Is £12k too much for a basic Howdens kitchen supply only?

[Charlock]

Hi,

Getting a new kitchen. 15 units, 4 towers, couple of wall cupboards, small peninsula. Opting for basic doors, laminate worktop, basic appliances. £12K? Pretty shocked tbh. Priced up similar on DIY Kitchens, came out at £8.5K. Obv they don't have same overheads so can keep costs lower but still. And that's with decent appliances too.

I don't like the whole smoke and mirrors pricing situation with Howden's at all. Like I can't even just swap out the appliances and worktop and see how much that takes off because they only give you the total number. Do I just say what I can get it for elsewhere and see what they do? Both the designer and the joiner were like yeah, that's the price with the trade discount, nothing we can do.

AIBU to think 12K for an economy, no bells and whistles kitchen is a bit much? (Price for materials only.)

I'd say so. We were just under £17k for mid range Magnet kitchen and fitting. Neff oven and microwave, AEG 5 ring induction hob and hood, integrated fridge freezer and dishwasher so £6k of that was appliances. Compact laminate worktop and full splashback. Full height pull out larder, full height oven/microwave unit. 10 units and 3 drawers. Only things we didn't get from Magnet was sink and boiling water tap, electrical and plumbing work.

Go to DIY kitchens instead. Better quality, massively cheaper and a transparent pricing policy with no smoke and mirrors.

@PawMaw thanks. We're actually keeping our dishwasher and washing machine so that's not even included. Quoted about 6K for fitting and electrics/lighting.

We got our kitchen from Wren. I don’t know if it would be cheaper for you, but the pricing was transparent. We could see exactly how much each item was and they even suggested some cheaper alternatives to keep our costs down.

Yeah, 3.5K cheaper @Doris86 ! Just a bit worried about making a mistake and ending up with bits missing, having to reorder bits and pieces.

Our kitchen is quite big and it was £12k from Wickes including fitting.

DIY kitchen is fab. I recommend them to everyone

@girljulian was that recently?

@m1ghtl1ke was it pretty smooth? As in, all the stuff you ordered came. Did you measure up yourself?

When you place the order, someone checks the order against your design and let you know if you have forgotten anything.

Also DIY units comes fully assembled. The price you have got from Howdens is likely for flat pack. So you can a lot more money in labour if your fittter doesn’t have to assemble the units.

2024, so things may have changed!

Neptune is less than that

We had no issues at all with DIY. No damage, nothing missing, and solid wood doors for less than the price of foil from Howdens. We got our worktop (quartz) from elsewhere as it was cheaper (we used al-Murad, who were also fab).

The DIY Kit hens Facebook group is so helpful with ideas and feedback on plans.

We're just about to fit a DIY kitchen - 12 base units , 1 larder unit ,1 pull out larder, and oven housing . 9 of the base units are drawers and the tall units are 2130mm. With plinth, coving, and end panels - came to just under £6k. Fitting is around £5k and I'm replacing dishwasher, fridge freezer and washing machine which will cost about £1200. We will also have worktop and flooring cost.

We've used DIY twice before and like the transparency of the pricing.

We fitted the previous 2 ourselves but this time we're having a wall taken down and that will involve relocating a gas pipe and electrics.

Also DIY design app thing is pretty good, their advice helpline is also pretty good and they do offer a design service for about £30.

ensure you are comparing like for like with units, are they quoting chipboard, wrapped mdf or solid wood?

Going against the grain with DIY Kitchens - we used their design service and it was awful. For a simple kitchen came out more than all the others including Howdens, lots of plinths and add ons and an awful design. They refunded the design after we complained.

The DIY kitchens design service is really only if you can't use the planner. It you're going down that route, it's worth spending a few hundred on a designer (Karen from OnePlqn is recommended a LOT) as it'll still be cheaper, you can avoid costly mistakes and they will do a better job (may even save you extra money).

I liked the planner, though, and we did it ourselves. Once you get used to it, it makes you put thought into what you actually want!

We have a howdens kitchen in the house and had it fitted over ten years ago and still love it. We recently had the garage rebuilt and a utility area made in there but to keep costs down my husband bought B&Q units but howdens doors to match the house as the shells fit.

Our Howdens kitchen came made up.

Yes some do. However when you say ‘give me the cheapest price possible, as the OP seems to be, then they normally quote you for their flat pack units.

You just need to make sure your understand whether you have been quoted for flat pack or ready built, to enable meaningful comparisons against other suppliers.

I use to work for Howdens so know a few of their tricks, first of all have they quoted you their own appliance brand lamona if so take it off buy your own appliances elsewhere it’s basically Beko appliances just re branded.

Howdens use to offer budget assembled units to complete with flat pack slightly thinner than the other assembled units.
But already assembled so your fitter doesn’t need to put flat pack together worth asking for quote with them if they still do that.

They inflate some of the costs and then will bring them down when desperate for the sale so if they think you will take straight away they won’t bother minute they know you are looking elsewhere they start dropping price but again be careful they usually swap out things to get it lower.

Also as they are trade only and you need a builder or account holder to get prices I hope it’s someone you trust as 8 times out of ten we also did a customer price and a builders price so builder would look to make £££ on top the job for arguments sake builder might give paper work saying kitchen £12k when it could be £11k or just under £12k but it does happen.

Also some of the frontals are crap the basic range Greenwich is ok but not the best frontals aren’t as thick as the mid range to upper range.

Some door handles are over priced and again could be purchased elsewhere.

I would however say that the hinges soft close are worth it and if you do buy the already assembled rigid units they do last and are better quality.

So some stuff Howdens do is good but not all just got to be clever and look at the quote.

DH has fitted 5 Howdens kitchens in our own and our children's properties. Howdens do provide a fully priced estimate per item, your joiner is just choosing not to share that with you. The best time to buy is October when they have an end of season sale. Traders like to work with Howdens becuase the units come built and not flat pack and the quality is good. They do not have a good range of appliances or worktops, so I would source them from elsewhere.

I don’t know what DD’s kitchen from Howdens cost but it’s frankly awful quality and finish. Five years old and all the door corners are chipped, the drawer runners have broken, the integrated fridge-freezer door broke, all the freezer drawer fronts broke, the integrated washing machine has leaked, the pull-out swirly tap has broken at the base, the cut-out around the butler sink is lethally sharp… I hate it.

We got a quote from Howdens, but then ended up buying from DIY instead for half the price.

It was the first time our fitter had done a DIY kitchen. He was amazed at the quality and the price we paid for it. Better than Howdens he said.