Howdens

[timeforanewkitchen]

Howdens have been out and drawn up floor plans for our new kitchen.

They've asked me what integrated appliances I want and I asked them if they could give me a price list for the different brands. They've said they don't have one so can't give me that information.

How can I buy something unless I know the price? It would appear they just want to give a price for the whole job. That stops me shopping around.

Obviously the way round it is to ask them to price up without appliances and then change my mind and go back and ask for a price with appliances!

I've read something online about builders being given two invoices from Howdens. Their one and then a more expensive one to give to the customer (me). Is that true and is it the reason builders seem to favour Howdens or is it because of the ease and quality?

I'm starting to have my doubts as it feels a bit under hand.

I'm in London so have lots of alternative companies that I can go to.

Can anyone shed any light please?

Howden are a trade only company. They will expect your fitter to buy from them as per your design. What you've said about the invoice is an urban myth. There's Jo reason your fitter would give you the materials invoice as you're just paying them for the whole job.

No reason.

Thanks.

I've no real problem even if they did give my builder a different price as everyone marks things up. It's then my decision if I go ahead or not.

What has rattled me is the fact that they aren't prepared to tell me how much appliances cost, so I can't pick between what they sell.

Because they are a trade company, they do like to do it as an all in price.

We have got around this by setting up an account with them, we were doing a massive renovation. We then asked the rep for itemised accounts, they hate doing it, but will do if you insist.
we then pay fitter for labour.

Theres usually a 70% discount to trade. But the ‘retail price’ is fairly academic. In general the discounted price brings it into line with similar quality cabinetry.

I personally don’t rate their appliances and have previously brought my own to be fitted. However the sales rep sometimes will offer something free to encourage you to buy the whole kitchen.

We've just had a design / quote from Howdens and the quote was itemised, so it listed all the suggested appliances. This included a Howdens item number and brief description e.g. Bosch dishwasher, but if you search for the item number on the Howdens website, it will tell you the full product name and model number, which you can then google separately. For the ones they gave us on the original quote (all Bosch), the Howdens price was about 10% cheaper than elsewhere including John Lewis, which was nice to see.

I agree giving a full price list would be easier though when you're comparing products!

I've read something online about builders being given two invoices from Howdens. Their one and then a more expensive one to give to the customer (me). Is that true and is it the reason builders seem to favour Howdens or is it because of the ease and quality?

That is true yes and it's not just Howdens that do that. They also often give the builder say £500-£1000 credit on their account. There no prices as such. They're made up as they go along.

I got my kitchen from Benchmarx who are also trade only. However they let me order directly and pay them directly.

I’d go to MKM I have a trade account but they sell to the public as well and they are really helpful

I refuse to use howdens after they refused to give me a trade account

That emus exactly why I went with Wren. As I wanted to know the exact prices. Wren were very good.

This is work related for me and my advice to you is this avoid Howdens. They are shambolic when it comes to their pricing.
The “discount” is a made up figure, even for trades that hold an account. Two separate branches of Howdens, same spec, 2.5k difference on the quotes!
Get down to Benchmarx, proper advice and service.

We are in the process of buying a Howdens kitchen. They send an itemised quote to you or your fitter once the design has been done. It will list the price of any appliances etc... You can tweak it as much as you want if you think something is not suitable for whatever reason.

Howdens appliances aren’t brilliant, most people choose their own. So just ask for a quote without.

Ask for a quote with and a quote without. I believe they charge more in London, less up north.

I have Howdens appliances and they are so much better than the well known brands. My dishwasher is far better than the top of the range Neff one I had before. I love that there are no horrendous flat packs to assemble and this also saves a fitter's time, so cheaper in the long run.

Get your design priced up with DIY Kitchens, order from them and get a fitter to fit it. The quality is excellent and they are much cheaper. Units are supplied rigid so you need storage space if there's a wait for fitting.

They only have one showroom though, near Pontefract. Lots of MNrs have had kitchens from them, including me. Two of my friends bought from DIY after seeing our kitchen and finding out how much cheaper they are.

My preference is Magnet. I didn’t see the cost of the appliances but the advisors are very open about the relative costs. We ended up going 100% AEG and I requested the most highly rated (energy efficient) options.

I have Howdens kitchen and some appliances. All I can say is the lamona brand (Howdens own) have not had any issues whereas the well known named brands have been troublesome. Howdens were really good at swapping and changing items during the fitting process and we're flexible. It helped that our fitted was brilliant, quick, clean and really knew what he was doing. You also get a 3 year warranty on Lamona goods. Our brand named appliances don't have this offered and we've had issue.

I was just about to say that they probably can only price for their own brand - which I've had in the past and had absolutely no issues with.