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

[Lemonmelonsun]

I noticed their cabinets are a which best buy..

@Lemonmelonsun

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

That's what our builder told us. Could have been bullshit of course but he was generally trustworthy.

Agree with a pp about the fitting.
I got a Howdens kitchen 2 years ago, already crap and falling apart. But I know it was fitted poorly and that’s why. The builder was such a cowboy I have no recourse!

Fizzy tango, but surely its a builder you got through them?

Also I thought their stuff has 25 year guarantee?

I too had a lovely lady from Howdens round today to design a kitchen for me. Just got to wait for the price to come in.

I've just received my quote from Howdens and it is extremely detailed, right down to the cost of the cutlery trays and brackets.

My builder said we could go with anyone we chose and he'd fit it, but he is personally very happy to fit Howden's kitchens as they are good in his opinion.

@FuzzyPuffling were you happy with the quote? More than you thought etc? That's the annoying thing about not seeing prices. Will just have to wait until my fitter sends me the price
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Has anyone got Lamona extractor or tap? These are the only Lamona appliances we included in our kitchen. Is it better to replace with another make?
We are going with Clerkenwell gloss because their designer kept saying gloss is easier to look after. Hockley is another range that have gloss option but they have aluminum bars inside cabinets which do not look safe for a child.

@Lily7050

I would honestly avoid anything and everything Lamona
It’s all super budget crap and it WILL break
A dodgy extractor I could probably deal with, but no way on earth would I risk a massive water leak to save a few quid on a tap, especially when proper tap makes are so cheap anyway

Lamona is awful, just awful. Avoid.
We've had bad experiences with Howdens staff and designers, they just weren't getting anything right and weren't good at customer service. It really depends on the branch I would say. I didn't like their pricing strategy either.

But they were the only provider making the kitchen we liked so we went for it. It's been installed and it looks very good (we used our own fitters). I find the cabinets appear more sturdy and spacious than Wren we had previously (although Wren's service was MUCH better). We used our own carpenter/fitter. I'll tell you in a year or two how the kitchen is doing!

mummymayhem18 the quote came in quite a bit lower than the fitter thought it would be, but I'm using my own ( vintage) butchers block, not their island, so that would make a difference.
They also offered a few "specials"... a couple of appliances almost free ( like a Neff oven for under a tenner) and free delivery.

Oh, and I'm sourcing my own induction hob as I want a white one and they don't do them.

We love ours. I wanted diy kitchens but our builder, who is great and we really wanted, wasn't keen and wanted Howdens so we also got them to price match. Their initial quote was ridiculous compared to what we actually paid so it's a bit confusing. We only got the kitchen though, we went elsewhere for worktops and appliances.

How did you manage to knock them down on things as we never get to see the price just what our fitter quotes is for everything.

I got a clear, itemised quote from our Howdens chap. At the same time as we got it, he sent it on to the builder for him to add fitting costs, and the extra twiddly bits I've requested, like a slate windowsill. And the knocking down a wall bit!

Mummy, you need too work out from the cheapest place eg diy kitchen what it would be cost.
Then you know you can't order x from DIY and x price, so you know what the rough price of the kixthen...

We went to magnet and DIY used their design to quote from

I also wouldn't touch lamona stuff... If we go with DIY I will be getting my own oven and studying which etc

Kezzle someone's else said they got them down by 6 grand.

My Howden man was saying how expensive drawers are etc.. I hope I made it clear I didn't want any messing around re quotes and I've already seen so many other places.

I'm not in the mood for messing around . I watched this u tube clip from one of the many kitchen threads on here and this guy went to lots of places asking for quotes on the same kitchen and compared them all in detail, he said howdens annoyed him because they had the worst sales pitch and tried to charge him thousands and thousands mote than the kitchen was worth and even when this u tube guy was like come on this is ridiculous... They kept the price and eventually came down

Our Howdens kitchen has been in 20 years and only just starting to show signs of wear.

The oven and fridge freezer both packed up during lockdown (inconvenient!) and other than that there are a few bits that are looking a bit tired but structurally it's been solid.

My advice is to find a carpenter who has an account with them and get them to order and fit it. Chances are if the carpenter uses them lots you'll get extras thrown in as well as a good price.

We were also told drawers and soft close fittings would rack up the additional £££s and the fitter and Howdens rep REALLY pushed the Lamona appliances. They had terrible reviews so we stuck to our guns and bought them elsewhere. The fitter kept saying that if they broke they wouldn't even repair and just send new ones out. He seemed pretty experienced in this to the point it convinced us NOT to buy them. We got someone on the phone who presumably hadnt had the 'don't quote the costs' memo
They priced up some branded ones for us and it was ALL cheaper in John Lewis...

Complete this is Joe they try and market themselves.. Ie "use a fitter with an account and you'll get a good deal.."... It's not that simple.

I know now if they give me a gold deal because I'll have quotes to compare with.. He tried to say.. "your b and q, homebase etc are all flat pack.."... Which costs more time for the fitter...

I'm interested to see see what they come up back with if they do at all as I hope I made it clear I'm armed with quotes.

Geller that sounds utterly appalling it was all cheaper in John Lewis!! How ridiculous, how do they think they can get away with it when we can talk, compare and look up Internet prices!!

Are their cabinets any good I wonder? What if they sold us x but actually gave us b.. We wouldn't even know.

I actually don’t like Howdens. We have a DIY kitchen and because of some ridiculous ordering errors (mine) we ended up with a Howdens base unit mixed in with the others. It is just not as good quality. I much prefer the DIY stuff.

I had a not great experience with them. They decided 3 weeks before delivery that they needed to deliver the next day or were upping the price? WTF???

My units are pretty crap, haven't lasted and like a PP the one by the kettle has blown. Wouldn't ever darken their door again.

If it helps you my friend has a Wren kitchen which is basically sound but many bits arrived damaged and it took weeks to replace meaning their fitters had gone to another job elsewhere by then. The customer service was beyond appalling apparently.

And as I understand it the Howdens cabinets are a standard carcass with a choice of door and side styles. We wanted the extra height ones that fit flush to the ceiling like our previous kitchen but the price was a huge difference.