Howdens Shaker kitchens - difference between units

Gazelle1985

Hello,

We're buying a Howdens Shaker kitchen and are trying to decide between two different units - the Allendale or the Fairford. The Allendale is the cheapest in the range - I believe it's chipboard and a bit thinner. The Fairford is the mid range option. The price difference between the two for our kitchen is £1k!

Has anyone had any experience of the two options above? Is it worth paying more for the mid range option?

Thank you

Rexxel

Hiya, We've just bought Allendale units for our utility room.

They delivered the colour wrong and have missed a few items of the order so be wary of that and triple check their quote.

We're happy with the units ourselves so far, despite the colour. The doors have a wood grain sort of texture to them which i think is quite nice. I don't think they look cheap. We have them with a belfast sink and a solid wood counter top so i think that helps the whole look of the room.

Hope this helps

Gazelle1985

Hi Rexxel,

Thanks for replying - that's good to know!

Did they just miss things off your order, or was the quote incorrect? We've found their quote a bit confusing!

Thank you

Rexxel

Gazelle1985 wrote: »

Hi Rexxel,

Thanks for replying - that's good to know!

Did they just miss things off your order, or was the quote incorrect? We've found their quote a bit confusing!

Thank you

No probs

So, my boyfriend went to a consultation with one of their 'designers' and requested the grey allendale. When we had our final measurements, he went back to amend the quote and again requested the grey allendale and they confirmed. When the delivery turned up on Tuesday, it was all white. On the printed quote it said "allendale GR" which we took to be grey so not sure yet what happened. Unfortunately, our builder wouldn't wait and we had to go ahead with the white.

When the driver turned up, he was missing one of the countertops, a piece for the corner unit which turned up the next day and some oil for worktop. We will go in for the oil tomorrow hopefully and see what they have to say!

From experience, i would just say ask them to confirm everything, check the quote with them and when the delivery arrives, go through it all and tick off what you've received

Cheers

Gazelle1985

Good to know - we will make sure we check very carefully!!

Furts

Rexxel wrote: »

No probs

So, my boyfriend went to a consultation with one of their 'designers' and requested the grey allendale. When we had our final measurements, he went back to amend the quote and again requested the grey allendale and they confirmed. When the delivery turned up on Tuesday, it was all white. On the printed quote it said "allendale GR" which we took to be grey so not sure yet what happened. Unfortunately, our builder wouldn't wait and we had to go ahead with the white.

When the driver turned up, he was missing one of the countertops, a piece for the corner unit which turned up the next day and some oil for worktop. We will go in for the oil tomorrow hopefully and see what they have to say!

From experience, i would just say ask them to confirm everything, check the quote with them and when the delivery arrives, go through it all and tick off what you've received

Cheers

What was on the order confirmation? This is what matters and not the quote. But on face value I am left speechless. You have received a kitchen that you did not "order" and it is fitted because the person you chose to install it bullied, and coerced, you into accepting something you did not want?

If you are happy now then fine. If you still wish you had grey then that is a different matter. Were I in your shoes I know what I would be saying! Plus I would not be paying full price for the kitchen.

Rexxel

Furts wrote: »

What was on the order confirmation? This is what matters and not the quote. But on face value I am left speechless. You have received a kitchen that you did not "order" and it is fitted because the person you chose to install it bullied, and coerced, you into accepting something you did not want?

If you are happy now then fine. If you still wish you had grey then that is a different matter. Were I in your shoes I know what I would be saying! Plus I would not be paying full price for the kitchen.

Hi, i don't have it on me right now but I think what i'm calling the quote is the order confirmation. It was a list breaking down each item by price and how much discount was applied. It said something like "Allendale GR base unit white 50cm". Stupidly, we didn't question this as we trusted that telling them clearly multiple that we wanted grey was enough. To us, GR meant grey (not sure whether that's correct now). Looking at the list, we took that to be grey doors and white base units. :S

I'm furious to be honest. We didn't want things to turn nasty with the builder and they'd already had to wait a few more days for Howden's as the order wasn't all in stock. If we didn't have it fitted that day we would've had to find someone else.

I want to try an get compensation but i don't hold out much hope from what i've read on other threads

Thanks

Furts

Rexxel wrote: »

Hi,
I want to try an get compensation but i don't hold out much hope from what i've read on other threads

Thanks

I am guessing your Contract is with your builder and has nothing to do with Howdens. Basically Howdens is a red herring in your scenario. Refusing to pay the builder is the way forward.



The builder will have leverage on Howdens. If Howdens have messed up then you refusing to pay the full sum will simply get bounced back to Howdens - the builder will not be showing a loss.

exiled_red

How soon do you need/want to get it done? I believe Howdens have an October sale every year - we were told this by our builder last year. The savings depend on how much the builder uses Howdens, but for us we saved around 60% of the price we would have paid a month or two earlier. I don't know if it applies to all ranges or just some, but it might be worth waiting if you can or at least asking your builder about it.

Gazelle1985

Ah damn we can't wait until October because our builder doesn't have availability!

Doozergirl

Furts wrote: »

What was on the order confirmation? This is what matters and not the quote. But on face value I am left speechless. You have received a kitchen that you did not "order" and it is fitted because the person you chose to install it bullied, and coerced, you into accepting something you did not want?

If you are happy now then fine. If you still wish you had grey then that is a different matter. Were I in your shoes I know what I would be saying! Plus I would not be paying full price for the kitchen.

Unless something major has changed at Howdens, the doors come separately to the units. That means that the units can be fitted before the doors, which is normal anyway. A phone call to Howdens should have gotten them swapped very quickly. We have had it happen to us on one occasion and we got most of the doors swapped on the same day, the rest came quickly. That is a distinct benefit that Howdens have.

It's the builder being difficult here. The OP isn't going to get compensation from Howdens because Howdens could have and would have swapped the doors very quickly. Even if a few were missing, the main job for the builder is fitting the units. Doors can be hung pretty swiftly at a later point and it doesn't affect the homeowner's ability to use the kitchen, just the finished look.

Rexxel, I hope you are happy with the white. Perhaps you can paint your walls in a soft grey instead if you haven't already planned colours. Perhaps treat yourselves to some Farrow and Ball for the lovely chalky quality it has. The overall look of the room will be similar and your grey have a more expensive feel.

(OP, the fact that doors and units come separately would mean that the price/quality difference is in your doors, not the units, by the way. The units are all standard.)