Howdens/DIY kitchens

[OhWifey]

Sorry I know this has been done loads of times but I can't find my specific issue on the search.

Have had a quote for a Howdens kitchen for a pretty average sized room. It is almost £7k. I assume this is with trade discount applied but I have emailed the builder back to double check.

It's much higher than expected!

I have sent the quote to DIY kitchens to see how they come out.

Has anyone else done this and sent a Howdens quote to DIY? How did you fare?

Thanks

What are you getting for that?

We got Howdens and it wasn't that much and I think our room is quite big and we got wine fridge, solid oak tops, Belfast sink ...

It's definitely worth seeing what diy kitchenscome back with and then going back to Howdens to see if they'll lower theirs to match. We did that so got the Howden's one for the same price as diy kitchens. Ours was just under 7k for a large kitchen.

Our DIY kitchen and utility is almost installed, love it. I did look at Howdens at builders request, but couldn't get internally curved corner units plus limited other options that didn't really work for what I wanted. For a large L shaped kitchen and small utility we were quoted almost 12k from Howdens, and paid 7k from DIY, for in my mind, more expensive choices (i.e. the curved units were more expensive etc). We also went fot the solid wood doors from DIY and again Howdens wasn't solid wood...

Ive got the painted oak kitchen from Howdens with the curved panels at the end, not the completely curved unit. This was at their suggestion. Not a huge kitchen, but two long runs of units - around nineteen. Worktops are their basic, but cut curved to math the units. I paid £4,500 for mine and the original quote was £6,400.

I got the quote late August, but the salesman told me they had a sale each October so I hung on and was eventually quoted £4,800. My fitter, who works for them regularly, got me a further discount of £300 because I told him his fit costs were a bit much and moving figures around suited everyone.

It has been in five years this year and I get a lot of comments on it. Clearly it doesn't look like a£30,000 plus inframe kitchen, but it looks more or less as good as new. You need to watch out for the doors dropping after first fit and our fitter came back and made adjustments. The quote to fit was £1275 and the fit was good, not excellent.

Not a single thing missing on delivery either but the delivery charge was high - around £50 incredibly. All in all we were pleased, but do not expect a showroom experience. Expect some grumpy old men.

OP how are you getting on? I've been thinking of diy kitchens after recommendations on a recent thread, but the fitters I've contacted seem to favour Howdens, so I'm wondering how the prices match up...

i really dont see why all are so about the £££ when it comes to a kitchen that they will use every day after spending 1000s on an extension???
the cabs from diy will be far greater than howdens.
Howdens are the main contracor for council houses - eg..........
your getting the same unit and the option of 2 colours - white or oak!
diy will give a better selection on unit colours (square units) many of howdens fall short.
the end panels on a gloss or matt lacquer will be matching not a vinyl match as per howdens and a diff in colour ( yet not jo public will notice this unless pointed out)
its shocking that builders push them as many wouldnt put in there own home

Thanks. The DIY quote came out similarly to the Howdens. It was a bit less but not so much as to make a trip to Pontefract and the potential hassle worth it.

I went back to the designer and asked him to remove the curved corner units and the pull out larder unit. Knocked loads off the price.

Now got to decide on final colours before working a bit harder on the price.

Used howdens kitchen units in our utility can't say for the price we paid for the units I'm impressed. They look ok. Hate the way the builder pressurised us to use them & that I went along with it.
Hate howdens & their stupid hidden prices.