Any positive comments re. Howden's LAMONA appliances

katejo

I have seen lots of negative comments about Lamona so was favourably surprised when I visited a Howden's branch today and found that the appliances looked more professional/better quality than expected.
Has anyone had a good experience with them? If you opted out and ordered other brands, how did you know that they would definitely fit in with the units?

Jeannine

We had a Lamona ceramic hob and fan oven fitted with our Howdens kitchen nearly two years go, and we have had no problems. They still look good and work perfectly...

cddc

Virtually all intergrated appliances are standard sizes across all manufacturers so there will be no problem fitting other makes of appliance into Howdens units. Howdens themselves offer Bosch as a higher price alternative which in itself should tell you something.

Lamona are cheap own brand appliances. It is a bit like buying own brand supermarket washing powder. The packaging might look just as good, but the contents are not.

It does not mean that all Lamona appliances are poor and will inevitably fail in a short period of time. It just means they have poorer quality and cheaper components than most of the higher priced alternatives. You get what you pay for. If you are on a budget you might be happy to accept them, but as in most cases they are the hardest working components of your kitchen, in my book it is worth spending a bit more on something of a bit better quality.

will-he-payitoff

Id say steer clear of Lamona, in 2 years since our new kitchen was fitted 2 of the rings on the hob will not ignite, the extractor will only work if you stand holding the buttons in and both knobs have fallen off the oven. Never had problems like these before with any other appliance.

CKdesigner

Hi

I think one of key things to understand and remember with appliances is that there are 'appliance manufacturers' and 'appliance brands'. Companies like Miele, Neff and Siemens actually make appliances where as brands like Lamona, CDA and Caple are just brands and this means they don't actually make anything, they just go to generic non specific appliance factories around the world and commission them to make a container load of product and put the brand logo on it.

To me there is no pride in the product, in a simplistic form all they are interested in is buying items cheap and selling them for as much as they can. Where as generally a manufacturer would have a bit of pride in what they produce as it is their factory and workers that produce it.

CK

dmard

I worked for howdens for five years at the end of 2011 there were loads of complaints about the ovens. The door to all lamona ovens were blowning off. They put it down to over tightend screw. They did not take this serious never recalled any products. All they care about is hitting targets. The best thing i ever done was leave there were

katejo

I have decided that I won't be buying their electrical appliances though I may get their kitchen units.

Eve1975

My landlord recently replaced a broken Indesit oven with a basic Lamona oven. I hate it. It has no fan, not even a timer. The one wire rack that it came with collapses when I pull it out slightly to access my food, thus nearly resulting me being burnt by whatever I am cooking. I phoned Howdens and explained, they sent another wire rack which does the same. It also takes ages to heat up. I can only cook food right at the top, and as all the heat sits at the top it is deadly when you open it as the heat blasts you, but that may be the fact it has no fan. It is cheap. Landlord says I need to put up with it. So I have just ordered a nice Hotpoint oven, and the Lamona will be stored in the loft until I move out and I will stick it back in.

davet2

I had a Lamona HJA1200 hob that after less than 2 years failed in a manner that could have caused a fire.
Howdens refused to refund the replacement and their 'Engineers' examined it and said it was 'wear and tear'.
Really? To the electrical connections on the underside? I don't think so.
They were unhelpful from the start and eventually said I must instruct an independent fire investigator in order to refute their stance on the matter. Unbelievable! Very poor. Potentially very dangerous!
Bye bye Howdens.

Eddie457

My Lamona hob is 15 months old and burst into flames and started a fire, which could have been very serious if it had been quickly put out. My electrician thinks there could have been some ceramic insulation missing, or should have been better insulated where it connects to the mains.

chuzzle_2

We've got a price from Howdens for a new kitchen and I noticed their Lamona appliances seem a little expensive compared to other well known brands. Does this mean Lamona products are better now than they used to be???? I've read some of the comments on here and a few people are saying they're not very good. Anyone had Lamona appliances fitted more recently??