New kitchens - howdens, wren or benchmarx?

Poppy100

I do get frustrated with people going on about companies like Howdens and magnet trade and their lack of visible pricing. There is a distinct difference with them and companies like B&Q and Homebase. B&Q, homebase and wickes are all RETAIL companies that you can purchase directly from. They open retail hours and as such cater for the general public with opening hours, pricing, showrooms etc. Howdens, magnet trade etc. are for trade customers. You cannot buy anything from them unless you have an account and in order to get an account you have to prove that you are in the trade. They therefore can't put prices up on the web or give out quotes to people without accounts. The showrooms are part of the service they offer to their trade customers so they can send clients in to view the samples etc. The opening hours also reflect the fact that they deal with trades people. They're basically geared up to serve us tradesmen not retail customers so you can't criticise them for a service which is not meant to be for retail but is to support us with our services to OUR customers.

Poppy100

aah wrote: »

I would never use howdens.

They can give you a price all they say is that they are a wholesale carpentry (joke!) and that their installers will quote.

Now the installers get a discount depending on how much howdens like them so you never get to know the true price which is probably peanuts

And they have a lousy range of cabinet sizes.

And when we asked them to quote they measured it up wrong - 1 metre out. We decided to go with another company but our fitter recommended that we give howdens another try - we did. Their expert designer stayed in the shop but decided that our own design "just wouldnt work" They sent out an expert measurer - who got it wrong again, but to be fair, only by 10cm this time.

Shoddy and amateurish. Our fitter - who arrived swearing by howdens - said how much he loved fitting our ikea kitchen, even building the units which he normally hated.

Bargepole job.

Ikea kitchens are good but are not standard uk sizes so if you decide to replace your doors in a few years time you have to use them or start from scratch which can be restricting.

leveller2911

Ive had an account at Howdens for over 15yrs and the nearest branch was about 30 miles away from me, now there are 5 branches within a 12 mile radius. I can get the planner out from a branch and get a price for a kitchen and then go around the other 4 branches and they will cut each others throats to get the work so theres no logic in what they are doing.

I can also say from personal experience that they do sell to Joe Public who don't have a trade account, they aren't stupid and won't turn work away.

Steve_the_fitter

Its a funny old game buying kitchens isnt it? Even for trades

leveller2911 wrote: »

Ive had an account at Howdens for over 15yrs and the nearest branch was about 30 miles away from me, now there are 5 branches within a 12 mile radius. I can get the planner out from a branch and get a price for a kitchen and then go around the other 4 branches and they will cut each others throats to get the work so theres no logic in what they are doing.

I can also say from personal experience that they do sell to Joe Public who don't have a trade account, they aren't stupid and won't turn work away.

leveller2911

Steve_the_fitter wrote: »

Its a funny old game buying kitchens isnt it? Even for trades

Yep it is that Steve, My gripe is I just want the best price they can give me, I spend far too long ringing round branches playing them off against each other......

I can only assume that the reason for undercutting other branches is so that if any branch closures are in the offing the least viable branch would go first.

cddc

I have been told that Howdens branches work to a targeted margin which they are supposed to achieve as well as a sales figure. So if a branch is below target on sales but above on margin you may get a better deal than from one that is up on sales but borderline on margin if that makes sense.

Daft that different branches of the same company offer different prices though. But that is the way it apparently works.

So much for clear transparent pricing. Not that the K&B industry is known for it of course.......

CosmicCathy

Hi Helen, we recently moved house and had the same confusing problem of where to go for our kitchen. We had quite a tight budget as we had laid out quite alot towards the new place, plus there was a fair bit of building work that had to be done. all very stressful on top of the move! We wanted a decent kitchen and had a rough idea of what we wanted (which was gloss doors and wood worktop). We looked at all the three that you mentioned and have to say there wasn't much between them and we weren't that impressed. We were looking on here for cost effective solutions and came across a company called Mustard Kitchens. We got them round and they were really helpful, they designed it all for us and gave us some good advice about general kitchen stuff. The price was pretty reasonable and so we now have the kitchen on order. really looking forward to getting it fitted and finally feeling like the new house is a home!! They also introduced us to Crown, and for a trade kitchen the products seemed alot better than Howdens et al. Anyway I hope you find what you are looking for, we will definitely let you know how the new kitchen turns out

And no, we dont work for any kitchen company!

BigGraham_2

Poppy100 wrote: »

I do get frustrated with people going on about companies like Howdens and magnet trade and their lack of visible pricing. There is a distinct difference with them and companies like B&Q and Homebase. B&Q, homebase and wickes are all RETAIL companies that you can purchase directly from. They open retail hours and as such cater for the general public with opening hours, pricing, showrooms etc. Howdens, magnet trade etc. are for trade customers. You cannot buy anything from them unless you have an account and in order to get an account you have to prove that you are in the trade. They therefore can't put prices up on the web or give out quotes to people without accounts. The showrooms are part of the service they offer to their trade customers so they can send clients in to view the samples etc. The opening hours also reflect the fact that they deal with trades people. They're basically geared up to serve us tradesmen not retail customers so you can't criticise them for a service which is not meant to be for retail but is to support us with our services to OUR customers.

I understand the way they work and why, I was just saying that it doesn't work for me. I like to be a pretty well informed buyer so like to do a lot of research, understand likely costs, negotiate, etc. The idea of finding a builder / fitter I am happy with (I don't know any so I see risk there - I watch too many cowboy builder programmes I think) and then leaving my design and negotiations in their hands doesn't appeal to me. I suppose it didn't help that I suddenly decided I wanted a kitchen over the xmas period, and having got into kitchen buying mode wanted to crack on. 2 of my close friends are perfectly happy with their Howdens experience but they live some way away so I couldn't use their tradesmen. Further to my Wren experience, they have agreed to price match against the web on the appliances. Their prices weren't bad anyway to be honest but we have managed to save a few quid on every appliance, but had a right result with a £1,200 LG fridge we found for just over £800!

newbie1184

Slightly a bit off topic as my kitchen was bought from B&Q but i agree with what someone said earlier about avoiding using the fitting service from where you buy your kitchen from.
I got a better quote and a better service i felt by going with a local fitter.

If anyone around Birmingham needs a good fitter, give me a shout.

rj420

Dear All,

For those wishing to purchase a kitchen through Benchmarx, let me first say that the quality of unit's is great and you will not be disappointed. The point of caution however is making sure that the branch that you use is well managed and efficient, unlike the one which I dealt with in Mitcham!

Fact is that it got so bad I decide to write a blog about how I was almost left without a kitchen over xmas 2011!!

benchmarkxissues.wordpress.com

I hope that this useful for anyone thinking of buying from Benchmarx Kitchens