Total Kitchen Upgrade

Customer reference for DR Kitchens and Bedrooms as told to pickapro by Shauna Gilligan from Celbridge, Co. Kildare on

When was the work done?
In 2010.

What was involved?
What we wanted was the whole kitchen revamped - but we wanted to keep the existing units because the doors are solid oak. We had talked to a lot of kitchen people and most of them tried to persuade us to change the whole thing. Dave was very flexible - he said whatever you need, I'll do it. He agreed that it'd be a shame to change the doors and that we'd save lots of money.

Dave also took out the insides of all the cupboards and rebuilt them. So we still got all the modern stuff inside the kitchens like the drawers that close themselves and better storage layout.

How did you choose DR Kitchens and Bedrooms?
We were looking for somebody local. We did get quotes from some big kitchen companies too like B&Q just to see what was on offer - but between price and customer service, Dave was second to none.

Dave wasn't pushy either. Some companies called me back straight after delivering the quote even though I said I'd be in contact in 10 days. Dave gave me the quote and then let me get back to him.

Had you definite ideas in mind before you talked to David Riordan?
Yes. We worked with Dave to redesign the kitchen which included a whole new free standing unit and a new oven unit.

Did David introduce new ideas?
Yes. For example, we hit a problem at one stage - we went off and got what we thought was a free standing cooker to replace the old one. It turned out to be an integrated cooker and it would be more expensive to change the order. Dave said look, we can get around this - I can build a unit to incorporate the oven and the microwave. So straight away he came up with a great suggestion. There wasn't pressure to make a decision there and then - he said he'd leave it with us for a few day.

How did the project run?
It actually finished sooner than he had originally said. At the end, I asked about putting new knobs on the doors and would it take longer. He said, he'd just work longer and still be finished within the five days.

It looks like a whole new kitchen. For the new units Dave got doors to match our old doors and he even aged the doors. Unless you look really, really closely you can't tell the difference.

One of the joys was he did it in quite a quick time - so there wasn't as much disruption as I would have thought.

What was the biggest benefit to you of using DR Kitchens and Bedrooms?
The biggest benefit was that nothing was too small or too big for Dave. He was very easy to work with - you could ask him any question, even if they seemed a bit silly. He's relaxed but still he got the job done on schedule.

What's your favourite part now?
I think his suggestion for extra units has worked really, really well.

Would you recommend DR Kitchens and Bedrooms to others?
I recommended him to my mother. She got a complete new kitchen from Dave with new units and marble counters. I wouldn't have recommended him unless I was very pleased with the service.

Any tips for other people?
I think have a clear idea of what you want but be prepared to take on other ideas that might improve your plans.