Getting a lot of refurb work done, walls down, plastering, new kitchen and bathroom.

Got a decent quote and I am looking for kitchen and bathroom suppliers.

Not looking for the cheapest but not wanting to pay “designer” prices.

Thinking of using Howdens for the kitchen, builder will get the quote. Are there any good alternatives to Howdens?

Also, can anyone recommend a bathroom supplier?

I wasn’t impressed with my MiLs Howdens kitchen, TBH. It’s OK I suppose, but not all that….

Hers are basic generic units with a ‘facia’ panel tacked on, like a frame round the doors. This restricts the size of the door opening, and the inside is a different colour to the outside.

We got ours from a local supplier who we’ve used before –

They can cut units to fit odd spaces exactly
No end panels on units needed, so cheaper
Had a wider range of sizes
Don’t need a trade account
Were significantly cheaper

If you’re in Hants/Surrey its ABC Magnum in Aldershot, BTW. I’m very happy to recommend them, although I fitted the units myself.

IMG_0705 by PeterPoddy, on Flickr

IMG_0711 by PeterPoddy, on Flickr

builder will get the quote

Don’t do that. Get your own. And get AT LEAST 3 quotes.

Let you builder get a quote, but ask where they got it as you should look into the stuff they are going to be using. Also get quotes from other places. We ended up going with our builders recommendation as we only wanted a few changes made and they found a good match (better than ours) at an acceptable price.

For bathroom stuff we visited lots of places and got a few ideas. We bought stuff and our builder fitted it.

Most of it came from bathstore and victoria plumb there are some wide price variation around so have a look. We wanted a massive shower so spent a lot on that but never really use the bath so didn’t go for anything expensive there, just something good enough.

It is very easy to knock up a letterhead and invoice, which is all you need to get a trade account at Magnet, Howdens, B&Q etc and then you can see the mark-up on those units.

They give traders 2 quotes – one to show the customer the “trade” and retail prices, another to show the lower real trade price.

But for all that, if you like the ranges, IKEA is pretty good too. B&Q do a Cooke & Lewis range which is pretty good.

PS – where are you based?

My mate has a Howdens account so I will check any quote off the builder with him – He’s in Lancs and I’m in Kent otherwise he would be doing the work.

Peter – Looks like you did a cracking job there. Do you know what brand of units you got off ABC Magnum? I’ll see if I can get a more local supplier.

IKEA.

Howdens are shocking for their prices and their guarantee is crap.

We used Ikea for our kitchen – less than half the price, better quality and a 20yr guarantee! The Oak worktops made Howdens look like the rip-off they are even with having a trade account. We got 3 from Ikea, better quality, longer, etc for less than 1 breakfast bar from Howdens.
Forget about any of the “Price Match” crap from Wickes, Homebase, B&Q, etc – they won’t – they make sure their stores are actually within range of Ikea, etc as they can’t compete in the real world. We tried with ALL of them and they actually refused.

Bathstore for the bathroom – waited for one of the sales though and got everything we wanted including a Whirlpool bath for less than the likes of B&Q or Homebase.

Mr Poddy’s kitchen looks really nice ‘in the flesh’ and he’s done a very good job. 🙂

I’m surprised at the comments concerning Howdens. Had their (room) doors installed in last house and thought they were decent quality and better than B & Q.

For bathrooms you need Boundary Bathrooms, they have the keenest prices around. If you’re in the NW you can visit their showrooms where they will discount to web prices AND round down to the nearest £50 on most items too. We were pretty amazed when they did that for us after we asked if those were their best prices possible; we didn’t expect so much extra discount.

I don’t know if it is still the case but didn’t it used to be that the Ikea kitchens don’t have any space behind for plumbing/wiring etc so they *can* be a sod to unless you are doing everything from scratch.

A colleague of mine got a Wren kitchen and was very pleased with it.

I don’t think they do ‘fancy’ cupboards with pull out drawers/corner solutions etc. but for a decent quality kitchen at a good price, he was very pleased.