Howdens/B&Q/Wickes/Ikea kitchen: smart storage, soft close hinges and other nice touches

Rosa_Damascena

TELLIT01 said:

My experience of the Howden designer was very good.  They listened to everything I wanted and also made suggestions which hadn't occurred to me.  I can obviously only speak from personal experience.

Unfortunately they are not doing face to face appointments as yet. The design I was given was perfunctory, the so-called designer took no pride in his work. Why I am surprised by my disappointment I don't know, when I spoke to him beforehand he made some very foolish remarks and that was a red flag.

tallac

I'm no stranger to online shopping but out of curiosity, how do you buy something like a kitchen from an online supplier? How do you know what you're getting? I feel I'd want to see a showroom and see the actual product (or something very similar). Seeing and feeling the kitchen items is vastly different than seeing images. Thoughts?

Rosa_Damascena

tallac said:

I'm no stranger to online shopping but out of curiosity, how do you buy something like a kitchen from an online supplier? How do you know what you're getting? I feel I'd want to see a showroom and see the actual product (or something very similar). Seeing and feeling the kitchen items is vastly different than seeing images. Thoughts?

Tbh the MSE Forum and Trustpilot recommendations and price has swayed me towards DIY kitchens. Other kicthen companies give you the wow factor instore but once they've got your money let you down with service, You can get a lot of kitchen for your money and once you have a professional CAD plan in front of you courtesy of another firm the pain is taken out of the planning, but I accept I will need to be meticulous about it. A couple of nights in the winter should be sufficient and keep me focused on what will be the cherry on the cake of a much bigger project.

I was happy to go ahead without visiting the showroom in person on that basis but I've also been meaning to take a short break in Yorkshire for some time, so will take in a trip to the showroom at the same time.

Coffeekup

Tucker said:

However, I was frustrated with the pricing system for howdens and wren. It was like dealing with a double glazing firm in the 1990s.
Your kitchen units are 23k, but buy today and it's 8k....
Neither would give me straight competitive price. Just a nonsense price and then a promise to match like for like. But I couldn't be bothered with the hassle and then arguments about what wasn't like for like etc. I don't trust those types of companies to give you a decent fair price.

I totally agree with you on this.... I don't like there opaque pricing....
The same kitchen for you costs £8k, for me £5k and for someone else £3k. 
Another thing... I've fitted a few kitchens over the year's, I know how to work out sizes and what I need (at the end of the day it's all number's). But they won't let me order it till someone's designed it for me on a computer.
Poppycock

ka7e

DIY sell good sized door samples for £6 or £12, refundable against the cost of a kitchen. Carcass samples are free. I bought my worktop elsewhere as I wanted a different profile.

kleshnia

Whoever you decide to go with, please do not go with Wrens Kitchens. They are are nightmare. 

Rosa_Damascena

kleshnia said:

Whoever you decide to go with, please do not go with Wrens Kitchens. They are are nightmare. 

I think there may be a dedicated thread for Wren horror stories.

tallac

Rosa_Damascena said:
Tbh the MSE Forum and Trustpilot recommendations and price has swayed me towards DIY kitchens.

Howdens' trustpilot score is 4.7 out of 9,519 reviews
DIY kitchen's trustpilot score is 4.6 out of 3,501 revies.

Both are very good scores but if I knew nothing else of the two companies, I would put Howdens above DIY Kitchens.

I didn't expect the DIY Kitchens to have an actual physical showroom. Given they have this, I would totally consider them as a contender.