Howdens, has anyone got a howdens kitchen or experience with them?

[Lemonmelonsun]

I noticed their cabinets are a which best buy..

Oops pressed too hard soon however their pricing is not transparent and I don't like that.

I've just had one fitted, from pics, it looks great. The people who fitted it use them a lot.

Be careful with their variable pricing.

I've had 2 Howdens kitchens and very pleased with them. Our last one we had for 10 years and it was still going strong. We only got rid as it wouldn't fit in our new kitchen space.

Our current one is gorgeous, though we did get a quartz worktop from a local supplier rather than them.

The pricing system is a bit of a scam in my opinion. They won’t give you a price, rather the kitchen fitter orders your kitchen and you pay the fitter for fitting and the units. So you have no idea what you’re paying for fitting and what you’re paying for the units. Joiners with close connections to the local Howdens branch get the kitchen cheaper, but don’t necessarily pass that saving on to you.
I got my kitchen from B+Q, and it’s great quality. The carcasses are no different to Howdens, in fact my DD spent 3 x more than me and her cupboards are practically falling to pieces!
The important thing is to get yourself a great kitchen fitter - a poorly fitted expensive kitchen won’t last as well as a well fitted cheaper one.

Had mine 2 years and love it. Sourced my own handles. Got a really good fitter who was a carpenter and that makes all the difference.

I've had five Howdens kitchens fitted in houses I've renovated. Though I order it through my fitters account, I've always seen the invoice and paid Howdens directly. This was two different Howdens a hundred miles apart - it was totally transparent. I saw exactly what everything cost (with the discount), and could change things to suit my budget.
But the fitter is key. A crap fitter can ruin a good kitchen.

@Soontobe60

Do you mean her howdens kixthen is falling apart? Their rigid cabinets are a which best buy?

Just had a Howdens kitchen and I love it - however initial quote was c£10k, so I took the plan to DIY Kitchens, got them to match it which came up over £6k cheaper!

So I told Howdens I was going with DIY and lo and behold suddenly it was price matched.

I sacked my original builder though as he hadn't passed on any discount - the one I went with didn't take any cut at all and I paid what I'd haggled.

You'll need a builder who is upfront.

Mines shit

I bought the Clarke well

A lot of dents and dings and one of the sides was blown as soon as it looked at a kettle

They don’t give a shit either

Really good quality and service. I changed the design layout quite a bit. They were really easy to negotiate price with too

Don’t buy their Lamona appliances
They are utter utter shit

Our dishwasher leaked and warped the surrounding units so we had to get them replaced along with a new dishwasher

Saving £100 getting the own brand one instead of a Bosh one ended up costing us £400 to replace units on top of the dishwasher

The washing machine also died after a year

We've had a Howdens kitchen for 16 years. Happy with it. Our house is a new build, and it was what we could afford at the time. We went cheap for kitchen and bathrooms to try to keep build cost down and borrowings low as possible. We've paid off the mortgage now, and next summer will look at new kitchen.

P. S. Didn't have any Howdens appliances.

I went with Wren in the end. Solely because the catalogue didn't have any prices in it. I want to know how much it's going to cost me. Not how much discount my fitter can get, depending on the business he puts through them.

@HeartIess

Would you mind telling me which branch please, maybe pm me?. Don't the cabinet have guaranteed

We've had several Howdens kitchens. We've been happy with how they've lasted but would echo others above who say avoid their appliances, and compare the prices from your builder with other makes as on one occasion we didn't realise we'd paid over the odds for it!.

Depending on the branch manager you don't necessarily need a trade account for a quote.
They aren't turning work away at present. DH and I walked in, sat down with their kitchen designer and he forwarded a plan with a quote a week later.

We just had our Howdens Kitchen fitted.
I really like mine.

I agree about the variable price. We got ours through a friend and fitted it ourselves- it was cheaper than the usual DIY stores and better than our 14 year old Hombase Kitchen

Bought our Howdens kitchen , last year. Our builders recommended them, guy came round and we discussed what I needed in the kitchen he was very helpful about some aspects I wasn’t sure of.Builder fitted the kitchen and we have been very pleased only thing I would say is shop around for any electrical appliances oven microwave etc they are not competitive price wise for them. Can pm what area am in if you want.Hope it goes well

Had howdens around today so will see what they say...

Open a Howden’s trade account and then approach their kitchen fitting service. You will get the best prices & that is probably how Which did it.

If you’re looking for a cheap transparent pricing structure that doesn’t involve relying on doing all the design and measuring yourself, then approach Benchmarx. They, like Howdens, are trade only with a Kitchen Design Service but you can ask them to recommend a fitter too. They supply the kitchens at Wickes so you can treat Wickes as a showroom lol.

We have a Howdens kitchen. It's lovely, they were very good coming out and planning and pricing it. We went to their local office and they cut a bit off the price of the 'extras' like ovens etc. Our builder was the contact but we dealt direct with them for the most part.

They offer variable rates of discount depending on how much you spend with them, so just opening an account won't get you much of a discount. You're better off finding a builder or fitter you trust who'll have a higher one. Our builder had 80% discount with them (although we didn't go with Howdens in the end).

So basically I could literally phone 5 fitters and all get then to quote me, and each one will depend on the fitter discount they personally have

• I won't be getting any appliances off them at all.