. So every time there's a spillage on the floor or work tops we have to be quick so it doesn't go in the unsealed areas. They delivered the wrong tap and told us it was that or we'd have to wait another week to get the one we wanted and couldn't use the sink. There were so many other things wrong, I could go on and on. I spoke to the area manager who'd been supposedly overseeing everything and asked if he was coming back out before it was 'signed off'. He said he was and asked if there were any issues. I advised there were many, too many to discuss over the phone. I also added that I did not want the same fitter to come back out to correct the things that were wrong - his fitting of the kitchen was poor as well as causing all the damage he did. He told me a new fitter would come out ASAP. And guess what - the same fitter came a couple of days later. I went round the kitchen pointing out everything, he was so blasé and thought just touching up some of the sealing was good enough. That's not good enough and the fact he still didn't seal every kickboard and upstand was ridiculous! He also let slip that they had "a big job" to get to in Oxford by the end of the week - hence I was right about it being a rush job. I rang the area manager again and said we were still unhappy, nothing had been sorted out and they sent the same fitter back when I requested them not to. He told us he'd be out that weekend and guess what, ne never turned up. Never answered any more calls, no messages left or sent were responded to. No e-mails replied to - just nothing. It's as though they'd disappeared off the face of the earth but clearly not as the company is still trading.

We thought this would be our 'forever kitchen' - nice new house, nice new kitchen that we wouldn't have to touch for years and years. We thought we'd get a reputable company to come in and do everything rather than lining up plasterers, electricians etc ourselves. We didn't mind spending a little more for the convenience of it either - we just wanted it all done and it looked like this company fit the bill. We read reviews and thought the bad reviews were outweighed by the good. Wrong again - my review echoes some of the other poor reviews on here. My husband and his friend fitted the kitchen in our last house and it was 100% better than what these so called professionals have done in this one. We chose a company to do it this time as doing it yourself is a lot of effort around work and family time etc. It needed tiles smashing off every wall and the floor, plastering and the floor relaying, the kitchen ripping out and refitting along with electrics and plumbing so it would have taken even more effort if we did ourselves like last time. More fool us for thinking this company would be better and easier. Every time I walk in the kitchen I just look at it in despair. We haven't even finished some bits of painting in all this time as it just depresses the hell out of us. We spent time fixing the damage they caused which we shouldn't have needed to. We spent approximately £13,000 with this company and I could cry thinking of how that much money was wasted. Some might think that's a small amount of money but to us it's a lot. For that amount of money I expected to walk in and be 'wowed' but I was just gutted and still am. Our kitchen is by no means huge either. The company claims that they will treat everyone the same, regardless of the size of the kitchen or the budget. It's funny how all the huge kitchens with equally huge budgets turn out well and that only those get shared on their social media pages. The smaller kitchens and smaller budgets are clearly disregarded and rushed. Absolutely horrendous communication when things go wrong, they are not interested in customer care and just want the money. I have told anyone who will listen about this awful experience and will continue to do so. Please save yourselves the stress we have, consider the poor reviews to be true and just go with a different company.

Had the rep come round and quote for kitchen and in spite of chasing and excuses, he never replied, nor did customer services bother to acknowledge my complaint.

Poor attitude