How to find a good kitchen fitter?

[whataboutbob]

My rental flat’s kitchen is tired and needs replacing . My usual builder is so good he is booked up for months ahead. I have emailed a couple of firms I found on Which? Trusted traders. One has got back to me and mentioned he has a Howdens account. I realise Howdens are known for their less than transparent pricing structure. I’ll be meeting the kitchen fitter, so what should I look out for / what questions should I ask? I don’t want to be a patsy and end up paying a big mark up. I just want a well fitted, durable kitchen and to pay a fair price. Thanks for any advice re kitchen brands, finding good fitters and anything else kitchen related.

Good fitters will be booked up for this year already now.

Hi op, go to a few places and get a feel for the prices
Op thinks some of howdens fitters do a decent procedure, others not.
I have priced up my cabinets with DIY kitchen so I know what the basic price, also ikea do fabulous kitchens and some are which rated, they have in house fitters.
I'd have gone for it but we would have lost some room I'd definitely recommend ikea for them plan and again extremely reasonable price

As it's a rental I'd go for a kitchen that has a supplier in your town, so if a cabinet door comes off or you want to replace just one part then it's relatively close at hand.

As for fitters, go for recommendations via Facebook etc. Or ask your current builder who he rates. Just to note we booked our friend in to replace our kitchen in October, back in June so there's likely to be a bit of a wait.

Wait for the fitter you know and trust

I would say word of mouth. Failing that, is there a local Facebook board you can ask on? Then check out whoever gets suggested. We got went with a shop on our small high street and got really burnt, they went bust mid kitchen fit, left us with no kitchen, wonky floors, unsafe electrics. I felt sorry for them until I found out the guy has done this before, 4 times! He has since reopened under another name. The chap who rescued us was recommended to me by my mum. Word of mouth all the way for me now. I've booked a builder that a friend recommended starting next week, I asked my friends on Facebook.

Oh and I wish I'd gone with a Howden kitchen, ours was something called Loch Anna, it's 4yrs old and has loads wrong with it. We've had 4 doors replaced under warranty and could do with more swapping. Howdens is a known entity and easy to source.

I’ve had about six Howdens fitted in investment properties using a couple different fitters. I’ve always gone in person to Howdens and paid them myself (builder orders it on their account but I see the invoice and pay direct). Last one the fitter was atrocious and it had to be done twice, but the kitchen itself is lovely.
Definitely go with a real person recommendation- I don’t trust checkatrade (or similar) since a plumber I had to order off site for dangerous incompetence had nothing but five star ratings on it.

Thanks everyone for your great recommendations. I was thinking along the same lines but it’s good to have your ideas validated. I totally agree about check a trade, there’s no due diligence whatsoever in there, I know incompetents get their mates to post 5 star reviews. Very luckily for me, my kitchen fitter/ builder has got back to me and will be available from October, I’m going to suck up the lost rent and take time to do a full renovation. He usually goes with IKEA which is fine by me. The student market is pretty much decimated in my city so I may decide to remarket to families/ professional sharers.

Orange, word of caution, face book is full of shady dubious liars too often asked recently on our fb pages locally and several people's private messages me to say avoid x.

He's a rouge trader 🙄. I try and use check a trade and cross reference etc.

Op ikea has a very very good which rating, totally transparent pricing system and the kitchen itself is extremely clever.
They have good customer reviews on howdens also.
It does amaze me how they howdens pr machine works!

@Panickingpavlova yeah I know. The chap I've booked was recommended to me by a friend, I put a question does anyone know anyone on my own page and had a few suggestions that way. Not an open page.