Unless you are ‘trade’ they won’t give any prices…?

You need sizes and what you actually want in the space and what sort of finish,units and the electricals and worktops, then we have something to work with.

Howdens account Holder here.

Just had a Howdens kitchen fitted. Excellent service and fitter, looks great. Prices are competitive but you need to use one of the recommended fitters I think.

I should have give you a shout Project.

Go to magnet and open a trade account say your a builder or somthink then get free measure and planes. look at trade line kitchens some are same as posh retail but saving 65-75%

I’m sure we paid Howdens directly when we had ours done.

I’m afraid, how long is a piece of string is a quote that applies to Howdens pricing. too many variables to get an accurate price.

They have no standard discount rate to trade, as everyone who uses them is trade (in theory) they can also ‘massage’ prices to suit budgets and customers, I get a fairly good discount as I buy 10-20 kitchens a year from them, others will get a better discount as they buy 50 a year etc.

Thanks all.
Very helpful, as usual!

Benchmark – Wickes kitchens with 80% off if you negotiate right

To save cash you dont need under cupboard lights unless you live in a cave, and the plinths are just 6 inch contiboard from B and Q.

You also dont need soft close buffers on the doors, something Howdens factor into their prices.

go to locally recommended independent

will be cheaper than all the high street sellers e.g. wickes and howdens

you will also get a higher spec kitchen e.g surface and your money will go further for appliances

Only if you tell them to! I design all my own kitchens and walk in there and get them to draw it up and price it, that way I have control over the pricing a little.

Re lighting, theres more than 1 way to skin a cat and the way I light mine costs very little. the soft close dampers are a quality touch that I find most customers are asking for these days and don’t really cost that much, they’re only a couple of quid a door, if you source carefully.

Re lighting, theres more than 1 way to skin a cat and the way I light mine costs very little. the soft close dampers are a quality touch that I find most customers are asking for these days and don’t really cost that much, they’re only a couple of quid a door, if you source carefully.

But howdens just put them on the bil if you ask for them or not, i hardly think a plastic piston is a quality touch though.

No, they don’t. at least they don’t on mine anyway, maybe in your branch that’s the sort of sharp practice they’re into. the pistons are clip on items from Blum, the fact the doors soft close does lend itself to a better job IMO.

http://www.diy-kitchens.com

&

http://www.worktop-express.co.uk

after getting quotes from howdens, wickes, magnet and tesco all of which we had to put up with glorified sales persons who knew only how to measure a space put it into their computer and come up with the most boring designs… we then went to a local kitchen shop and the owner came round with his graph paper and pencil designed it on the spot and it came in at least £1500 cheaper ! he got our business best design and knew what he was doing !

keep it local

if going to howdens wait until last few days of one of their many sales. they’ll badger you to death after you leave, just keep saying your not sure. by the last day of sale it’ll be thousands of pounds cheaper with upgraded appliances/gadgets thrown in,free wine and £150 m&s vouchers or at least thats how desperate they were to get us! 🙂

Howdens only have one sale and you’ve just missed it (all of oct).
I second DIY kitchens
I’m a kitchen fitter who does lots works for Howdens including their showrooms and have 2 kitchens in my house and both are from DIY kitchens.
Source appliances online (co-op appliances are pretty good) and pick tops local.
Might not be cheaper but you’ll end up with a much better product.

Regards

Russ

<hijack> Any of you kitchen fitters work in the Surrey/North Hampshire area ? </hijack>

pies – I’ve got a third hand reccomendation – I need a bit of work doing soon & asked an electrician I know if he knew a decent fitter… can dig out the details if you mail me.

I just had a kitchen fitted (I am finishing off the electrics, and tiling the splashback for the range atm)

Got lots of quotes, and looked at quite a few. Howdens offered me a 80% discount straight away after visiting my house, Howdens kitchens are very much aimed at making the builders/installers life easier (pre drilled holes for hinges/handles etc) and there installation plans (for the fitter) are very very good, plus if you have any damaged bits they have them in stock and will run them out to you so you don’t have to wait weeks for missing/damaged bits.

However I in the end went with a local kitchen shop, as the quality was much better, there wasn’t all the pre-piloted stuff, which makes the doors look messy and there price was similar. However, the fitters instructions were woeful and it took much much longer to install (which impacts the installation fee)

Most kitchen shops will try to match Howdens as they are the people to beat. However don’t expect as big a discount, as most people understand that Howdens RRP is a joke, so they can take 80% off just for asking.

Also with regard to worktop-express you need to check the worktops very very carefully as it took them three goes to get one to me undamaged, also you need to factor this in to the delivery as if the fitter is waiting for a worktop he/she won’t be happy

We had a Howdens kitchen about three years ago. I went in and enquired, lady came round to our house and measured up, they then produced designs, we bought the kitchen in October sale and they delivered it all. At no point did anybody ask about a trade account, fitters etc. I just ordered it and paid for it. Its weird as i had a mates trade account lined up to use but it was never needed.

PS Been very happy with the Kitchen!

One major downside of howdens Kitchen where I live the showrooms weren’t great so whilst you could look at generic doors and a few built up units it was hard to work out exactly what you were getting.

Howdens stuff is good, but personally I felt for a little bit more cash (around £300 in my case) I could get much better quality. However this is just IMHO