Are howdens really that bad?

gigi7

Hello

I am looking to get a new kitchen and new laminate flooring and eventually doors. After much browsing I had decided I would most likely go for Howdens for all. I have a couple of friends with trade accounts with them and have been told that they're great quality.
So I had a quick google on the reviews and on trust pilot they have absolutely terrible reviews on pretty much all aspects, from delivery to quality and dealing with defects.
Obviously with the amount of money to be spent I don't want to faff about with constant problems.
Are they really that bad? I know there is the possibility of mistakes and delays with every company but seeing as they're kind of specialist I'm suprised that they'd be THAT poor.

System

You will always find bad reviews online, they must sell a huge volume of kitchens so it's not a surprise...
They are one of these companies who are meant to be "trade" and therefore most issues are with the tradesmen installing them rather than the product itself with howdens being the easy scapegoat.
I have used their doors regularly (something people like about the Dordogne oak!)
The kitchens are fairly standard and a good fitter will make the difference, just remember that your issue is with whoever has supplied and fitted the kitchen and it's up to them to deal with howdens to rectify any issues

leveller2911

gigi7 wrote: »

Hello

I am looking to get a new kitchen and new laminate flooring and eventually doors. After much browsing I had decided I would most likely go for Howdens for all. I have a couple of friends with trade accounts with them and have been told that they're great quality.

Howden's quality is no better than B&Q in that quite often the carcases are not square, they are edge-banded with 0.8mm wafer thin melamine. This means the front edges of the carcases are easily damaged when you put away saucepans,glass dishes etc. DIY Kitchens use 2.5mm ABS plastic edge-bandings which are far more hard-wearing.

Howden's laminate worktops may well still be supplied by Axiom which are pants in terms of quality. DIY and other use Duropal which have a thicker melamine surface and far more hard-wearing. A few years ago I fitted a Howdens kitchen to my sisters house and within 5yrs the Axiom worktops melamine surface had worn through to the white base material .

The Franke sinks they sell are cheap and ok but you get what you pay for and the same goes for their taps. Their appliances (lamona) are rubbish so if you go for Howdens source your own white goods.

Their "designers" are not trained in any way other than to use a very simple PC programme to plan kitchens. It doesn't stop them doing stupid designs like putting wine racks either side of the cooker hood extractor which is just plain stupid. It also doesn't stop them from planning kitchens that don't actually fit the spaces.

I had an account back in 1990's when they didn't have many branches and gave up my account about 3 yrs ago as I could no longer put up with them mucking me about. Over the years the quality has gone down hill as has the service and don't get me started on their discount system....:D

The above are from my experience of dealing with Howdens for nearly 20yrs. That said I don't think they are any worse than B&Q,Wickes etc.

DIY Kitchens online are a better product ,better service and far better prices. The only downside is they won't plan the kitchen for you but there is free software on their website to help you plan and order your own kitchen. Anyone in the trade with some knowledge should be capable of planning your kitchen.

leveller2911

the_r_sole wrote: »

The kitchens are fairly standard and a good fitter will make the difference, just remember that your issue is with whoever has supplied and fitted the kitchen and it's up to them to deal with howdens to rectify any issues

That's a really good point. Many people seem to believe their contract is with Howdens when in fact its with the fitter/supplier who paid Howdens for the kitchen. So if the fitter/friend/account holder goes awol a few years down the line the customer has no recourse to Howdens. Howdens contract is with the person who paid Howdens which is not necessarily the homeowner.

gwynhughes

Howden's use 0.8mm ABS edging not melamine, I know cause I work in the factory making it!

Dan-Dan

Well my Howdens burford cream kitchen is 32 month old and is still lovely and holding up well to vigorous daily life

iharding

Our builder negotiated a free upgrade to their premium cabinets and fittings. Neither of us realized that would mean a change to the pull and swing larder cupboard interior which, while it looked good, offered inferior storage. Howdens were very quick to offer a swap back to the originally ordered interior, delivered to us and collected the one we didn't want despite it having been assembled and fitted, all for no extra charge.

Very happy with the extra solid premium cabinets, interior lighting, and acoustic seals (but not enough to have paid the £4K list upgrade if they hadn't offered it for free!)

dirty_magic

I think reviews are skewed because people are far more likely to leave a bad review if they've had problems or a good review if the company has gone out of their way to help. Most people don't bother if they've had a generally good but not outstanding experience.

We did have problems with delivery quantities and one door was split, but this was easily rectified. The reviews did put me off lamona appliances, but we were intending to buy them elsewhere anyway.

The only thing I could say if I'm being picky is that I think we could have found a better quality tap elsewhere. The tap was free though, or more likely the cost was absorbed into the other items.

Definitely get quotes from other companies and haggle, you can get the price reduced by a lot.

cddc

Howdens are OK, but just that,OK. What Leveller says about their designers and appliances rings true.

Would suggest if going with them you get someone else to plan it and that you get your appliances elsewhere. The quality otherwise of what you get for what your pay, if you pay the right price that is, is fair.

Howdens discount structure is deliberately opaque and designed to favour the tradesman rather than the end user. So the best way to find out if you are getting a fair price is to get a comparative quote elsewhere.

ryder72

About the best comparison you can get is this-

Is Tesco Value that bad? No its not. You can eat it. It wont kill you. It wont harm you. As long as you dont pay M&S prices for it or expect it to be fine quality you wont go wrong.

PheoUK

Howdens sell thousands of kitchens a week. Most complaints I see are the result of people expecting them to act like Magnet / Homebase or IKEA. They don't sell retail, only to the trade, or those with a trade account. Accordingly their services are setup for their customers - builders. Hence sometimes you see bad reviews because people expect Howdens to sort out problems which are the responsibility of their builders.

Additionally, they have several ranges of kitchen of varying costs and quality, so asking the question "how good are they" is a mixed bag because you are not comparing like with like. For instance they have solid wood kitchens, which won't have ABS banding on them (ref the above).