Howdens designer talking rubbish

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We are planning to have a new kitchen in the next couple of months.
Last kitchen was fitted by an amazing kitchen fitter, he lives near my parents and I went to school with him and his buddy (who's an electrician). His work is impeccable and he's well know locally for his carpentry skills.

We've had a Wren quote and our fitter suggested that we get a Howdens quote too and the designer came out yesterday.

I know my fitter prefers Howdens (I presume he gets discount/kickback ) but our last kitchen was a Wicks one and all was fine.

The Howdens guy started measuring up and when I said I'd had a Wren quote too, for comparison he said " oooo S won't fit a Wren kitchen," I just laughed at him and said "actually he'll fit any kitchen I want as I'll be paying him!"

Does he think I'm stupid? Straight away he annoyed me.

I hate salesman like this, puts me off buying from them.
we had a Howdens kitchen fitted in June of this year, it’s great, I have zero complaints. Went with matt navy blue (possibly officially called midnight blue) it looks lovely and very easy to keep clean.

We went for Howden and I wasn't hugely impressed. The designer was useless and I found the range a bit limited once I'd ruled out pained units and glossy ones. We chose a mid range but the basic range for the utility room - and the basic one is nicer imo.

Probably not helped by our builder suddenly telling us that jt was the Howden annual sale and we needed to order quickly for the discount.

Our builder questioned some of the Howdens designers plans so we made some changes and are very happy with the result. He got a good discount from them which was passed on to us (we're having the whole house renovated)
The Wren person was really pushy and put me right off, plus the type of kitchen I wanted seemed poorer quality than the Howden one but a couple of friends have been pleased with their Wren kitchens. I guess the answer is to shop around. Lots of people recommend DIY kitchens or IKEA

I went to howdens for a quote and the design they put together didn’t even include a cutlery drawer let alone the stuff I’d specifically asked for. My fitter recommended them (again, due to kickback I think) but I’ve gone with DIY now after visiting the showroom. Better quality and less money for far more.

I'm not keen on Howden. I don't like their set up. I might use a small local kitchen place which is dearer but I know a few folk who have used them. When eventually get round to it.

That would annoy me too, but think carefully about a wren kitchen. I know loads of people who have had them and none of them have a good word to say about them. One friends kitchen is literally falling apart after five years.

Can they not just transfer your design / the Wren design to their units? Makes the two easy to compare.
(We didn't have a comparison quote, but I'd already decided what type of unit I wanted where which is similar.)
And speeds up the process of producing the quote.

I didn't show them the design as I want to see what he comes up with.

It's a very small kitchen so not really much designing to do really.

Having had both in different houses we found the Howdens kitchen was much better quality than Wickes. But I had been happy with the Wickes!

The first time the kitchen designer was much better at Wickes so we went with them. The second time our builder only fitted Howdens and passed all the discount onto us which made a massive kitchen a lot cheaper. The Howdens designer was still rubbish (different branch to the first!) but we knew what we wanted so pretty much designed it ourselves whilst the designer supplied us with coffee!

We had a great Howdens designer for our kitchen we can still email him if we want, say, internal doors and he will respond

Problem is he’s probably worn down with people who want all the lag work of design then fuck off and buy it marginally cheaper

think you’ve given the impression you’re just wasting his time and not worth investing the effort

my mum had howden can’t fault it

If your fitter doesn't like Wren Kitchens there's a good reason!

If your design is going to be relatively straightforward, have a look at DIYKitchens online. I've had two kitchens from them (different houses) and on both occasions the fitters I got were very impressed. The cabinets arrive ready built. I've seen them recommended on here several times.

Never heard a positive story about Wren

Have had a howden’s kitchen fitted by an independent filter and was very happy with it. Didn’t use Howden’s kitchen designer went off the the design we had done by Wickes with a few alterations suggested by the kitchen fitter we use.

Have moved and will be planning another kitchen soon and using the same fitter. He has also pointed us toward DIYkitchens online and we’ve had some sample doors ordered.

Not sure why your being coy about sharing the the Wren design sounds like you’re looking for ways to catch him out? You should probably lose the “he’ll do what I say I’m paying him” attitude as well. Makes you sound awful!

Our Howdens kitchen is falling apart after 9 years. Had an ikea kitchen at my last house that still looked brand new after 10 years. I'm not impressed with their quality at all.

I have a howdens utility room ,and it's spectacular. Designer is now a friend and helps come what may

Had a great design from Howdens - really nice but he's not included a price which is the whole point 🤷‍♀️

Design & quote - otherwise how can we make a decision.

This sort of thing really pisses me off.

We got the design from Howdens but the price for it came from the builder once Howdens had priced it up and sent it to him. We didn't get a price from Howdens.

That's what is wrong with Howdens. You can't go there and get a price. Your fitter has to go and get their price and then decide what mark up to give you. You have no means of deciding if it is a good deal or not. All comes down to how much you trust your fitter.

I had a really good experience with Wren. My fitter also likes them. I couldn't get my head round Howdens pricing. I needed to know the exact cost I'd be paying. Not whatever the fitter could get.

They are dealing with the tradesperson, not you that’s why. If you go with Howdens you have to wait for your fitter to give you his price ‘all in’.

As for Wren, I have never heard one good thing about them.

Before you go any further, have a look at DIY Kitchens. (They are design it yourself not fit it yourself).My fitter recommended Howden but loved fitting the DIY one and totally recommended it going forward

Not entirely true about Howdens. We went directly to them and got a quote and then he recommended some fitters. We paid howdens directly too. We got full visibility of the pricing and we're able to tweak the design there and then in the showroom.
Didn't like Wren, the units felt very flimsy and they were relentless in trying to get the sale. Really pleased with our Howdens kitchen.

Almost exactly the same as our experience. We got quotes from Wren and Howdens on our builders suggestion. The Howdens one was far better quality and not as pushy in their approach. Our builder passed the trade discount on to us and we paid him to fit it. We made various changes to their plans and were so pleased we got our utility room from them too.

I do know people who will all but refuse to fit Wren kitchens due to their apparent poor quality so he may well have been told that.

Not really something to be that bothered by though. Like you say, he’ll fit whatever kitchen you want.

Also All the units come delivered from howdens assembled already so there’s no flat pack for them to faff around with like there would be with a lot of other suppliers (nor sure how Wrens arrive). It is a bit annoying that Howedens only deal with trade but as you are on good terms with your fitter, presumably he’ll be passing on the decent rates he gets on his account to you.