New kitchens - howdens, wren or benchmarx?

katejo

BigGraham wrote: »

OK, so that is slightly concerning but to be honest it seems that all the companies have their issues so how you're meant to decide, god knows. If you google reviews for any of them you will find 90% negative so I guess you just need to trust your instincts and hope for the best. They've said stuff like the fitter only gets paid once I have signed off the installation, and that the manager and the salesman personally come out to give the installation a final check, which sounds reassuring to me if that's how it really happens. I really liked the lack of a hard sell from Wren, transparent pricing and loved their online planner - meant I could play around with the design and see exactly which bits were costing the money and how changes I made would affect the price. That said, if they screw up the delivery and the installation then those positives become irrelevant. Betta were ok, came up with a decent enough design but just didn't leave me with a warm, confident feeling and to go from £38k to £12k was taking the p#ss really. I'm sure Howden would have been ok too if I'd got to speak to them, but I like to buy rather than be sold to, if that makes sense, so them being shut when I wanted to go and see them, and the lack of any pricing on the web meant they were a bit of a non-starter for me. Fingers crossed that by mid-Feb I've got a kitchen that I'm really pleased with.

I am currently trying to research for a new kitchen and have also found a lot of negative reviews. i was thinking of trying Wren but this forum has put me off. I had a bad experience with Bettakitchens in september because they pestered me with phone calls several times a day for several weeks. i had only asked for a brochure.
Is it better to order through one of the biggies like Wickes or B & Q and then find a fitter to install? Which manufacturers are popular with fitters due to reliability/quality etc. I am on a tight budget but do want a reasonable quality (as best as I can afford) not one which will fall apart in a year's time. I also need the have replastering done and the ceiling resurfaced (old house with textured ceiling). Also new flooring and back door.

debbyjg

Howdens cabinets are great but worktops not very good. However don't touch the appliances was Diplomat and now Lamona total rubbish but as trade only no back up or trading guidelines when things go wrong (set fire). As your builder is the customer and not you no customer service at all.

damonthebuilder

As a kitchen fitter, I couldn't recommend my local branch of Howdens more highly - the counter staff are much more approachable than any of their competitiors, their problem solving and issue rectification is fantastic. They can't seem to do enough for their customers in my experience.
The units are very good to fit, and are a quality UK manufactured product. They have a range of styles to suit all tastes and budgets.
Another plus point is their free survey and design service (although you do need to book an appointment), and the fact that their products are always in stock (or only a couple of days turnaround time).
Having fitted a variety of different manufacturers products over the years, the Howden range is my preferred product, and I'd recommend them to anyone.

Idonex

We have a solid Iroko wood worktop from Howdens and i love it. Looks great, no idea about their other types of worktops.

With regards to their design and measuring service. I either wouldn't use it, or would re-check everything they've done a hundred times. They came and measured and sold us a kitchen to fit those measurements - only it didnt fit and we had to end up not using some end panels and not having the wine rack (only thing they sold which should have 'fit' in that space) and i had to make a cover for the gap where it should have gone with a bit of end panel. Had no issues returning the bits that wouldn't fit but it was annoying to not be able to use them.

With regards to quality. I like the kitchen but i can't honestly say i can see a quality difference between my sister's Cooke & Lewis kitchen from B&Q or my parent's kitchen from Wickes.

cddc

As I said on another of these threads, with one or two notable exceptions, there really is not a huge difference qualitywise between many of the big players at the lower end of the market.
There are differences in both door quality and carcasse construction, but generally not massive.

Do not worry too much about web reviews as it tends to be those who have had a mare of an experience who write the web reviews. Some of the bad reviews could even have been written by competitors staff, such is the anonimity the web allows.

Even if a company has a 98% satisfaction rate, it will be in the 2% of occasions that they get things wrong from which 50% of the web reviews come from. Very often it is used as a tool of frustration when a company is seen to be taking too long to resolve a problem. It is no suprise that there are an awful lot of posters on here who only ever post once or twice to either praise a company or slag it. Spamming works both ways.

If the same name pops up in the debit column on a consistent basis then there is clearly a problem (Kitchens Uber anyone?). But in most cases, if companies were as consistently poor in reality to the percentage of their bad web reviews, they would not still be in business.

poggs

Do any kitchen companies accept partial payment on fitting completion?

When I tried to get a new kitchen they all seemed to want full paying, including fitting 3 weeks before delivery. I'm not willing to give them full payment until the kitchen is fitted properly.

Any suggestions?

cddc

poggs wrote: »

Do any kitchen companies accept partial payment on fitting completion?

When I tried to get a new kitchen they all seemed to want full paying, including fitting 3 weeks before delivery. I'm not willing to give them full payment until the kitchen is fitted properly.

Any suggestions?

Wickes do not expect payment for "additional works" ie plumbing, electrics, tiling, plastering etc. until after satisfactory completion, these go direct to the fitter and are your hold over him until you are happy. The fitters will not get paid at all until you sign a satisfaction note.

Many others work with the trustmark scheme, whereby although you pay in full up front, any money for fitting is held in trust until you are satisfied.

Alternatively, many larger suppliers do a 6 or 12 month "interest option" finance package where you can pay 10% down and have 6 or 12 months to pay off the balance after satisfactory completion of the work (the finance company do not start the i/f period until told by the supplier you are happy with the job). Sell most of my kitchens this way. The only caveat on this one is for gawds sake pay the balance within the interest free period, the interest rate should you not is punitive.

MrCookie

I'm currently installing a wren kitchen and am happy with quality of units, however been really let down the wren kitchen designer, current biggest issue is i have a built in oven unit that is to small for the oven the designer sold, unit is 600, oven is 715, unless i'm missing something it's never going to fit

Steve_the_fitter

So its the fitter who is accepting payment at the end of the fit and not Wickes. And not only that if Wickes mess up the order for example a door isnt there by the time the fitter has finished. Everything else is done to customers satisfaction but they will not sign the completion note due to not having a complete kitchen the fitter goes without any money that week.
No wonder you often hear horror stories from people who have used the DIY store fitting service. The fitters can get treated so badly they loose faith in the company they are working for which will lead to bad workmanship

cddc wrote: »

Wickes do not expect payment for "additional works" ie plumbing, electrics, tiling, plastering etc. until after satisfactory completion, these go direct to the fitter and are your hold over him until you are happy. The fitters will not get paid at all until you sign a satisfaction note.

cddc

Steve_the_fitter wrote: »

So its the fitter who is accepting payment at the end of the fit and not Wickes. And not only that if Wickes mess up the order for example a door isnt there by the time the fitter has finished. Everything else is done to customers satisfaction but they will not sign the completion note due to not having a complete kitchen the fitter goes without any money that week.
No wonder you often hear horror stories from people who have used the DIY store fitting service. The fitters can get treated so badly they loose faith in the company they are working for which will lead to bad workmanship

Thankfully Wickes are very good generally in getting replacements/corrections out rapidly so this is rarely a problem.
Wickes generally have a decent name with most of the fitters that work for them, they pay their fitters a reasonable rate and promptly when the sat note arrives. Unlike some others I could mention......