Kitchen quotes - haggling with Howdens

[Hitomi]

Hi, I'm planning to get my kitchen redecorated - mainly to replace the units and worktopsI'm keeping my existing freestanding appliances (but replacing cooker hood).

I got four quotes from different suppliers and so far narrowed it down to Howdens or Magnet. (Other options were Wren, who I said no to because I wasn't massively keen on their design and also found them far too aggressive in their sales approach! The other one was a local supplier who did a beautiful design but was miles out of my budget)

Howdens have so far quoted just over £5.5k for a mid-range kitchen (11 units, laminate worktop and backboard/upstands, sink, tap, canopy cooker hood). Magnet's quote is about a grand higher and I'm also slightly less keen on their design as they don't seem to have all the unit options/sizes and worktop style that I'm looking for. However I'm still keeping them in the running for now as I do really like door/unit style.

The estimate from Howdens is 'ok' but a little higher than what I had budgeted, and so am wondering the best ways to try and haggle down, as I would prefer to invest more in a decent fitter. I'm aware about flatpack being cheaper (and that this would add extra to my fitter's costs).

I sent the item breakdown to DIY Kitchens to request a like-for-like quote, and theirs has come out about £2,500 cheaper! So I'm thinking of trying to ask Howdens to do a price match, but not sure if trying to get them down by that much is an unrealistic ask...??

I've got a follow up appointment with Howdens and wondering whether to take the DIY quote to discuss with them in person, or just email it to them in advance of seeing them?

Am also wondering if others have had much success with getting Howdens to price match with DIY Kitchens, or have any other tips on other ways to try and get the price down please?!

Thanks in advance :-)

I get that about not viewing but tbh there are limited numbers of kitchen component manufacturers out there. All use same hinges and draw runners etc. all use similar materials. DIY is the customer facing unit of a company called Ultima who sell to other retailers. It’s a fantastic company.

we bought blind and do not regret.

We found our local Howdens a real pain to deal with - their initial quote (directly to our builder) was so high that even the builder was ; we spent a whole hour in store going through it with a salesman who 'couldn't' bring it down further, but did offer us discounts on stuff we hadn't asked for and didn't want.

I sent the plan to DIY Kitchens who came back with a quote for a very similiar kitchen that was £3k less, and I found the exact same appliances on Boots Appliances for £1k less. I had to deal directly with the quartz worktop supplier DIY Kitchens use but they were really helpful and efficient too. Ended up with a cheaper kitchen, with better appliances, and the builders said it was no bother at all to fit.

Thanks @MiniCooperLover I hadn't considered Benchmarx when I was first arranging consultations with all the others as I hadn't heard of them before (which makes sense as they're trade only), and I'm not sure I can handle the stress of starting another design consultation process again lol.

But I have emailed them asking if they're able to provide a rough quote based on the initial design/item listing I have, and see what they reply with...

I've found Howdens ok to deal with so far, not sure if this is because I've been able to discuss things directly with the designer as opposed to going through the tradesman each time. I'm just wary of the whole opaque pricing approach.

I too recently came across Boots Appliances!! I'm not planning to get any new appliances this time around (apart from cooker hood) but will definitely be heading to their site when I do - I like the bonus of being able to collect Boots points haha.

That's reassuring to hear @Peekingovertheparapet, I think it just makes me a bit nervous because it's a lot of money to be spending on something I haven't physically seen (even if alot of it is all the same as others), it's just that peace of mind thing I guess?!

I bought out dig kitchen blinded, too, and just ordered everything that Howdens specified. My dad has a trade account with Howdens so I got the uninflated price and DIY was significantly cheaper.

the quality is excellent but I have nothing to compare it with!

Benchmark are quite good, they are part of the Travis Perkins builders merchant group.

We bought diy blind too and wouldn't have a kitchen from anywhere else unless paying top money - the money we saved meant we had a custom colour, wood fronts and quartz worktop - we have just ordered another for a new house

When are you getting the kitchen done?

Howdens will knock off 20% usually in September & October if you can hold out

Do Howdens deliver units ready built? If you use DIY kitchens, work out how much you will save in your fitter not having to build the units.

