Been lurking on here for ages and picked up loads of useful info for the new kitchen! But I was hoping someone could enlighten me....
We are having our Edwardian terrace extended and knocked through at the back to give a large kitchen with seating area at the patio end. Kitchen will be galley style down two walls probably 18ft each side. We had 3 builders give us quotes for the building work etc and they ALL said 'allow £5k for a Howdens kitchen'. The builder we eventually settled on does not have a Howdens account but we thought by then we had a good idea of cost.
We went to Howdens and had a design drawn up - this was actually incomplete as we could not decide what to do around the boiler so they left that corner 'blank'. When the quote came through it was £9k!!! For standard units and laminate worktops including a breakfast bar. We were staggered.
Subsequently we went to Wickes who drew up a fab design, sorted out the 'boiler corner' issue and came out at £8k for solid wood units and worktops and said they'd throw in an integrated washing machine too!! This was when they were having their 50% off sale. We didn't go with them as they didn't actually have units that we liked.
We then went to Benchmarx, threw the Wickes design at them and said 'copy that'. They did and also came up with their own suggestions and we've ended up with what looks like a great design. For their Turin Cashmere units plus solid oak worktops they have come in at just under £8k.
So Wickes AND Benchmarx have come in cheaper than Howdens. A colleague recently had a Howdens kitchen and got all units, appliances AND flooring from them for £8k!! I am wondering if this is because she had a builder who does a lot of business with Howdens - do they give greater discounts for loyalty? Our builder opened a new account with them so we could get our design done so he has never done any business through them. I just find it frustrating that the 3 other builders all said £5k and it is way above that. It threw our budgeting out quite a bit....
Howdens left a voicemail for me today asking what is happening with the kitchen so I am planning on going back to them to say 'you're far more expensive than we expected'. Any other experiences welcomed gladly....
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Hello, this thread is a little old and some of the links may be out of date. There was lots of discussion around Howden’s pricing and it appears users were getting different quotes depending on the area they lived. As alternatives, users recommended IKEA kitchens and DIY Kitchens. If you are still interested in Howdens you can check them out here. MNHQ.