Which kitchen supplier????

[Jinglebellsarecoming]

We are replacing our kitchen due to water damage and have a budget of £3000 for the cabinets, worktops, appliances. Its a very small kitchen 2.5mtrs x 2.3m. Howedens quoted £5k. So if we went for one of the more budget companies - Ikea, B&Q, Wickes kind I think we may be able to get in budget. We need it to last well for 2-3 years (then we will sell)

Any reccomendations positive or negative?

Who is fitting it? The kitchen fitter will get a big discount at howdens or benchmark. You could also try and haggle. 5K is loads for a kitchen that size.

I'm sure others will be along with more tales of Howdens, but as far as I understand it, there are different levels of discount that they offer - but to your tradesman only. Did you get a quote directly or through your fitter?

Ours is a Howdens kitchen, it has oak cabinets which are lovely but our fitter was a nightmare and has made a bit of a rough job. There are areas that niggle me, but you would have to know they were there to see the problems. Our big-ish kitchen cost £5k about 9 years ago - dishwasher & extractor included, hob & oven were separate purchases. We had a new budget kitchen fit in our rental last year - white units in an L shape, including built-in oven & hob plus a bit of electrical work and tiling was £2500. Not sure where the fitter got it, but I trusted his opinion and let him get on with it.

Thanks all

The builder we have is going to fit it and his costs seem very reasonble - he introduced the Howdens person. I might contact him directly as I have his emails etc and haggle. I really liked the howdens kitchen and the quality. I cant quite face the hassle of Ikea which is an obvious second best.

We've just had a wickes kitchen installed- we love it. We're really impressed at the quality of the units etc- better than b&q (we installed in the last house).

I don't know if this happens with all builders, but our builder said if we bought through his introduction, he makes a hefty commission, and they actively recommend he just lets his client pay the full price as the client thinks it's discounted because he introduced us! so where ever you plan to buy from, it's definitely worth trying to haggle on the price and if you can, pay the bill yourself not via your builder.

Our ikea kitchen is fab, and their design software is the most user friendly. Wish we'd bought the better quality worktops rather than the cheapest one they made, but the units are great.