Majjie's Blog

I said I'd tell you about the smaller kitchen suppliers, whose displays impressed me ... at the Grand Designs Live show at the NEC. So here's the first one.

Imagine 3d The Aldridge Bros ... is a small family run joinery business, based in Macclesfield. It's run by brothers Richard and Gareth Aldridge and they do all the traditional, high class joinery you need for your house, like windows, doors, stairs and conservatories.

They also make very solid, bespoke, handmade kitchens. I haven't got any pictures of their Grand Designs displays. They told me they'd post some on their new website ... so I was more than happy to steal them from there. I can't see any, yet ... presumably they're overwhelmed with orders! Here's one of their real kitchens, though:

Gareth does the design - for both the kitchens and the website - although I would, of course, recommend talking to an independent kitchen designer (cough!). Here's the kitchen page of their website. It's not a highly polished site ... but it does the job of telling you what Imagine does and shows you some photos (and it's quite a lot better than I'd be able to manage ... I had a lot of help with this one!).

The kitchens shown are all timber finishes (although the website says that painted finishes are also available) ... and they're good solid quality ... although the photos aren't all brilliant (I've adjusted the ones shown here).

The carcasses are made from oak veneered plywood (no chipboard or MDF) and everything else is solid wood. The doors are 28mm thick (with 15mm centre panels) and the drawers are 19mm and dovetailed. Here's another kitchen:

 And here are those sturdy doors and drawers:

Imagine 3d The Aldridge Bros - is exactly the sort of small cabinetmaking company that I'm always recommending customers to look out for. They obviously know their wood ... take a real pride in their work ... and the finished kitchen isn't going to cost you an arm and a leg. An arm, possibly ... but not the leg too!