Best kitchen.... Howden or B & Q

Doozergirl

Purple flower, a lot of the stores have that kitchen in their displays. I love it. Howdens Glendevon cream is what I picked though. They also have aubergine accent doors - not all sizes though.

Bee-buzz, COoke & Lewis are flat pack kitchens as well, so whilst better than IT, the fact that Howdens is pre-built means it wins hands down for me.

sheslookinhot

Sammy-Jo wrote: »

We also looked at b&q and Howdens. Finally chose DIY kitchens.com looked into it all thoroughly inc a visit to factory to see units being built. Went for DIY in the end and the kitchen is great. All the units were pre assembled. The kitchen has been in for over 2 years now and we are as pleased now as we were then.

Same here. Fitted a Broadoak Natural with black granite tops, looks superb. A kitchen company quoted 8k more than it cost, even allowing for 2k to get it fitted.

DIY kitchens.com were fantastic and I have no hesitation in recommending them.

pupsicola

LULULU1 wrote: »

Hi we are going to buy a new kitchen. Just wondered if anybody had any thought which are best Howdens or B & Q.

Are they more or less like for like or is there huge differences in quality price etc...

Any tips on buying a kitchen would be greatly apprechiated.

Of the two you have mentioned I would go with Howdens. My mum wasn't at all impressed with B&Q when she made initial enquiries. Not sure where in the country you are but my mum had her kitchen refurbished in October. The company were superb from planning, measuring, guidance with choosing units and tiles etc etc. They started the job on time, were punctual every day, never messed her around and the job from start to finish took 2 weeks. I am so envious of her gorgeous new kitchen. If you are on the South East Coast you would be hard pushed to find a better company.

pupsicola

After all the above I forgot to mention the companies name; Meads Street Interiors, Eastbourne.

subarusty

I've been looking quite a bit for a new kitchen. Wren seem v good, but I spoke to Howdens and they said they will beat the price.

None of the kitchens I have priced up (with Wren, Magnet, Howdens etc) come close to £2k though. Plus I have to pay fitting cost obviously. I don't classify the kitchen I'm getting as v big (3.5m x 4m) but the cost looks like it will be nearer £4k. I am picking some of the more expensive options though (magic corner unit and larder units). These prices exclude oven, fridge, freezer, dishwasher, hob.
Should I be able to get these prices down a lot lower then? If so, how?

Any ideas anyone? If they're all around the same prices I don't really know how to use leverage to get them to go much further

clay

I've been looking for a new kitchen for the last few weeks now, got a price from B&Q when they had a special deal on (pre jan sale price 50% off ) now today they are doing 60% off with a further 15% when you spend over £50.....

Also been along to look @ howdens but to me they do look as good quality even though the units are prebuilt, going to get a quote from Benchmarx & wren & see how they compare.

ps fav kitchen is from Magnets but they are asking silly money.:eek:

trumpton

The Screwfix forums are good places to research kitchens. The Kitchen Fitters forum often has fitters recommending Howdens, Wickes top end range, and I have also seen DIY Kitchens recommended a couple of times. They seem not to like B and Q and Homebase - both because of the quality and because if there are bits missing it can take a couple of weeks to get it sent out. They don't like Ikea because they don't have the gap at the back of the units for pipes. Howden's stuff has made up units and is just available off the shelf as long as you have a fitter - you aren't paying to have someone spend time making up the units.

FreeworldImpossible

We looked at a B&Q IT kitchen, and for what they wanted for what the kitchen essentially was (oak veneer) I thought their prices a little steep. My sister got one fitted and the quality isn't as good as I had expected. We opted for an Ikea one instead. Tidaholm Oak, which at least had solid oak door surrounds, with oak veneer inserts and solid oak drawer fronts. IMO a much better quality kitchen for around £600 less than B&Q wanted. Plus, adding things like soft close drawers to the Ikea kitchen cost around £7 for our 3 pan drawers beneath the hob, B&Q wanted something like £135 for soft close actions!! Plus you get a 25 year warranty with Ikea Well worth considering IMO.

useD

suey2 wrote: »

We installed a Cooke and Lewis 'Hedingham' kitchen a year and a half ago, solid wood doors and drawer fronts in an antiqued style with pewter handles, absolutely love it.
We managed to get a fantastic deal on it, 50% off and then another 15% off, at that time it was off the carcasses and the doors and drawers, dont think they do that now.
We looked at Howdens [we could buy trade] but I didn't see any real wood doors I liked many of them were veener finish.

I get a little fed up of the constant mocking of the 'sheds' and their kitchens, the finish and the quality of the Cooke and Lewis kitchen we installed is excellent, the carcasses are very solid and the doors look gorgeous.

The only problem we had with B&Q was the delivery, it came in 2 deliveries the 2nd was 3 weeks later.!!¬:eek:, customer services were good but it seemed like the right hand didn't know what the left was doing.!

You can spend £10,000.00 on a kitchen and if it isn't fitted well it will look cheap.

Hope this helped.

Sue~

Totally agree, nothing wrong with B&Q kitchens (I'm a fitter by the way), compaired with Howdens you get quicker delivery and pre-assembled units.
If you want to save cost and have time and have the space, buy the B&Q and assemble as much as you can yourself (don't glue any awkward positioned units as the fitter may need to dissassemble where needed) and find a local installer (obviously with references and a good portfolio you can check on). Which could save you thousands!

Good luck and don't hand over 'any' money to fitter until completion and signoff

andy208833

Get the units from Howdens and i believe you can set up your own trade account to get the discounts but do not get your appliances from there they are very very overpriced.

We ordered the appliances from various electrical retailers to fit the standard size units and managed to save over £1000 on howdens prices. We also used quidco to get money back.