Howdens Kitchen Appliances

Whits

shokadelika wrote: »

Howdens is owned/part of MFi

Not any more they're not, MFI was sold off last year to Merchant Equity Partners and both companies have disowned each other

If you can get a quote from Howdens on paper, tkae it into MFI and ask them to price match it

kwatt

Howdens will try to sell Hygena or Diplomat as they are brands owned by MFI or Galliform as they now are.

They are manufactured by a range of producers including Stoves/Belling (GDHA), Beko, Antonio Merloni and others. More information is available from this link on the appliances.

Hope that helps.

K.

Theo_Cupier

Whits wrote: »

Not any more they're not, MFI was sold off last year to Merchant Equity Partners and both companies have disowned each other

If you can get a quote from Howdens on paper, tkae it into MFI and ask them to price match it

But they both still sell the same Schreiber and Hygena units, just under different names, don't they?

andybed

kwatt wrote: »

Howdens will try to sell Hygena or Diplomat as they are brands owned by MFI or Galliform as they now are.

They are manufactured by a range of producers including Stoves/Belling (GDHA), Beko, Antonio Merloni and others. More information is available from this link on the appliances.

Hope that helps.

K.

Thanks Kwatt.

Seems that Diplomat appliances are fairly cheap to repair and spares are readily available. Only cause for concern is that they seem to crop up fairly frequently in the support forums. The one appliance I want to be quality and have a good reliability record is the Integrated Dishwasher as they seem to be a pig to get access to when they go faulty.


Dont want to buy Diplomat though if I have to pay Bosch/Neff/Aeg prices. Seems Howdens aren't cheap and as I'm not dealing with them directly I wont be able to try and negotiate my own discount. Friend of mine ordered a Jewsons kitchen and they pricematched internet prices.

kwatt

Hi Andy,

Sadly it's a LOT more complicated than people think. For example some of the Diplomat dishwashers are in fact made by Smeg, some are from Fagor/Brandt and some are Chinese.

Many of the cheaper models are made by Haier or Midea, both Chinese, both absolute unadulterated rubbish of the highest order. And, both produce cheap integrated and freestanding dishwashers for many brands, like Teka, Waterline, Caple, Kenwood, Necht, CDA... the list just goes on and on.

The short of it is, if the price seems too good to be true it probably is and the brand name on the front only (these days) gives an indication of who might have made it. Until we actually sit down and look at the spares diagrams we often haven't a clue and, we fix them!

If you read some of the articles in that section of the website you'll start to get a feel for what I'm talking about, basically people are being ripped off by thinking that they're buying some quality at a good price which all too often simply isn't the case.

We even launched our own brand as we got so fed up with all this.

K.

kiddy_guy

Howdens are great for everything (bought solid wood worktops, Belfast sink & Cooker hood from there) but appliances aren't worth the money. Depends what you want. If you're not fussed then B&Q do some cheap package deals, but it you want something a bit more hi-spec then the internet's your best place.

gingerdad

Just to add my 2 pence worth. we bought a howdens kitchen, and found we could get the cooker, dishwasher, hob and extractor much cheaper else where we got ours from boots with extra cash back through quidco and alos they had an offer on there own boots points as well. we got all of the above by Bosch for less then Howdens were trying to charge for the oven.

The units are good, but get the appliances elsewhere. aslo watch out on the waste kit from them as we got a crap own brand one and not a Franke one for the sink.

Regards

GD

Xstyle

I have found that the appliances are cheaper elsewhere... but not by much if you really haggle a LOT!

Can be hard work tho...
I really wanted a Hotpoint Frost Free Fridge/Freezer but they don't do it integrated!
The FF200T
The HME400N is ... but is not frost free. ... basically I like the wine rack in the Hotpoints fridge! lol

Howdens version is £1000 ... with the discount, I have managed to get it to £505 ... but I can't help thinking I can get a better appliance! But can't really see anything out there?

Anyone know what make is there 50/50 frost free f/f? APM6855
147ltr fridge capacity & 67ltr freezer capacity

Thanks!!!

dizzie

When your designer man comes round, they should be able to do you an itemised quote, so you can see what appliances they would intend to fit, and what they would cost you. Then you could compare prices on the net. There can be a massive difference. Today, after taking some advice from other moneysavers on the site, I bought a Miele washer for £640 ish from Pixmania (Some suppliers wanted up to £200 more for the same model!)

If you are fitting out a kitchen with several appliances, you could stand to save a fair bit. Which have also recently updated their review on Washing machines. I signed up for a free 30 day trial with them yesterday since our washer (which came with our (not Howden's) fitted kitchen) has bitten the dust and I don't want another lemon. I noticed that there are reviews on all types of appliances from washers to dryers, to fridge freezers etc.

So for a little extra effort, you could save money (more by inputting discount codes and going through cashback sites), and have the freedom to choose the brands/models you like the look of.

All the best with your new kitchen

dizzie

Oops. Have just noticed the date on the original thread. I guess the kitchen in question will not only have been fitted but will have had almost a year's worth of use by now!:o