What's a reasonable cost for this Howdens kitchen?

tallac

I've read all the horror stories of Howdens pricing being all over the place and their non-transparent discounting. I recently got a quote from Howdens but I don't really have a good comparison to tell whether it's a good Howdens quote or a not so good one. I was wondering if people could take a look at the following list of items and give a rough ball park estimate for what a kitchen with this number of units will cost. I can then get a feel for how good or not the quote I got is. I won't disclose my quote for now as I don't want to bias any answers.

Just to make it clear, Howdens quote doesn't include any fitting, appliances, sinks, taps or worktop surfaces. All they've quote for is just the cost of the cabinets (and things associated to that like the doors, plinths, hinges etc).

Kitchen is an L shape design with an island.

With overhead wall units:

1. W300mm - cabinet
2. W300mm - corner cabinet unit (I think 300mm on each side)
3. Two x W600mm - half height cabinet
4. Two x W600mm - cabinet
   
5. W800mm - cabinet
6. W800mm - half height cabinet

Island:

1. Two x W1000m - pan drawer (3x drawers)

Counter cabinets:

1. W300mm - pull out spice rack
2. W300mm - corner cabinet unit (300mm on each side)
3. W600mm - cabinet for integrated dishwasher
4. W600mm - cabinet with recycle/trash bins 
5. W600mm - cabinet
6. W800mm - sink cabinet 
7. W800mm - cabinet
8. W1000mm - pan drawer (2x drawers)

Larder units (Standard height 2112mm)

1. W500mm - cabinet
2. W600mm - cabinet to house integrated oven and integrated microwave
3. W600mm - cabinet to house integrated tall fridge
4. W600mm - cabinet

Thanks in advance 😊

FreeBear

Got any floor plans & 3D renderings ?

You might get some useful suggestions on layout - In my (limited) experience, some of these kitchen "designers" haven't got a clue and will quite happily place appliance doors where they are dangerous.

TELLIT01

Which range is it.  Some have solid timber doors others are MDF.  That will potentially make a huge difference to the price.  I'm assuming you have gone in as a retail customer rather than ordering via a tradesman.

tallac

TELLIT01 said:

Which range is it.  Some have solid timber doors others are MDF.  That will potentially make a huge difference to the price.  I'm assuming you have gone in as a retail customer rather than ordering via a tradesman.

It'll be an MDF one, it's the Clerkenwell Super Matt design.

FreeBear said:

Got any floor plans & 3D renderings ?

You might get some useful suggestions on layout - In my (limited) experience, some of these kitchen "designers" haven't got a clue and will quite happily place appliance doors where they are dangerous.

I should be getting some photos of the design via email in due course from the Howdens designer but they haven't come through yet. For what it's worth, I've attached a very rough sketch of the area that has the main appliances. The only other appliances are an integrated hob (although this is mounted into the worktop surface so it isn't near any doors, and the other is an integrated dishwasher next to the kitchen sink.

ka7e

Price it up with comparable units on diy-kitchens.com and use that as a comparison.

tallac

ka7e said:

Price it up with comparable units on diy-kitchens.com and use that as a comparison.

Okay, I've done a price comparison. Howdens is coming in around £6.5k and DIY-kitchens is coming in around £4.5k (not sure if I've included everything required in the DIY-Kitchens as their website is not very user friendly...e.g. I might have missed of some trim pieces, plinths etc but I believe I have the main cabinets etc covered so let's just say the DIY-K is £5k).

Given the posts I've read on here, I was fully expecting DIY-Kitchens to be lower but does a £1.5k difference indicate the Howdens quote I have is fairly good (by Howdens standard?)

Doozergirl

You get them to price match it!  This is MSE. 🙂

tallac

Doozergirl said:

You get them to price match it!  This is MSE. 🙂

Will Howdens price match from DIY kitchens?

Doozergirl

Yes.  They have done it for me on a number of occasions.  It is my MO with Howdens and we've had an account for 20 years! 

Sometimes they can't quite match it, but they get close and it's worth it for the convenience of closeness and delivery timing for me.  

tallac

Doozergirl said:

Yes.  They have done it for me on a number of occasions.  It is my MO with Howdens and we've had an account for 20 years! 

Sometimes they can't quite match it, but they get close and it's worth it for the convenience of closeness and delivery timing for me.  

I shall give this a try. I've just put in the cost for all the cabinets with doors (same kind of design) and the DIY Kitchen cost is less than £3,800. The Howdens quote is £6,500. It's not exactly like for like as I couldn't figure out the various trim pieces, separator end boards etc needed with DIY Kitchen but the difference is pretty big.

Also, the Howdens I've been talking to are running a promotion that is ending at the end of October so I'm not sure if this is a real promotion or if they are just trying to hurry us along to make a deal early.

The other thing is, my company I am using to do my house renovation have a strong preference to using Howdens due to the very reasons you mentioned. I'm not sure if they are keen or willing to fit a kitchen from DIY Kitchens so it feels like if they don't price match and they won't budge, then I'm probably a little stuck with Howdens anyway.

I've already negotiated the price with Howdens (not using price matching but just trying to get a lower price).

I can mention about the price I'm calculating on DIY Kitchens and hope they can price match a little more, but any advice or tips on how to go about the negotiation more effective?

bpj

tallac said:

any advice or tips on how to go about the negotiation more effective?

Spend the time to make sure your DIY Kitchens quote is exactly comparable - and make sure you understand the whys and wherefores on the plinths, end panels required, the cost implications of different types of doors and finishes etc.

If you come across as a bit clueless your ultimatum - match this price or I'll do it myself - will not seem very convincing.

 I think if you send DIY kitchens your Howden's part list and layout they will put a matching basket together for you which might help.

The price difference seems quite high so make sure you're comparing like with like. For example I think DIY kitchens defaults to showing the ex VAT price.

If the quote truly is £2700 cheaper you would have plenty of room to compensate your renovation company for any inconvenience / delays caused by going with DIY Kitchens.