Kitchen confusion: Howdens v others....

[Mumofboys2006]

I just did a really long post, which disappeared! So, here we go again:
We are getting a new kitchen after our Magnet kitchen of 15 years has reached the end of its life!

So, I have a design from Howdens, which I'm happy with it. It's their Hockley range. Just worried about the very mixed reviews about them!

Had an Ikea design appointment and was very underwhelmed by their range and the design - nothing fits neatly and it's just bleurgh.

Wrens seems popular with builders but keep hearing the customer service is poor.

I know DIY is popular here, but I am really not getting on with the planner and honestly don't like the thought of ordering everything online. Wondering, will they take my Howdens design and just quote me on that?

Sorry for waffling on, My budget is under £10k for a medium or largish kitchen. I'm just after useful opinions please.

Most units are in one long line except for an island and a breakfast bar.

If I had the money I would definitely go with a German kitchen, but really not sure how much longer we'll live here...so don't want to build my 'dream kitchen' only to sell the house 2 years later....

All thoughts welcomed!

I used to rate DIY kitchens but my most recent kitchen (ordered this year) has had significantly poorer quality control than previous kitchens I’ve had from them. If you do go with DIY, order it to arrive a couple of weeks before fitting and unwrap everything well in advance to inspect. I’m ok with a couple of paint chips/touch ups and have a good experience previously but getting on for half of our units were flawed one way or another.

Our Howden's kitchen went in 12 years ago today. And looks as good as new. We didn't get appliances or worktops from them, but all the units are in perfect condition.

Thanks all. Just playing around with the DIY kitchen planner.
Hoping to get a Benchmarx quote too to compare.
Thanks so much for all this advice - so useful!

Update: I just spent about an hour in our local Benchmark, with the best designer. He really wanted to know about how we used the kitchen, what I needed, and completely redesigned the Howdens design into what will be a much better one hopefully.
I'm super pleased.

Highly recommend, if anyone wants his details please message me. I honestly feel like he made the time, and he's not rushing, just taking his time explaining everything.

Our kitchen is from BuildBase along the Shaker style and livened up with colourful vinyl in the inlaid parts or frosting vinyl on glass doors.

We had a very reliable builder and have had no issues with the installation. Our worktops (quartz) we bought separately but all trades worked together really well.

Thanks all for this, and sorry for not responding earlier.

Just thought it might be useful to say that we went with the Howdens Clerkenwell range. After going to Wren, who gave us a really competitive quote, I then went back to Howdens and they price-matched which was brilliant.

Benchmarx the designer was fab - actually the best - but his quote was about £6k more than Howdens.

Have you looked at Leicht.

So they are German but the lower end of pricing, if you are clever with specifications you can get everything in on your budgets.

So units stick to standard no fancy stuff, worktops you can get free if you use their own range, they even offer on sinks etc as they want you to use their ranges.

If you go for your own fridge, dishwashers etc from standard places like AO you just give leicht the serial numbers and they match the units to your items, that's where you save a fortune.

Cut out on all the lights and just buy the LED strips online etc, buy your draw divides on Amazon.

We have a huge kitchen a long run of 10 units, massive over 3m island and it was all in under 18k so what you are describing.

So it can be done. You end up with a beautifully built germs kitchen for howdens prices.

Just google suppliers that specify those kitchens and you maybe surprised.

Arhhh helps if I read your update!

Maybe my advice will help someone else 👍