need a new kitchen... where is cheap...

phill99

They are identical in quality - I've fitted both. But Magnets operate 2 arms effectively - Magnet Retail and Magnet Trade. The retail arm is like B & Q where they do a supply and fit service and the Magnets Trade Stores are like Howdens - you nuy the kitchen / appliances and have it fitted.

The retail arm areexpensive. it may be worth getting Howdens to quote and then finding a fitter. £10k seems a lot for an average kitchen. How many units have you got?

Doozergirl

shalI still find Howdens much cheaper than Magnet Trade. Magnet seem to think they are far superior for reasons I can't fathom. We had a quote a couple of months ago and we told Magnet straight that we wanted their best price because we had a good relationship with Howdens. He was pretty cocky about being able to beat them but came in at pretty much twice the price.

Find your own fitter, please. They charge as much for fitting as they do for kitchens, which is so wrong.

I can't remember the name of the range, but Howdens do an Oak Veneer shaker style door as well as a solid one. I cannot tell the difference between the two for the life of me and we started trying to take a door apart to work out why it was so much cheaper! The manager could do those doors for around £12 each compared to £45 for the solid oak.

mag34

Hi. that was for 13 units, a cheap fridge, a dishwasher and I think a hob not sure. We also went to independant and that was coming in at 13k but that included all Nef appliances except a dishwasher. and a laminate worktop. The units definately looked better, certainly the hinges and drawer fittings were much better. Still a lot of money. It's such a big decision getting it right. The last kitchen we bought was with a reputable comany of good quality but they had just bought the machine to start making doors themselves and didn't manage to do a good job. It was a nightmare and that cost £6,000 eight years ago. So I'm a bit cautious this time and any help would be welcome.

RX-78

Have you thought about when you might want to change your kitchen? Talking to some of my colleagues/friends etc, many of them said they wanted a new kitchen after 10yrs or so - not because they are tired or dirty but because trend changes and they look old after this time. Sure enough my kitchen (which was put in by the previous owners 15 years ago) looks really old. We've decided not to spend too much so we can replace it when we feel its looking outdated.

We've just had our kitchen delivered from Howden. Its 17 soft closing units + small wine fridge with laminate work top and cost £3600 with all the bits to fit. We've spent £2500 on appliances (Neff 90cm glass gas hob, Siemens double oven, Bosch extractor fan and dishwasher, and low end franke sink & tap) so pretty much to our original budget of £6k for the kitchen. Fitting may cost a little more though.......

mag34

Thanks. Thats basically similar to what I first thought kitchen would cost, plus fitting seems to be around £2000. Is the quality of hinges and soft close good and solid? What kitchen did you buy from Howdens? and could you post a pic when it's finished and let me know your final thoughts. I'm going to wait until after christmas to do mine up, I originally wanted it done for xmas but time is ticking and I still don't really know exactly what I want. Although your spec seems similar to mine. Thanks so much for your input I really really appreciate it.

Bibbitybob

We had quotes from B&Q, Homebase, Howdens & Magnet trade for a 14 unit shaker style kitchen.

Howdens initially came in at the same price as B&Q did (just over £3k), except that Howdens was two runs of cream boxes and B&Q quoted a lovely duck egg blue kitchen with glazed doors and a more interesting layout.

We managed to get over £1k knocked off Howdens by stamping our feet a little - reduced to £1900, but still a very boring layout - no glazed or fancy units or appliances, just cream boxes. And we've been hassled by them for weeks now - daily phone calls and text messages and it even got to the point where someone turned up on our doorstep one evening asking if we were going to place the order.

We then visited Magnet Trade and got a £2k quote for cream shaker, a couple of glazed units, built in dishwasher, built in fridge freezer and flooring for the entire downstairs. A few of the bits were cheaper to buy seperately eg. ceramic sink and tap came from ebay, but they let us take them off without any major sales pitch. I was really surprised by that as I expected they'd be crazy expensive - I didn't realise they had a separate trade arm.

We've opted for Magnet as we seemed to get so much more for our money, and I can't fault the service we've had so far. Everything is due to be delivered tomorrow so I'll let you know how we find quality, fitting etc if you like?