Have a Homebase kitchen due to be delivered in Feb, just found local fitter who has Howdens account and said he can always beat our Homebase price. WWYD?

[CrapBag]

Our Homebase kitchen is due to be supplied and fitted by Homebase in February, as we know they are charging a fortune we have been getting other quotes from local kitchen fitters.

Had one out today who is a friend of a friend (who she forgot to recommend until I had already made my order) and he said he has a Howdens account if we were interested and he can guarantee they will beat the price even if it's only £100. Our Homebase kitchen is roughly £3455 for all units and accessories plus Franke sink and tap, extractor fan, Hotpoint gas hob and integrated dish washer. I admit I am not sure how this can be beaten. It is for 15/16 units with upstands etc. It is their Essentials range but the solid oak one in that range.

I'm going to look at Howdens tomorrow to compare but wondering if it is worth cancelling our Homebase one altogether. We are going to cancel their installers anyway as they are charging £4100 for installation and plastering which we know from asking around is a lot.

have you seen samples of this persons work, and quizzed the homeowners on reliability and workmanship?

Anybody in the trade can always beat showroom prices. I do not have a Howdens account but can get Magnet for about 40% of showroom price.

Don't buy appliances from a kitchen company.

We had a homebase kitchen fitted in our old place - there were all sorts of charges added on afterwards for things like moving sockets etc. which we were pretty cross about. It'd make me wary of using them again in the future, and looking back, the kitchen was ridiculously expensive.

I haven't PJ but my friend has seen the stuff the fitter has done as she is the one who recommended him. She said it is like the rooms you wish you had and he is very fussy which is great because I am too.

He said he has a Magnet account too. Do you think one is better than the other? What we have paid is really what we can afford as we won't be able to take finance out which is what we have done for part of the Homebase kitchen.

I had already sourced the appliances, sink and tap online anyway and Homebase just price matched it so I am happy to shop around for a good deal.

Whatwould yes our quote still doesn't include replacing and fitting a new radiator so that would be something else on top of what we are paying.

have a look at the doors you like best. There is not much to choose between carcases (except that cheap range carcases are often a bit thinner). You can buy alternative knobs and handles if you want, often cheaper and better, from places like ironmongeryDirect.

You will want metal drawer boxes, soft-close hinges and drawers, and lots of pan drawers rather than cupboard units.

Internal fancy fittings, like magic corners, are incredibly expensive.