New kitchen - advice?

[familybell]

I believe Howdens prices vary wildly, I think it depends on the fitters/account holders level of business, so the Howdens price may vary depending who is fitting it for you, if that makes sense.
This may be complete untrue but that’s what I have been told, we ended up using a local company who custom makes everything, surprisingly was only £1000 more than the Howdens price.

[sam_b]

Originally Posted by familybell

I believe Howdens prices vary wildly, I think it depends on the fitters/account holders level of business, so the Howdens price may vary depending who is fitting it for you, if that makes sense.
This may be complete untrue but that’s what I have been told, we ended up using a local company who custom makes everything, surprisingly was only £1000 more than the Howdens price.

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It’s totally true re Howdens pricing - my sister and I compared our quotes for same kitchen units from two different branches and fitters - they were miles apart! Also like double glazing firms, the first price will be dramatically slashed if you don’t take it. I found the whole experience off putting - I just wanted a straight forward quote.

[mitch84]

Originally Posted by sam_b

IKEA kitchens consistently beat Howdens for cost and quality - after lots of research that’s the route we went and we love our kitchen. We had a local joiner fit the units no bother.

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When we looked we found ikea kitchens eye watering for what they were. No way.
Our kitchen fitter recommended b&q for a budget option and we are really happy with it

[sam_b]

Originally Posted by mitch84

When we looked we found ikea kitchens eye watering for what they were. No way.
Our kitchen fitter recommended b&q for a budget option and we are really happy with it

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I agree, IKEA aren’t all budget kitchens ...tbf we were comparing to howdens for quality, B&Q and Wickes can be lower quality depending on the range... etc.

We did a lot of research using Which and various other comparisons, and IKEA came out consistently top, and have a 25 year guarantee.

We didn’t use IKEA worktops though, we found a local granite supplier who was great.
My sister also went with IKEA in the end and my kitchen was probably 2/3rds Howdens cost and I love it.

Also agree with previous poster that pan drawers are the way to go - and tall larder units...

[Macca04]

We had been searching for a kitchen for weeks, the Howden kitchen was £8500 and came ready built, Wickes the same price more or less but flat packed and B&Q £5500 again flat packed. These prices included appliances. Our last kitchen wad B&Q and 24 years old. As we want to move in a few years we went for the B&Q kitchen.

Our fitter said he would charge the same price flat packed or built. He said it only takes him 20 mins to build a cupboard. He’s charging £1500, reckons it will take 4 days. It’s not a big kitchen.

[TinselAngel]

Hi - we’ve had both Wickes (flat pack) and Howdens units. The quality once built was very similar (but this was 20;years ago in our old house). I had a poor experience of Howdens own brand appliances though and personally I prefer to buy branded ones - Bosch being my favourite (just my opinion). I had a dishwasher, larder fridge and extractor hood. The fridge and dishwasher had to be replaced after a couple of years as bits just broke on them. Part of The cooker hood had Broken in a matter of weeks. Very poor build quality versus other brands and just poor product design in the case of the dishwasher and cooker hood. The units are good though.