Howdens kitchens

leveller2911

Kitchen_DesignR wrote: »

You can have a bad designer, regardless of the company they work for.
You need somebody the make the space more usable to you whilst making it look good enough to show off to your neighbours.
You also need the designer to listen to what you want and not sell you he thinks you need.
Remember generally they're are commission based (I'm not) so if you don't want a wine cooler, say so.... It's only feeding his/hers Porsche fund.

You can have a great fitter make £1500 kitchen look like £10k
Or a bad one make a £10k kitchen look like ikea £50.
A fitter who is booked up for 4 months and can show you photos of previous job is always going to be better than Joe who can do it next week for £600 cash..

It's about getting the right balance and within budget.

Good luck.

Spot on post KD.I once had a Howdens "designer" plan a kitchen and put a wine rack each side of the cooker hood saying it "looked balanced". Personally I like my red wine a room temp and white wine chilled not cooked.

My gripe with Howdens is There "discount" price structure and also why do they have wine racks that don't match any of their kitchen finishes.
If you choose a white kitchen the wine rack will match the carcase and not the doors and the "Oak finish" wine rack doesn't match the Solid Oak doors.They always look hidious..

I much prefer to make a bespoke handmade kitchen than fit bog standard ones, they are far more interesting to make and their is no comparison in quality.The only downside is that quality comes at a price.

pjaj

Nothing much wrong with Howdens. Try to open your own account with them and buy the units yourself. You will be surprised at the difference between their "list" and "trade" prices, it can be as much as 70% on some items.

cddc

pjaj wrote: »

Nothing much wrong with Howdens. Try to open your own account with them and buy the units yourself. You will be surprised at the difference between their "list" and "trade" prices, it can be as much as 70% on some items.

It should be at least 70% on some items bare minimum.....more like 80% to be getting a proper price. I understand the flexible pricing, but always find it a bit amusing that trade only operations like Howdens and Benchmarx offer discount off of a "retail" price. So who do they sell to at retail then?

namecheck

McKneff wrote: »

No problems at all with the quality and price of my kitchen from Howdens.

Yes, same here.

Though Howdens pricing is a complete pain. Ok if the fitter has a decent discount that he will (partly) pass on.

namecheck

phill99 wrote: »

And the extra 16mm on a Howdens worktop makes a huge difference in both the visual impact (it allows you to get a decent overhang on the front edge) and offers adjustment if the wall is out of plumb horizintally.

I agree with this (although it was not initially why I went with Howdens). It's nice to have a slightly larger worktop area and the bonus is that it also looks better.

namecheck

Kitchen_DesignR wrote: »

Magnet Trade:
The wall units carcase is set at 720 high and the base units are 730 high, yet they use the same 715mm highline door.
The worktops are 600mm deep and therefore you get to see the lovely top edge of the carcase on all their kitchens.
Rigid built carcase from Factory. No cams on stud fixings
6mm backboard
Not everyone like the silver edging on their white carcase system.
Birch is the other colour
Soft close as option

Howdens:
The largest of the 3 "trade" companies. 512 national wide depots.
720mm high base and wall carcase.
616mm worktops, 950mm breakfast bars..
Rigid built carcase from factory. No cam or stud fixings.
6mm backboard
All White or Oak carcase.
Soft close as option.

Benchmarx:
Trade kitchens from Travis Perkins group.
Same spec carcase as Wickes only assembled after manufacturing.
Same height wall and base carcase.
600mm deep worktops.
18mm backboard (removable)
All White or Oak carcase.
Soft close as standard

Very useful info, thanks. (Though too late for me as my kitchen is now installed!)

pimento

I have a Howdens kitchen and I'm very pleased with it. It's two and a half years old and still looks as good as the day it was fitted.

sharon7_2

Are the appliances not worth getting? We were going to Howdens ths weekend to look at their unit.

TTC40

I am going to do some changes to my kitchen.

Want oak worktops & new sink/ taps.

Any recommendations on where to go for these?

Also plan to replace the radiators with modern radiators, again, any recommendations?

sharon7_2

Kitchen_DesignR wrote: »

Sharon, we sell half a million ovens a year. You'll always here about the 5000 that go wrong but never about the 495,000 that work perfectly.

But even from the inside, I'd rather look around. There's some great spec ovens that do fancy things. We're restricted in what we can supply..

Thank you. I'll also look at my local electrical store for the appliances