That's a great video ,thank you summer

Howdens do an annual sale, month of October. (Last year they did an extra month)

if you can hold fire, they will do a better discount in their sale month. Also, I’ve known them to agree to this well in advance advance.

the discount mor in howdens is great, just depends if they are needing your sale to make extra bonus or target.

one thing is though, check their carcasses for being square, I had a couple of carcasses which were bowed once.

Thanks, it's interesting and reassuring to see so many people have bought from DIY Kitchens with positive results. Did your fitter help with double checking measurements and that you had everything needed in your order etc? (Or did you just fit everything yourself?) I definitely need a fitter to install for me!

Probably not until later this year so yes I'd be able to hold out til then, so could find out about sale offers

Yes Howdens offer both ready built and flatpack options, I've been asking for both quotes for now for comparison, to factor in additional fitter costs of building etc

thanks, lots of people have been mentioning about this Howdens annual sale, I'm definitely going to ask about this to see what can be offered..! Ah good tip about the carcasses, thank you...

We did it ourselves other than the worktops which need to be professionally installed - as far as kitchens go it's easy as they come ready built so as long as you have straight walls and floor it's straight forward (so the husband says anyway) - picture below

Our Sales guy was pretty awful though and honestly didn’t seem particularly bothered if we went with them or not. We have friends who bought from a different branch and had a great experience

So your definition of awful is not giving you a huge discount?

They sound like the ideal sales person to me.

"The price is x and that is the final price. Take it or leave it.

Honest pricing strategy and non pushy. Perfect!

You can never, ever use the words "honest pricing" with Howdens. The pricing they use is laughable. We got quoted £340 for a 400mm wall cabinet minus the door! There was no consistency as a 500mm wall unit was quoted at £84. I hate there opaque pricing and the collusion between then and the fitter. Our fitter is also a good friend and he showed me what offers he got for buying the kitchen. He got offered a free makita radio, a gift voucher and something else if he got us to buy. He would have given us the kitchen at what he paid for it from Howdens, but DIY were still about £800 cheaper (we have a very small kitchen) and we got better internal fitments for that as well on the cupboards.

We bought blind from DIY. I knew I wanted a white shaker so it was very easy. The quality of DIY is way above Howdens as the doors are thicker and the backboards are thicker.

I refuse to deal with any company that isn't transparent about pricing, or who tries to overcharge, then drops the price only if you lean on them. In other words, they are quite willing to fleece you if they can gt away with it, which is particularly hard on people who are vulnerable. I hate that kind of way of doing business, and won't be part of it it whetever the product is.

It's also an indicator that they have no respect for their customers, so if there is a problem down the line, I wouldn't expect them to behave well about that either.

£340?? heck. We got 2 top-quality and much larger carcasses (a 600 base unit and a 600 x 900 wall unit) hand-built (with a specific carcass material he had to buy in to match our old ones which was not easy to find) for about that. And they were beautifully finished off with carefully rounded-off wood edging strips as well.

We had a Howdens kitchen. The doors were in-frame and they were the pre built units so weren't a cheap end option. I was disappointed with both the quality and service of Howdens. They sent multiple wrong items - a drawer front that was a completely different width to the drawer, that kind of thing. It was an endless saga culminating in one of their sales managers driving to our house on his way home one night with multiple replacements for wrong and missing items.

They were utterly useless and I'd never use them again. The kitchen was ok, but the end panels all split at the bottom from (occasional!) mopping. Not worth it imo.

They just try it on. If you looked at their official price list no one would ever ever buy from them as they prices are a joke. I think our kitchen at their listed official prices was something like 14k (it's a teeny tiny kitchen) (just the kitchen not any appliances!) And then it came down to 5k with all the discounts they could do.

We paid 4200 with DIY, the price you see is what you pay and I do business like that. We got a better kitchen for a lot less.

Howdens pricing is very opaque. We had quotes for almost the same kitchen from 2 builders using 2 different branches of Howdens vastly different quotes. The difference was literally whether we would have the corner base unit to the left of the sink or the right. Both builders claimed different discount rates from Howdens. The builder we went with was OK with both Howdens and DIY. But we ultimately went with Howdens because price wad comparable and the builder arranged to collect the materials and bring over. Also Howdens have everything in stock, so if something is damaged, they were confident of providing a replacement immediately.

Everything has gone up so much, we bought a kitchen a year ago, bought another one this week, smaller property, kitchens cost the same, same supplier.