Wickes vs B&Q takeaway kitchens?

rizzla76

Hi
We moved into a new house and the kitchen is about 40 years old and needs updating desperately. Basically in about 3 years we want to buy a nice kitchen, but in the meantime we would like a cheap and cheerful one, but not too dodgy, to at least get rid of the horrible thing we have at the moment. I have looked at the takeaway kitchens from B&Q and wickes and they both seem ok, anyone used them? are they ok? either one better than the other? Or any other suggestions ( I have priced up Focus, Homebase etc). Would any of the Howdens range be as cheap as the above (it was coming out about £1300 for all the cabinets, tops, bits and pieces etc, but no appliances)? Can anyone open an account at Howdens? If so what do you have to do to open one?
Thanks

vansboy

Dont forget Focus will mean You'll be entitled to a 10% discount home movers card, for 6months, if you ask in store! It's NOT a credit card, just an extra discount on all you buy!!

Think you'll be OK with their product, too!

But as always, I say to check IKEA!!

VB

wendykearney

My parents rated their Wickes litchen as better quality than focus, they only had these 2 chain nearby though. We got our kitchen from Howdens and love it. It compared favourably, especally when you get to end of lines. With B&Q we were told not to go for cheap ranges as these not very good quality. Aslo B&Q charge everything seperatly so a bargin quickly becomes expensive..
When we were looking we got told to go for the highest quality cupboards etc we could get and cheaper doors and fronts.

Hope this helps
wendy

llydaw

we had a new kitchen installed last year and looked into various companies. Our builder was a carpenter by trade and told us that the best carcasses were IKEA and you could customise with different door fronts if you wanted to. My neighbour had a B&Q kitchen with oak doors and looks lovely, it wasn't so great to build though, well according to our builder. Howdens are supposed to be very good, we looked at these and they were lovely, sturdy but I think only a trade's person can have an account there - having said that I could be wrong.

Good luck

Pot2Pin

Hi everyone, this is my first post here so I hope I am doing this right!?
We have just bought our first house proper and hope to be in by Christmas.
First thing we need to do is repalce the blow air heating for GCH.
Then the kitchen & Bathroom we too have been looking EVERYWHERE!! For a good quality kitchen at a resonable price and whilst IKEA does appear to be a good option the no doors hinges etc does appear to be a bit of a lesser bargain.
We visited our local Magnet today and I have to say that the build quality and fittings blow away anything we have seen in all the other places for maybe an extra £1500 any thoughts?
Also whats the deal with Moben & Kitchensdirect.co.uk being neighbours and advertising the same kitchens with different names?

HugoSP

If you want something to get you by for now, may I suggest you consider going to Freecycle.org and asking for a 2nd hand kitchen?

You'll need new worktops as a minimum, but the rest will be free

Snow_Dog

Wickes are imo better quality than B&Q and I know several others including builders that have said the same, and purchased Wickes units over B&Q.

That said I have noticed the B&Q ones have improved recently.

Make sure the carcasses you get are 18mm conti rather than 15mm and proper bases to the drawers etc.

Ive put in a basic canteen in an industrial unit before a few years back with the cheapest Wickes units and they are still really good condition today (total cost for three units was about £60).

Peartree

Have a look to see if you have any big kitchen manufacturers or distributors near you who might have a factory shop - maybe post on the forum about moneysaving in your area.

One of the big groups was headquartered in Manchester, for example, and had a great factory shop. I got a whole kitchen from there, including top quality appliances, incredibly cheap - although it was a few years ago now.

There is also a big timber merchants near me (not one of the big chains) that does standard carcasses, a big range of worktops and a small range of doors at a very good price - might be worth following up similar in your own town.

poet123

We just ordered a kitchen from Howdens.....and we didnt need to prove we were trade,all units rigid built.

rizzla76

poet123 wrote: »

We just ordered a kitchen from Howdens.....and we didnt need to prove we were trade,all units rigid built.

Did you just walk in and state what cupboards you wanted, how did you pay?

vansboy

Pot2Pin wrote: »

Hi everyone, this is my first post here so I hope I am doing this right!?
Also whats the deal with Moben & Kitchensdirect.co.uk being neighbours and advertising the same kitchens with different names?

Hi Pot - welcome to the site!!

If you do a search for kitchens kitchens direct, on this board, you'll see a lot of BAD comments, so best to think again!

As for Moben - well, if you like the sort of image 'double glasing sales' are supposedly portrayed....

I'm an IKEA fan, but Howdens seem pretty much a good choice, too! Just make sure you get ALL the discount you can, as they have a 'trade only (but flexible business operation!

VB