Howden's Quote- how to know if it is reasonable?

nickj_2

adamg wrote: »

what range of kitchen what discounts, how do you know he is passing on his full discount?

whether he is passing on his full discount to the customer is irrelevant , he gets a price for the units and then he'll give a price to the customer , if the customer likes the price then all well and good , what he charges and how much he makes on the kitchen is his business , either you are happy with the price or not , if not look elsewhere

dollyxdimple

Have a look at Benchmarx. They are similar to Howdens, as in they deal with trade rather than retail, but they are happy to deal directly with the end user (i.e you). This means that the price that you get will be given to you, not your fitter. Also, I think that the quality and choice of Benchmarx are better than Howdens, but this is only what I have read as I haven't actually dealt with Howdens myself. I have just used Benchmarx and have found them fab so far. Popped into my local branch (Colindale) arranged for a kitchen designer to come round, he drew up the plans and yesterday it was delivered and is taking up the whole lounge waiting for the fitter to start fitting tomorrow. I have heard lots of good things about Howdens as well, but after lots of research I'm glad I went with Benchmarx. Have a look at them before you make a final decision. Hope this helps and good luck!

keystone

adamg wrote: »

how do you know he is passing on his full discount?

Why should he?

Cheers

MrsWenger

dollyxdimple wrote: »

Have a look at Benchmarx. They are similar to Howdens, as in they deal with trade rather than retail, but they are happy to deal directly with the end user (i.e you). This means that the price that you get will be given to you, not your fitter. Also, I think that the quality and choice of Benchmarx are better than Howdens, but this is only what I have read as I haven't actually dealt with Howdens myself. I have just used Benchmarx and have found them fab so far. Popped into my local branch (Colindale) arranged for a kitchen designer to come round, he drew up the plans and yesterday it was delivered and is taking up the whole lounge waiting for the fitter to start fitting tomorrow. I have heard lots of good things about Howdens as well, but after lots of research I'm glad I went with Benchmarx. Have a look at them before you make a final decision. Hope this helps and good luck!

Thanks very much for sharing your views Dolly and I hope your install goes well.

We have decided on the Howden one now. Had a good conversation with both the branch manager and our installer and can see it is the "extras" such as pull out units and under cupboard LEDs which have bumped the price up.

Good luck to everyone who is planning a kitchen refresh and thanks to all of you that posted.

dollyxdimple

MrsWenger wrote: »

Thanks very much for sharing your views Dolly and I hope your install goes well.

Thank you. It's been started today. God! The state of the place....and breathe. It's all for the greater good.

Glad you finally chose your kitchen, one headache down. Still plenty to come though if yours is anything like ours. Plumbing in the wrong place, electrics in the wrong place, wrong size pipe for the new boiler :eek: Hope you have an easier time of it than us.
D x

MrsWenger

dollyxdimple wrote: »

Thank you. It's been started today. God! The state of the place....and breathe. It's all for the greater good.

Glad you finally chose your kitchen, one headache down. Still plenty to come though if yours is anything like ours. Plumbing in the wrong place, electrics in the wrong place, wrong size pipe for the new boiler :eek: Hope you have an easier time of it than us.
D x

Crikey, fingers crossed it improves for you. We seem ok with the plumbing as items that need water are in the same place but quite a bit of electrical work to do.

Good luck, there is is always wine to help things seem a little better:)

dollyxdimple

MrsWenger wrote: »

there is is always wine to help things seem a little better:)

And Prozac!
This is what happens when you buy a doer-upper I suppose. All be worth it in the end. Glad yours isn't as much of a nightmare. Take care and enjoy your shiney new kitchen.
D x

Florenceem

dollyxdimple wrote: »

Have a look at Benchmarx. They are similar to Howdens, as in they deal with trade rather than retail, but they are happy to deal directly with the end user (i.e you). This means that the price that you get will be given to you, not your fitter. Also, I think that the quality and choice of Benchmarx are better than Howdens, but this is only what I have read as I haven't actually dealt with Howdens myself. I have just used Benchmarx and have found them fab so far. Popped into my local branch (Colindale) arranged for a kitchen designer to come round, he drew up the plans and yesterday it was delivered and is taking up the whole lounge waiting for the fitter to start fitting tomorrow. I have heard lots of good things about Howdens as well, but after lots of research I'm glad I went with Benchmarx. Have a look at them before you make a final decision. Hope this helps and good luck!

How did your kitchen turn out please? I have been to Benchmarx today looking at their kitchens.

dollyxdimple

Florenceem wrote: »

How did your kitchen turn out please? I have been to Benchmarx today looking at their kitchens.

Hi
It's fabulous! Not quite finished yet as our fitter is a friend and he's doing it in between his proper work, so the pelmets and kickboards are still not on, but otherwise it's all done!
We got the Tucson kitchen and it looks lovely. The units are really good quality. We have a U shaped kitchen and storage is a problem in our flat so we wanted them to squeeze in as much as possible and they really did. We got a 600mm unit for the sink, a lovely sink (Astracast Geo 1.5 bowl sink in Sahara Beige, worth about £300 with they threw in for FREE after a bit of haggling!) two base corner units (one of which has one of those fabulous kidney shaped pull out units in it which just holds loads of stuff) a 300mm base unit, 900mm pan drawers (which I love) and two 400mm base units. On top we have 2 600mm cabinets, a 450mm cabinet, two 300mm cabinet and 2 corner cabinets and on top of all that we got 3 x 300mm doors (really tall ones that sit on top of the work top and reach nearly to the ceiling. With these our fitter made up a cabinet and they now cover the boiler. On top of this we also got the end pannels and a flyover which is to go above the window. And also all the pelments and kickboards/plinths. Also we got 40mm thick laminate worktop, matching upstands, a ceramic hob, a pull out bin and an extracter fan with door. Oh, and a door for the intergrated dishwasher. (We already had a built under oven, (so no housing unit needed for that, a fridge freezer and washing machine so I didn't need to purchase these from Benchmarx)
There is soft close on everything.
All of the above came to £3300! And the carcasses are really well made, really thick and sturdy. The same kitchen in Wickes, which I think is called Marlow (but don't quote me on that) came to around £5000.
Everything was delivered on time, nothing was missing and it's all gone together beautifully.
I can send you some pics if you would like. If so, private message me your email addy.
Hope this helps
Georgeia x