New kitchen

[mightyducks]

I’m after a new kitchen in the new year , have always thought I would use Howden’s but have found the customer service I’ve received to date appallingly so not keen now to shell out a signature sum with them. Mentioned a few other places like Wren and B&Q but all I hear are horror stories- where can I get a good quality kitchen with good customer service apart from Howdens?

Ikea.

I've gone with Howdens and the customer service has been excellent, so I suspect it must vary considerably between branches. Is there another branch you could try that isn't too far away?

Other than that, a lot of people rate DIY Kitchens. Or is there a local independent kitchen company with good reviews?

Benchmarx, trade arm of WIckes, anyone can use them, you might need to get a builder/fitter to sign off the order.

I got mine from DIY Kitchens about 8 years ago!

Still looks great no problems at all! Lots of choice and the sale is on!

www.diy-kitchens.com/kitchens/

DIY kitchens for sure. We've got a bespoke colour painted one for a great price and we can't fault it. Brilliant customer service too, the showroom is well worth a visit

I had a new kitchen from Wren earlier this year, customer service was great and the quality of the kitchen was fab.
I didn't use them for fitting though, when researching it seems to be the fitting that people complain about.

Magnets or ikea.

Another vote for DIY kitchens- great prices and customer service.

Totally recommend Wickes.

I was happy initially with my Wren kitchen, but after 2 years it was falling apart. I don’t how much if that was down to the local fitters though. Replaced with Benchmarx and it still looked amazing 3 years later when we moved. House we’re in now came with a Wren kitchen, and it’s great, despite being at least 5 years old!

I recommend Magnet, we have had ours 2 years now, we had no issues with service, couldn't do enough for us. My parents are having Thiers done in the new year & going with them to

Our kitchen renovation starts in a week! We've gone for DIY kitchens after a lot of research. I really didn't like the mystery surrounding Howdens prices.

Schmitt. Comparable to Wren on price but the quality is fantastic. SIL had Wren at the same time and you can really see the difference.

We've just bought two kitchens from DIY Kitchens - one for us and one for DM.

I've never bought a kitchen before so I asked the most ridiculous, inane questions and their customer service team were unbelievably patient and helpful in explaining everything. Repeatedly!

The kitchens are nearly fitted here now - our carpenter and builder had never heard of DIY Kitchens before but they're both extremely impressed with the quality. Our builder says he's ordering from DIYK when he gets his next kitchen!

Fantastic choice, brilliant customer service and excellent quality - independent comparisons usually put the quality of DIYK above Magnet, Wren and Howdens.

The only grumble I've had so far is that you get a two-day window for delivery that doesn't get narrowed down until the afternoon before. But that's a minor thing, and the only thing I could complain about! I wouldn't bother looking elsewhere next time - I'd just go straight back to DIYK.

Wren were good for my daughter’s kitchen. I think it’s a bit hit and miss though depending on the quality of the fitters they allocate.

Ideally you would find your own fitters but she couldn’t get anyone to even quote hence eventually going with a big company like Wren.

We are renovating a derelict property, so had lots of advice from various tradesmen. They said to avoid wren and magnet! Our neighbour had a Howdens installed at the same time. Various parts weren't delivered and it took weeks for the correct bits to arrive! They went for a handle free type, and hate it! The lower cupboards/drawers need to be pressed it- to make them come out. Apparently you need to push quite hard and they really regret their choice.

Our carpenter recommended an independent kitchen supplier. He had a massive range of kitchens to choose from, doors, handles etc etc. We found the identical door design for 1/3 the price of an independent store nearby!

Getting a good fitter is half the battle too. Our carpenter put it in and did a fabulous job. Our neighbours fitter walk out half way through, as couldn't stand the 'quality' of their howdens one.

We used an independent company which was about £200 more than buying from one of the big companies but as you're spending thousands it was a relatively small difference. We used a fitter recommended by our builder. This isn't very helpful to you OP but do you have anyone local you can ask about independents? This was nearly six years ago and we're still happy with it.

When I had the kitchen replaced in my old house about twenty years ago the builder there said fitting is the really important thing other than making sure things were 18mm thick as at that point you could buy 15mm thickness. Don't know if 15mm is still a thing? That kitchen lasted well too.

Thanks all, some great food for thought and lots of companies to explore now

Used DIY multiple times for our house and rentals. They are consistently high quality and better than Wren and Howdens (although they are acceptable)

Wren are bloody awful on service and have the stupid silly moving prices depending on ordering in the day. DIY it is a set consistent price except for odd sales which is clear and on the website

We're going with DIY-Kitchens too. We had a quote from an independent kitchen place for £35k, a quote from Wickes for £28k and a quote from Howdens of £22k. I won't go with Howdens as you don't know if you're getting the best price from them, as each builder seems to get a different price. And I'm damned if I'm paying Wickes £28k for a flatpack kitchen!

The DIY-Kitchens one is just over £12k, although this doesn't include the quartz worktop, which I'm allowing another £2k for. DIY quote includes a tall fridge, a tall freezer and a Quooker tap. From memory, the other quotes didn't include any appliances.

Have a look on YouTube for Nick Morris. He has done a comparison between Wren, Wickes, Magnet, Howdens and DIY, where he bought the exact same units from each manufacturer, and compared them for packaging, delivery, ease of fitting, quality etc. DIY came out top on almost everything.

I have used B&Q and homebase units before and both were fine. No issues with how they fit or durability. I have never lived anywhere high end, so all formica.

The thing with DIY Kitchens is that you can sit there of an evening going over and over your plan. Moving things around, trying options. You'd never do that with a Howdens, etc. You'd get your design meeting, and that would be that. I did a design meeting with Howdens, was perfectly happy with it, but then worked out other options with DIY Kitchens in my own time. What I ended up with from DIY Kitchens was far superior in terms of final layout.

We've just done a kitchen with Wren. The units are good quality, and the design was fabulous. But we used our own builders for fitting, and the guys who came to do the quartz said that Wren have massive issues with retaining fitters.
Lots of the doors were damaged on delivery, and the Wren app did make it totally painless to get replacements free of charge