Howdens or Handmade kitchens of Christchurch?

[mogernator]

Any advice on which to go for?! I've got the sale price for a HKOC kitchen quote but need to lock it down within a couple of weeks otherwise it's not valid. But also narrowed it down to Howdens plus custom front doors, probably from Naked Kitchens. Meaning both quotes will probably be around the same price - £15k ish. Is it a pain painting the HKOC doors? Are they significantly better quality? In my mind I'd like limed oak and sagey green cupboards. I could do this with howdens/custom doors but HKOC only seem to offer one shaker style, with obviously different paint and handle options. Going to see HKOC this weekend. And will do the same with Naked Kitchens next week, then have to decide!

We went with HMKOC. I love it and I wouldn’t change it but it was a loooong process. Delivery was 9 months(2022). We weren’t quite ready for it (big building work) so when it was delivered we were still painting and plastering so the doors all swelled up and we had to wait ages for it all to shrink back. Some of the doors warped (they were great about replacements) so that was another delay. Don’t even get me started on the painting! That nearly drove me insane and we ended up paying a decorator to finish it.
But despite the pain (and some of it was our own fault re building work not being finished on time) I love it. It makes me happy every time I walk into the kitchen!
if you are just replacing a kitchen and not doing loads of renovations it’s probably a much easier process. I’m not trying to put you off… just a warning that if what you want is a quick turnaround then you might be better with Howdens. I love the painted finish though.

HMKC are wooden doors but the boxes are not solid wood. There is more than one style of door but they are all fairly similar.

The painting is costly but I would say the quality is far superior to Howdens.

However they always seem to have a sale on so don't let that rush you

HMKC! I dont even think they’re comparable with Howdens in terms of quality. We had HMKC installed in our last property, as did my parents in their house- both beautiful kitchens. We painted the units ourselves, it was a pain but they look so good. My parents must have had the kitchen installed in 2010? It’s worn brilliantly. They’ve repainted the island a few times when trends have changed and that’s easy to do, not sure you’d be able to do that with Howdens. We have since bought a house with a DeVol kitchen- personally I prefer my old HMKC!

ah sorry for the late reply. Ok great that's good to know. I think my main issue is HMKOC look quite traditional versus the more contemporary custom door type fit. I guess just need to decide what look to go for!