DIY Kitchen - Pricing conundrum

[Aparnaishere]

Hi DIY mums,

Posting this again as a new thread as ended up responding to an existing thread last time! New to mumsnet here!

My question is about DIY Kitchens. After reading some great reviews here, I used a quote from Howdens to get a quote from DIY. To my surprise, the price that DIY are giving me is not very different from what Howdens did. I have binge watched 'real customer review' videos on youtube and they all claim to have got the DIY kitchen at a "fraction of the price". Can you please share your experience in terms of price and what sort of price difference we are talking about when compared to high street retailers? I am comparing like to like in terms of material and units. What am I missing? I had really high expectations and am quite disappointed :(

Thanks in advance

DIY Kitchens are really competitive on units, not so much on worktops / appliances / sinks. I bought those separately, as I think most people do.

I only got the units from DIY and they were at least 1/3 of the price of Wren or anywhere else I looked

Appliances came from AO, sink from B&Q, taps were from Aldi and Quartz worktop from local supplier and fitter

All were researched and priced up if that makes a difference to your quote

We saved a lot compared to the quote we had from Magnet. We weren't looking to buy everything from one place though. We got units from DIY, handles and knobs, worktops, tap, appliances, tiling, etc elsewhere.

I also only got units. 22 units including pull outs, quite a few drawers etc were around £5k. Quote from an independent for same units but foil wrapped not wood was around £7.5. Wickes wood kitchen but flat packed units £6.5.

Sourced quartz worktops (topsco...a lot cheaper than diy’s suppliers) & appliances (JL as best price on specific appliances we wanted) separately.

Are you going for custom colours or something like that? In frame vs shaker? Trying to think what could be bumping the price up.

Oh yes and we had a magnet quote which was a ridiculous 10k just for units. Magnet trade & howdens both around 6.5

We went for the customised painted colour and it was still cheaper

Are you comparing like with like? What are the door styles? Painted kitchen doors are more expensive than melamine. Also having seen both the DIY units are more sturdy.

Thank you all - We initially asked for bespoke colours which meant the quote was more than Howdens! Then they suggested painted Linwood range which is apparently same as what we selected at H. I think its quite like to like as they have seen the original quote (minus prices) and quoted on the back of it. Did you have to ask for/manage to get a discount?

Also - a side question - when getting the worktop else where, weren't you worried that the cut outs for sink and hob would not fit 100% with the units underneath? That's one of my biggest fears!

DIY won't fabricate the worktop to your specifications anyway (or didn't seem to offer this service earlier this year), that's your builders job.

We got DIY in a gorgeous bespoke colour, V good value. Builders who i installed it could not fault it. Much happier with them than magnet who did our last one. Good service too.

Thank you ladies, for the reassurance. I have a feeling we need to make the trip up North to get the confidence and final push :) Appreciate all your responses

We did it the other way around - used the cheaper DIY kitchens quote to get Howdens to beat it. Worktops will be cut by whoever is fitting them!

howdens are trade only and will likely only offer a one off kitchen customer a slight discount compared to for instance a kitchen fitter that fits 50 a year. AO are good for applicances, sinks and taps you can find cheap on internet or plumcentre type places

I suspect that you have got a great price from Howdens because whom ever you used for the trade account does a lot of work for them. Plus I found a oddities; the tall corner larder was 3x the cost of Wickes.

I will say I preferred the doors at DIY to Howdens.

Also - a side question - when getting the worktop else where, weren't you worried that the cut outs for sink and hob would not fit 100% with the units underneath? That's one of my biggest fears

We had a local company (we went for quartz because it is a lot more hard wearing and stain resistant than granite) they came out and took a template of the kitchen when all the units were fitted. Everything fitted perfectly.

DIY operate under another name where you can find the same kitchens in more local fancy kitchen shops at fancy kitchen prices