Lamona appliances - any recent experience?

[LyraLilly]

I've been to view a new build today, which I liked a lot. I loved the kitchen, all the appliances are integrated and are branded Lamona who I hadn't heard of. A quick Google showed up some awful reviews, but some are quite old, so I was hoping that someone here might have more recent, hopefully positive, experience of them.

It would seem that they are Howden's own brand of electricals but are actually rebrands of other makes.

Any info gratefully received.

I had lamona they were ok but we did sell the house 2 years after the kitchen went in so no long term review. When we bought the kitchen the salesman in howdens told us what the different appliances were originally branded. Might be worth trying in your local howdens for more info.

We got a Lamona dishwasher with our kitchen, which actually was on offer and came for free with everything else we bought. The racks feel cheap, and the tablet tray takes several attempts to close sometimes (after only a few months of use - probably under warranty but I've been lazy), but it does the job cleaning dishes well and I can't complain for a free dishwasher!

We have a Lamona hob that was here when we moved in, I also had to google it as never heard of them! It’s fine but not sure you can go wrong with a basic gas hob?! We did replace the oven because it kept tripping the electrics, apparently it wasn’t wired in correctly so not sure I can blame the appliance 🤷🏻‍♀️

I have a Lamona built in dishwasher. It’s really well made with lots of features like a special knife drawer in the top. It’s actually better than the Neff one I left behind in my old house. It was made in Germany so probably a Bosch.

I viewed a friends new build from a more up market builder just before handover. I was genuinely shocked at the cheap and poor standard of the fittings, with the exception of the kitchen appliances which are AEG. Basically the roof lights were all the cheapest copy brands available (Velux has 3 lines of defence against leaks but are more expensive). Electric fittings all the cheapest. Kitchen units quality abysmal. Windows naf when you know what you are looking at, minuscule patio laid on an inch of sand and sinking already, window cracked etc....

Basically this is generally what you get now as they eek every penny of profit out of it and they tend to fail after the 12 month warranty and are not covered by NHBC.

I was puzzled as to why they used AEG appliances when the rest were so shite...a friend in the business told me that women looking around will pick up on cheap kitchen appliances and not other stuff so they use them to give the air of expense and quality.....I couldn't believe but sadly I think it's true.

Thanks all, on the whole sounding a bit more positive than what I've read elsewhere, I was kind of hoping they'd sorted the quality out recently. I understand that it's not top end but a working kitchen is kinda nice

My Lamona dishwasher in coming up for 8 years old, still going strong and everything comes out sparkly clean.

We had a Lamona oven and hob in our married quarter. They lasted less than a year. Apparently using them every day was "too much"!

Lamona oven has just gone kerrputt for the second time in 18 months (was new when I moved in 3 years ago). Am now looking for something to replace it.

I had three lamona appliances in my old kitchen. Performance and reliability were OK but not great. After 10 years washing machine was still working, the dishwasher needed it's control panel changing (after 8 years) but was still working and the oven had been replaced after 8 years as thermostat had gone (glass had also been replaced early on).

There was a new lamona dishwasher and washing machine in our kitchen when we moved in 7 years ago. Dishwasher failed last year, washing machine is still going although it is the noisiest machine I have ever heard. Sounds like a plane taking off.

The thermostat has gone twice on our lamona oven!

We got an integrated Lamona fridge freezer and dishwasher almost 5 years ago when we had our kitchen done. Not had any problems with either appliance.

Our flat (built 8 years ago) has an electric Lamona oven and induction job.

The oven has tripped the electrics three times and had to have a replacement fan each time (with a considerable wait for the part to arrive on each occasion).

The painted settings around each dial (the temp dial and the oven dial with grill, oven etc) have also all but worn off. We only know whether we are using the grill or the fan oven as we know which position the dial needs to be facing by memory.

The oven light only works intermittently- you never know when you'll be able to see your cooking.

Avoid if you can.

I’d pay extra and have a decent make and not cheap a builder make no one actually chooses. It’s better to sell with known makes. Check the electricity usage rating too. How quiet is the dishwasher? What about oven functions and build quality?

I have a lamona electric hob and built in oven that were new when I moved into my rental property 3 years ago,always worked brilliant.

Although you won’t be selling it! A quality name sells kitchens.

I had a lamona induction hob and allegedly a fan oven put in when I fitted a kitchen about 4 years ago. Hob was okay but the oven was terrible. Poorly controlled temperature and everything took longer to cook than it suggested. If I'd stayed in the property any longer I would have replaced to be honest.

Is the kitchen sourced via Howdens? If so the building company
would have got a deal on the Lamona range (Lamona being tied
to Howdens).
Many kitchen filtters do business with Howdens and can get a
pack (hob oven extractor ) for £300 .
My pack has lasted 2 years so far

As above, you're likely to get Lamona range with a Howdens kitchen. We bought ours 4 years ago when we completely renovated our house, and got a good deal on the whole kitchen through Howdens. All our Lamona appliances are still working fine, cooker, hob, extraction fan, dishwasher and fridge/freezer. This is not a long term house for us, and if our budget has been bigger without a doubt I would have sought better quality appliances, but they've done the job so far.

Lamona is essentially Howden's brand of appliances. I have not heard good things about them and they are cheap for a reason (though you'd never know this because Howdens lack price transparency, but the fact that they throw them all in for a small cost is telling). I would always opt for better branded appliances.

@MarieG10 you do realise viewing ONE new build doesn't mean you speak for the thousands of houses being built by a plethora of developers? Tarring every new build house with the same brush is a bit like saying every "old" house is dysfunctional and a money pit. If we knew who the developer was and if it was the same then that might be a fairer opinion.

My mum had a howdens kitchen so had lamona, have to admit I didn't get on with her oven seemed to take an age to warm up. I'm sure lamona was a front for another well known brand, can't remember what it was. That said I wouldn't pick a house based just on appliances, if you're happy with the rest of house even if the appliances did all go kaput it's a small price to pay if the rest of the house works for you.

I had Lamona via Howdens in our last flat and they were pretty reliable tbh! I'd recommend on a budget. I now have AEG in our new flat and I think they are the same if not lesser quality than the Lamona I had.

I work for a property management company and see about 10 properties a week, some old some new. Seen a lot of Howdens kitchens and generally not impressed by their longevity. Appliances look tatty and worn within a year and shelf edges in cupboards with the laminate peeling, and drawer runners getting loose.

I personally put an Ikea kitchen in my old house, paid £4K for it and sold it for £1500 thirteen years later. I now have a DIY kitchen with Hotpoint and Smeg appliances, daily heavy use and still looks new after 4 years.

Glass shattered loudly on the Lamona oven in our old place after about 3 years.