Sheffield Kitchen Outlet — Attraction in Sheffield

A number of friends and work colleagues recommended SKO. Comments included “High quality products” and “Stress free”. We contacted them and arranged for one of their designers to come and have a look. James came, measured up and took away our essential and desirable ideas. The same day we were invited to the showroom at Hillsborough to view his design. We fell in love – James had included everything on both of our lists and the price was very reasonable too.

The showroom visit was a great way to visualise what each element of our kitchen would look like. There was no hard sell and we went away with designs and an itemised quote to look over.

We revisited the showroom and chatted to James a few days after as we had a couple of questions. A few tweaks later we paid our deposit, booked our installation date and eagerly awaited our new dream kitchen.

Everything ran as described. Sean Holmes, the fitter came and looked at the job. He discussed options for lighting etc. He gave us dates for when the old kitchen would be ripped out, electrical and gas work done as well as plastering. All of this meant we had to quickly reschedule old appliances to be taken away as the dates did not match the one’s we had been originally given. No big deal it was a couple of days out.

On fitting day all of the units, appliances and worktops arrived. Sean and Connor were there ready and waiting. As each day went by we could see the virtual kitchen James had designed taking shape in real life.

Then we hit the snags. All three worktops had blemishes and were rejected by Sean. Replacements were quickly organised and came a few days later. Whilst two were fitted the third wasn’t as this had an imperfection again.

Finally, after a few weeks all worktops were in place, our new flooring (which we had organised ourselves) was fitted, Sean came back to do the snagging jobs and fit the plinth around our island. We thought that would be it – finished. Unfortunately not.

Our kitchen fit was started mid-August 2022. It’s now March 2023 and we’re still waiting for the manufacturers of the worktops to supply one that is fit for purpose for one of our units.

SKO - The units and doors are first class. SKO use high quality products and it shows.

Fitting - Their recommended fitter Sean was a perfectionist and everything had to be just so for him. What has let SKO down in our ranking has been twofold.

1. The quality of the externally sourced products. The worktops we had fitted (Blackheath – Spectra Collection – Square edge) have repeatedly arrived at the SKO warehouse damaged or with imperfections and had to be returned and replaced.
2. Follow-ups on issued raised with SKO. Initially these were very slow/non-existent. That was until the Sales Manager Mark got involved.

Mark visited our home to look at the issues first hand. He agreed things weren’t how they should be and also noticed an incorrect oven had been installed. Things then started to move and were rectified.

On reflection would I use SKO or recommend to a friend? Yes, but I would tell them: a) not to have the worktops we have had; and b) don’t be afraid to chase any outstanding issues. In fact, it’s a must as sometimes you do think you have...

I am saddened to have to write this review as this is my second kitchen from SKO, and members of my family have also purchased multiple kitchens from them. After spending around £50,000 over the last 5 years, I have now had a very poor customer service experience with my latest kitchen.

I bought the kitchen and used my own experienced fitter, who has installed many kitchens for me before. SKO supply all fixtures, fittings, screws, and brackets, but none of these are labelled or explained—clearly designed to push customers into using their own fitters.

Once my kitchen was fully installed, my fitter moved on to the worktops. SKO supplied small black clips with pre-fitted screws for joining and strengthening, which can be used on worktops, though apparently SKO “prefer” customers to use metal L-brackets. However, I was only told this three weeks after delivery—long after installation began.

When my fitter used the clips, one snapped as it was screwed in, causing the screw to go through the worktop. I reported this immediately and sent photos showing that all the other clips had worked fine—only one failed.

SKO refused to replace the worktop, despite supplying the faulty fixing. When I called, I was first told:

Worktops must be fitted with the L-brackets supplied.

To do this, 10mm screws are required.

When I asked where these screws were, I was told, “we don’t supply those—you must provide them yourself.” After I pressed further, the story changed: “Actually, we don’t supply any fixings for worktops. You must supply them all.”

I then requested written proof that SKO had made this clear at the point of sale. They admitted they had no such document, saying they “don’t have time to write a list of what can and can’t be used.”

This is incredibly frustrating. A company of SKO’s size should not resort to changing their story mid-call to avoid replacing a £190 worktop for a long-term customer. They are trying to avoid liability by claiming the supplied fixings should not have been used, despite giving no guidance to that effect.

Good customer service would have been simple: admit they hadn’t explained, accept responsibility, and replace the worktop. Instead, they have lost me as a repeat customer and potentially many others through word of mouth.

It’s disappointing that after years of loyalty and significant spend, SKO chose to save £190 rather than do the right thing. They may respond claiming the wrong fixings were used, but my reply is clear: you never said they couldn’t be, you never labelled them, and you never explained that none of your supplied fixings should be used on worktops.

Changing your story from “use the L-brackets we provide but source your own screws” to “we don’t supply anything for worktops at all” is not customer...

This company is atrocious - very little after sale service. Their recommended fitters were terrible. Parted company after 1 day and most of the work needed redoing. Luckily we found Patrick - Quinn Interiors (Trustatrader) who rescued us and the kitchen. SKO measured up - like for like- but still managed to miss 3 doors off the quote and measure one door completely wrong. Contact in Sheffield branch ignored me after getting the order. Branch manager called on day of delivery to say the kitchen hadn't arrived. They had however managed to let the fitters know a couple of days before. No one told the customer! Kitchen eventually got delivered - I was assured everything on the order was there. Delivery lads (who actually were very good) told me the work top was missing. I later found out that SKO had been told this 4 days earlier but again didn't inform the customer. No-one called to let me know when the work top would be delivered to me. I spoke to the branch manager again a couple of days later who could only suggest that I travel back to the showroom (90 min round trip from me) to choose another worktop on the off-chance it would be in stock. He wasn't prepared to come out to me with samples and was full of excuses why it wasn't his fault. After 3 - 4 days of constant phone calls to them, I eventually got a director out who was horrified at what had happened and lack of service from SKO and the appalling work of their recommended fitters. But he seemed more concerned about the lack of revenue the bad publicity would get them. He did manage to get new work top delivered 3 days later so that the kitchen could be fitted. Unfortunately we had a few other issues with a missing door, damaged door, missing in-fill pieces and missing kickboard which eventually arrived a few weeks after. This meant that we had to try to fit these ourselves or pay a fitter to come back. The branch manager had assured me that I wouldn't be out of pocket and that SKO would cover these costs but they refused when I asked and I have not got any compensation for the extra costs I have had to incur. They have apologised but haven't yet called to see if everything has been OK. Clearly not interested in the customer, just their profit. Katie in Customer Service was very good but can only pass messages on to people who are not customer focused. They are great until they get your money then are not interested. The customer has to do all the chasing. Avoid this company. Call Patrick of Quinn Interiors. I can't recommend him and his team enough. If you do go with SKO - good luck and I hope you don't have any issues otherwise you will have a battle to get...