Howdens kitchens

Alisha2008

Our first quote was from an independent local company (following advice on this forum and others), it was 13k-15k (too expensive for us).

The next 2 independent fitters both want to fit Howdens (no surprise, the way it works and they didn't suggest any other supplier). Seems other independents will be the same, so not sure how to find other kitchen suppliers at this moment...

CKdesigner

Hi Alisha

I am an independent kitchen specialist, we design and supply 2 different quality German made kitchens, that without a shadow of a doubt are light years ahead of the likes of Wickes in terms of design, quality, choice and many other areas you can think of. Now we can be much more expensive than Wickes if the customer's specification requires it to be but if the customer has a specific budget to work to we can be very competitive against Wickes on a true like for like basis.

The thing is as an independent kitchen specialist we can do many amazing things with our German cabinetry suppliers that you just can't get from the likes of Wickes, so often Wickes could give a price for a kitchen cheaper than an independent but fundamentally it won't be a fair comparison.

Many times I can price our German product against a Wickes plan, pricing unit against unit and by the time you add in the fitting cost we would be the same cost. So my advice would be (obviously not knowing what make of kitchen the independent you mention does) if you liked the designer at the independent specialist and felt that you could trust them then go back there with the plan you have from the DIY store and get the designer to explain the differences and to price like for like units and hopefully you will have a much better idea of where the differences are.

Good luck

CK

Joy30

Re pricing issues, you could try looking at Kitchen-compare.com. Just saw an article on KBB Review

evokit

Joy30 wrote: »

Re pricing issues, you could try looking at Kitchen-compare.com. Just saw an article on KBB Review

they only compare bnq and wickes really.
theres alot more and alot on offer out there than the sheds

cddc

Joy30 wrote: »

Re pricing issues, you could try looking at Kitchen-compare.com. Just saw an article on KBB Review

All that site really shows you is how overpriced Homebase are for the spec of the units..... Until they compare more than just Homebase, B&Q and Wickes and ignore the rest it will only ever be of limited use, and as there are always UTC deals available anyway, it will never be accurate...........

Alisha2008

Just in case someone is interested.. found out yesterday after having someone coming to take measurements that Wickes wall units are only 73 cm tall, and they don;t do taller ones.

This rules out Wickes for us!

xyz123

Joy30 wrote: »

Re pricing issues, you could try looking at Kitchen-compare.com. Just saw an article on KBB Review

kbb? what is that?

Cooker_expert

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..

If you sell half a million there'll be a lot more than 5000 go wrong, that would be an incredibly low breakdown rate (1% when even the best tun at 6-7%),

Cooker_expert

xyz123 wrote: »

kbb? what is that?

kitchens-bedrooms-bathrooms

J.M.S

For any one that is still curious. I have been searching around and Howdens seem to be getting good reviews across this forum.

New kitchens - howdens, wren or benchmarx?