Kitchen companies , my experience and advice needed :) Update post 87 01/03

[3disneykids]

So today we went to look at three kitchen showrooms. Here is what I thought:
Howdens : small but the kitchens seemed solid and the staff were great and informative. As some of you know it is an insurance claim and we went to visit a different store to that our project manager uses (so they weren't going to get the sale and knew that from the start) but still described and explained the differences between the ranges.

Wren: This was a massive glitzy showroom...almost too many kitchen and options an assistant came up to us and talked about getting a measurement I explained roughly ho many cabinets I needed (about 24) and she basically made out I was over exaggerating. I told her I didn't want to book a design consultation quite yet . She brought her colleague over to book me in...After booking an appointment (thinking they were coming to my house it was actually an in store consultation which I had already said I didn't want yet. I have come away frustrated and may cancel both as they did it in a underhand way and didn't even 'show me' their kitchen options and what the differences were.


B and q :
No one came over there was a smallish range of kitchens. I would say I didn't mind that we weren't looked after as I couldn't be bothered at this point and I have to say out of the three Howdens looked the best quality.

Edited added :
DIY Kitchens my thoughts:
This was a really lovely showroom. You have to sign in but then are left to look around at your own leisure...No one comes to 'pounce' on you. The kitchens literally sell themselves
The lady on the front desk seemed a little cranky but was probably just having an off day. I really would recommend this as an option

So I visited Ikea today.
Disclaimer I hate shopping generally in Ikea.
I think that I just didn't see anything that matched our criteria.
Their shaker range in my opinion is not the best. If you are looking for gloss then fantastic range and different colours. Quality seemed good .
I have to admit my heart just wasn't in the whole kitchen search today... It's partly me and partly my hate for shopping in Ikea in general (I need to be able to see the product and when people linger for ages it gets difficult lol)


So I may visit Homebase another time but Howdens is leader so far Is there anywhere else you would recommend and any of these companies you would recommend?

Thanks in advance

[loves2plan]

Your report of Wren doesn't surprise me at all. We, naively, had them come over to our house for a consultation, and they were truly awful! Pushy sales tactics, phone call to the manager to get 'special discounts,' staying for ages, despite us saying that we weren't signing anything as we were getting other quotes. First and last time we've had sales people in our house!

I've read good things about Howdens, and our friend who used to be a kitchen fitter, before going in to building project management, uses and recommends them too

[3disneykids]

Originally Posted by loves2plan

Your report of Wren doesn't surprise me at all. We, naively, had them come over to our house for a consultation, and they were truly awful! Pushy sales tactics, phone call to the manager to get 'special discounts,' staying for ages, despite us saying that we weren't signing anything as we were getting other quotes. First and last time we've had sales people in our house!

I've read good things about Howdens, and our friend who used to be a kitchen fitter, before going in to building project management, uses and recommends them too

See more...

Thanks appreciate this...The woman who came to us kept telling us that they did 5 years 0% interest even though I told her several times that it was an insurance claim I hope they don't keep harassing me.

[Twin mummy]

I'm another with a bad experience of Wren, they were really pushy and the quote was about double the one we ended up with (and ours was better quality). In the end we went with a local small firm rather than a chain and were really pleased with them.

[Orlando 2004]

We got our new kitchen from Benchmarx. They're trade only and didn't have full kitchens on display but it's the same as Wickes and cheaper. We supplied our own appliances but only because we wanted mainly Bosch.
Didn't even go in Wren as had seen and heard bad reviews of them.

[Procrastinator]

Have a look at...

diy-kitchens

We used them. Significantly cheaper than the mainstream - but when you look at things like carcass thickness etc they are better. Unless you pay top dollar for a German brand they are as good or better than b&q, wren etc etc.

The units all come pre made - which our installer loved.

If you want samples they post loads out to you. There is 1 showroom if you are in the right part of the country.

Only downside to them is that every order is made to order. The issue being if you make a late change or there is a quality issue you have to wait. Now i was being rather picky, but 3 doors and 1 end pa el had very slight marks. I sent a picture, no quibble they agreed to replace them, but it took 2 weeks. Which can slow things down.

Also have a look at ikea. Not used them but when we researched it seemed a lot of people felt they were good quality for the price.

[The Hulk]

After shopping around,we went with howdens,recommended by our builder. We found them great,not at all pushy,very nice quality units, some appliances we got from them,others we bought ourselves and we also got our quartz worktops elsewhere but they were happy for us to do whatever we wanted and we must of changed our plans about 5 times,but it was never a problem. Wouldn't hesitate to recommend them. We didn't like Wren, my two friends used them,had lots of problems, their service and after care was terrible and they had to pay upfront before any work was even started. The quality of the units I'm afraid to say aren't a patch on ours from Howden's. We got the nice quality coordinated insides to match our chosen units at no extra cost,our friends had to have cheap white MDF,which for a charcoal grey unit completely spoils the finished look.

[Anne]

Benchmarx is part of the Travis Perkins group. They are not trade only.

[Jaybeez]

We have a Wren kitchen, I know they get a bad press but our experience was great. No pushy sales as I knew exactly what I wanted and the kitchen is still in excellent condition. We did use our own builder and sourced our worktops from elsewhere.

We also had an Ikea kitchen for years which was great, we just replaced the kitchen when we extended.

I have friends who are happy with their Howdens kitchens, I just don't like their sales system.

theguardian/money/20...omers-confused

[skalexander]

Originally Posted by Procrastinator

Have a look at...

diy-kitchens

We used them. Significantly cheaper than the mainstream - but when you look at things like carcass thickness etc they are better. Unless you pay top dollar for a German brand they are as good or better than b&q, wren etc etc.

The units all come pre made - which our installer loved.

If you want samples they post loads out to you. There is 1 showroom if you are in the right part of the country.

Only downside to them is that every order is made to order. The issue being if you make a late change or there is a quality issue you have to wait. Now i was being rather picky, but 3 doors and 1 end pa el had very slight marks. I sent a picture, no quibble they agreed to replace them, but it took 2 weeks. Which can slow things down.

Also have a look at ikea. Not used them but when we researched it seemed a lot of people felt they were good quality for the price.

See more...

Stupid question... if you’re not local to the showroom, how do you get a plan done, to know you’re ordering the right stuff?

We’ve had this company recommended but we’re nowhere near the showroom.

Thanks!