Magnet or Howdens

[Guineapiggiesmalls]

We are finally at the stage of buying a kitchen after months of reno hell, and have found what we’d like (solid timber, paint to order) in both Magnet & Howdens for a similar price. Has anyone experience of both/either and can poke me towards the better supplier?

I’d go with Howdens but I think they only supply to Trade.

We have a Howdens kitchen and are very pleased with it. Our builder had to order it but they gave him a good discount

Neither. Magnet are extortionate and Howdens are a rip off - your builder will like them because they get a sizeable cut (trade only, so you have no pricing transparency). You can get better quality for less, but your builder may find all kinds of reasons to not use another supplier (see above re: the cut they get).

We used IKEA for our first kitchen and went with their complete installation service. The kitchen was amazing and far better quality than one that cost 5x as much in a house we moved to later.

DIY kitchens also gets a a good reputation on here. Do you have any good independent shops locally? Otherwise I’d go for Howdens if no choice because they’ll probably be cheaper than Magnet. Avoid their appliances though and buy your own from a name you trust (Bosch etc)

(PS: Guinea pigs are awesome 🤩)

Don't use Magnet! They want full payment up front and are very very reluctant to rectify their mistakes. We used them and what should have been a 3 week installation took 16 weeks (we were without sink, oven or hob for 12 of those weeks). Never again!

Avoid Magnet. Horrendous company - they completely screwed up our project. Their fitters were the most unprofessional tradesmen I’ve come across - to the point we had to ask one of them to leave. We pulled out of the fitting contract last minute and used someone else. When we complained, their store manager was rude and was having none of it. He just shouted over me - we went to the ombudsman.

That said, the actual units are good quality (we had the top range ones) and we negotiated them down considerably on the appliances. We also set up a trade account and got 10% off.

If you look around and ask builders, you can probably get them made to measure by a local kitchen fitter / builder

Magnet's after sales service was diabolical.
There was an issue with doors and what was a 5 minute job took months and months to be eventually rectified.
I'd never use Magnet again.
And we had to pay up front.
The kitchen is nice tbf.

I used Benchmarx, to throw another into the mix - trade only like Howdens, and owned (I think) by Travis Perkins. Identical kitchen to Howdens was c£1k cheaper (£5k vs £6k for context).

My kitchen fitter had a Benchmarx kitchen in his own house, so another good reason!

Ditch both and go with DIY Kitchens.

This! Ten times over!

I don't have any experience with magnet but my mum recently got hers from Howdens, they shopped around alot and found Howdens to have the most choice and best prices.

If howdens is coming out at the same price as magnet you are being ripped off by someone as it is meant to be trade prices. I got a kitchen from diy kitchens recently and it is beautiful.

Benchmarx are the same kitchens as Wickes, just sold ready assembled whereas Wickes the cabinets need to be put together.

A lot depends on your local branch. Our local Magnet was useless, made
mistakes in design thanks to not listening (of the scale of ignoring a window!). Wickes had the most helpful designer. Howdens designer both times (two houses!) was not great but we did go with them the second time as our builder got a good discount.

I used Magnet. The kitchen cupboards and worktop were good but the experience was unpleasant. The design included products that were completely superfluous but I was unable to return eg: end panels costing in excess of £500. Communication with the customer was terrible eg: warning of Christmas closures and change of payment date with 24 hrs notice to pay the balance. Worst of all, a bullying and rude manager at the Holloway Rd branch who was unable to apologise for any company errors, let alone sort them out. He just left me shaking. The experience was very unpleasant.

I'm not alone so.
The kitchen is lovely and has lasted but the experience was dreadful.
They had me in tears and the woman on their helpline agreed I had been treated so badly.
That was years ago.
But I wouldn't use them again.

We had a good experience with Howdens but obviously it's really the skill of the fitter that counts most.

Our fitters asked us to use Howdens because if there is an issue with any unit or door they can get a new one same day from the depot whereas with most of the others you have to order a replacement which can take weeks (they were friends of DH so we completely trusted them and we paid Howdens ourselves using their account to get the discount).

How did you go about ordering from DIY kitchens? I have heard good things about them but I can’t do the design myself. I need someone to draw it up and advise. Same problem with the bathroom.

If you're nervous about doing the design yourself, you can engage an independent kitchen designer to do it for you. A lot of them work remotely. There's a very active Facebook group dedicated to DIY Kitchens that is well worth a look.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/381845813632207/?ref=share