How do Wickes Take Away Kitchens Compare with Howdens?

gazfocus

We bought our house in July and the kitchen is pretty much a standard 6 year old typical rental kitchen, very low quality and it's starting to fall apart now.

We've not got a great deal of money to spend but we'd like to revamp the kitchen. We've already got new worktops which have all been cut to size and had the holes cut for the hob and sink, so we're just looking for kitchen units now.

We've looked at a few placed and were pretty much set on a kitchen from the Wickes 'Take Away' range, in particular, the Costa Rica range. The prices are fairly cheap for what you get but the units are flat pack which is a pain.

We've had a couple of joiners round to quote for fitting the kitchen and both guys mentioned howdens kitchens, and while I've read plenty of good things about howdens kitchens, I'm concerned that they may be out of budget.

Basically, we have about £1000 to spend (as a maximum). Are we likely to get anything from howdens in this budget that'll be on par with what we can get for wickes?

phill99

How many units are you needing.

gazfocus

phill99 wrote: »

How many units are you needing.

Probably 11 or 12. We're still playing around with the Wickes kitchen planner

leveller2911

Kitchen_DesignR wrote: »

Howdens are doing a promotional 11 unit landlord pack for £399+vat.
It works out a little dearer than the Wickes pack shown in the link but gives an extra 3 units and rigid built carcase...
You'll still need the plinth, worktops etc but it's a good starting point.

The promo pack ends on 23/3

KDR You give good advice on many occasions but don't you work for Howdens? Is there a conflict of interests here..

Apologies if I'm mistaken.;)

gazfocus

Kitchen_DesignR wrote: »

Howdens are doing a promotional 11 unit landlord pack for £399+vat.
It works out a little dearer than the Wickes pack shown in the link but gives an extra 3 units and rigid built carcase...
You'll still need the plinth, worktops etc but it's a good starting point.

The promo pack ends on 23/3

Thanks for that. Are the 'landlord packs' any good in terms of quality? I mean, I know we're not gonna get top notch for that sort of money but there's no point in us changing the kitchen if we're not going to be happy with it.

I think our problem is, we want things like wide pan drawers, etc so building it up on the Wickes website at the moment (although their wide pan drawer is 100mm wider than everywhere else seems to be (and therefore too wide for where we wanted it).

phill99

gazfocus wrote: »

Thanks for that. Are the 'landlord packs' any good in terms of quality? I mean, I know we're not gonna get top notch for that sort of money but there's no point in us changing the kitchen if we're not going to be happy with it.

I think our problem is, we want things like wide pan drawers, etc so building it up on the Wickes website at the moment (although their wide pan drawer is 100mm wider than everywhere else seems to be (and therefore too wide for where we wanted it).

They don't advertise them as a landlord pack.

In terms of quality, the carcasses are the same regardless of the doors / drawers. Price differential comes with say a solid timber door as opposed to a laminate finished MDF door

leveller2911

Kitchen_DesignR wrote: »

I do work for Howdens.
The above advice is not intended as a sales pitch but inside information on a comparable package that may suit gazfocus's needs.

It'll be unfair for me to comment on the quality difference between the two companies, but I thought I'd mention the rigid carcase as this could be a money saving advantage...


Fair enough but shouldn't you have this in your sig so that people can make a balanced choice.

I've had a Howdens account for 15yrs and don't have any problems with them, except their discount policy...:D

gazfocus

Kitchen_DesignR wrote: »

I do work for Howdens.
The above advice is not intended as a sales pitch but inside information on a comparable package that may suit gazfocus's needs.

It'll be unfair for me to comment on the quality difference between the two companies, but I thought I'd mention the rigid carcase as this could be a money saving advantage...


@phil. It depends on depot, but at mine I am promoting these as landlord packs.
Unlike normal though, the price is fixed by HQ

Thanks for all the advice so far guys.

If I were to go for the £399 deal at howdens, can anyone tell me what the unit sizes are please?

Also, would I be able to buy matching tall oven housing and 800mm pan drawer?

Thanks

cddc

Work for Wickes and would say in fairness that Howdens carcasse is probably better than the Wickes takeaway, doors at the bottom end are similar quality. Wickes guarantee the units for longer than Howdens though (10 yr V 5).

Avoid the Miami door (the cheapest Wickes one) as it is garbage, the rest are perfectly ok though.

gazfocus

cddc wrote: »

Work for Wickes and would say in fairness that Howdens carcasse is probably better than the Wickes takeaway, doors at the bottom end are similar quality. Wickes guarantee the units for longer than Howdens though (10 yr V 5).

Avoid the Miami door (the cheapest Wickes one) as it is garbage, the rest are perfectly ok though.

Thanks for that. We went into Wickes today and liked the Costa Rica doors. I appreciate what you're saying about the carcasses though. I just priced up the full kitchen as we want it at B&Q and it came to £1900 without any worktop or sink/taps/etc.

cddc

gazfocus wrote: »

Thanks for that. We went into Wickes today and liked the Costa Rica doors. I appreciate what you're saying about the carcasses though. I just priced up the full kitchen as we want it at B&Q and it came to £1900 without any worktop or sink/taps/etc.

So much for "we beat any quote" then....:p.