Anyone got a Howdens kitchen?

Anyone got one and how do you find it? Getting a lot if mixed messages when looking at reviews, thanks

I nearly went for one on the recommendation of my builder but it came in a bit dearer than my local independant (who were really good where do you live).

Ours is ‘Ok’.

The carcasses seem to be better than the doors and hinges, tbh. We’ve got a ‘shiney film’ type finish which isn’t that tough and the hinges seem to have a habit of coming loose (although some threadlock on the bolts tends to cure it).

We had an ‘Italian’ kitchen before (can’t remember the make, sorry) and the overall finish seemed higher for what was probably a similar price.

I’d look around before buying another one from them, I think, but if I couldn’t see anything comparable at a price I could afford I wouldn’t not buy one based on my experience.

We have a 3 year old one.

Wickes etc was around the £15k mark, local independant about £12k, Howdens £5k!

At that price we can’t fault it, it looks just as good as any other kitchen units. One hinge has broken, which I havent bothered replacing yet. The work surface is a matt black finish, and has recently started scratching slightly.

I would buy one again, its not a top end kitchen, but then again it was a fraction of the cost.

Our builder passed on all of his discount, hence why it was cheap. Will try and post a pic later tonight.

I’ve had one for nearly 6 years and it looks great still (Burford cream). We have a pretty small kitchen but we paid about £2k for the kitchen, fittings, cooker hood and dishwasher. The dishwasher was expensive so I would say shop around for appliances. I then paid £650 to have it fitted.

We are doing some minor alterations at the moment and they seem noticeably more expensive especially the tall pull out larder mrs jp seems to have set her heart on. That is some expensive metal wire.

Ours has been good. Though we just wanted something fairly simple, a bunch of gloss cream base units, a larder and a corner, and an oak worktop. Sourced the electricals separately. Maybe if we’d have wanted something fancier then I’d have looked elsewhere.

The corner unit internal swing thing did collapse in ours, and Howdens were good at replacing it FOC with a newer design.

We have one.

Ours was put in my a family friend in the trade so we got the kitchen at trade price (no additional costs).

We went with solid work surfaces and a matt finish on the doors, soft close etc.

The units replaced a Cooke & Lewis(?) B&Q kitchen. The Howdens units are far superior.

Good lot to deal with too.

we’ve got a Howdens kitchen. The only reason, was that almost anyone can register for a trade account and it meant our kitchen was almost a third of the brochure price. Cheaper than wickes/B&Q etc:

The ‘extra’ little bits like plynths, and rails, unit ends etc, were quite expensive tho’.

Carcasses were all pre-assembled which saved alot of time/money. Hinges (as per previous suggetstion) use threadlock. we bought our own handles as theirs were gash.

all in all…. good price, average quality.

I have one with solid Oak doors, can’t remember the actual name.

Been in for 5 years and can’t fault it.

However I specced mine quite highly so soft close everthing, a magic cupboard (strange corner cupboard that pulls out) etc.

The drawer boxes, hinges and soft close components aare all made by Blum so you can’t go wrong with them.

The only weak point is they don’t have solid backs in the units.

Cant comment on the quality but if you know a tradesman who regulary uses Howdens they get 60 – 70% off the list price that they advertise

Hi OP

I bought and fitted a Howdens kitchen to a rental property. It has not been in for about 4 years and still looks good.

I would echo what others have said about hinges (threadlock is a good idea)

Depending on your timescale it may be worth noting that they have annual sales arouns Sept or Oct where their prices are reduced significantly (>50%)

If you can wait till then, you could get a bargain.

Hope this helps
Alastair

Ours is howdens but bought through mfi just before they went bust
Howdens used to supply kitchens to mfi
It’s a kitchen, it does it’s job
We got seperately granite work top locally though

just put one in myself. first time ive ever done one 🙂

bought it on the off chance. we were in there doing a risk visit with work, and someone mentioned id been considering buying one. they offered me 80% discount if i signed up ‘before tomorrow dinner’
always a bit sceptical about that sort of thing, but they sent a bod round to my house there and then while i was at work 20 miles away, he measured the kitchen up, planned it all on the software, showed it me later, i took a booklet home to show wife, we decided on burford cream gloss, went back next day and paid. i knew thered be some sort of catch with the 80% off, so i looked at the invoice, and they charge something silly like £800 for their dishwashers, hobs etc, then knock 80% off, but it still worked out the best price we’d had. just over £3000 for around 25(?) units, dishwasher, hob and extractor hood.
they then started delivering the same day!! talk about fast!! luckily i could use my next door neighbours garage for storage.

like i said, first time ive ever looked at fitting myself, and i was always on the phone to them, how do you do this, whats that part for etc etc, it became a bit of a joke when i rang 🙂 but they were excellent with me. always took time to explain stuff properly over the phone, email me stuff. couldnt fault them.

Ours is howdens but bought through mfi just before they went bust
Howdens used to supply kitchens to mfi

Not strictly true – Howdens was the trade offshoot of MFI, started by Managers who had defected from Magnet Kitchens.
When MFI went under Howdens was able to continue using the same suppliers.
(I used to work for Howdens about 11 years ago on the Kitchen sales/design side)

We did 2 types of carcases, flat pack and pre-built, the pre-assembled Schreiber ones were far better quality.