Howdens nonsense

[tim...]

I'm now too old and unfit to bother with the aggro of fitting my own kitchen to save a couple of grand

So I am seeking the help of a professional fitter to do it

And (apart from the shops selling stupidly priced kitchen units) they all want to use Howdens as their supplier.

But Howdens wont let me walk into their branch and plan a kitchen and then send that to, say, 3 installers

I have to get the installer to refer me to Howdens and they quote him, and then he quotes me.

So that means that to get three competitive quotes for the installation part, I have to get three referrals to Howdens and get them to draw up my plans three times.

How can you avoid all this nonsense

(Other than not using Howdens, which is currently the preferred solution)

tim

[charles]

we had a Howdens' kitchen installed in our village hall 3 years ago. It does seem good, although then installer left a lot to be desired.

Presumably you could plan your kitchen using standard sizes and ask 3 locals about the installation costs. Then get the best to obtain a proper quote via Howdesn.

[Broadback]

We recently had a fire, so in need of a new kitchen the insurance used Howdens. the were OK, but nothing special, I had to pay for one I would not use them.

[Malcolm Race]

We had a Howdens kitchen installed last summer. Went into the local branch (Fareham), saw a kitchen designer who visited and prepared a design and costing. We then chose a fitter. Is your local branch being awkward? Fitter was a slow worker but his work was good. He sold our old kitchen on ebay for around £100 but this avoided disposal costs.

The one annoying thing was that everything had to be ordered through him, including a blanking plate for the sink which was replaced free!

Yes I would buy from Howdens again, but not using that particular fitter.

Malcolm

[tim...]

problem is, the flat that I am buying that needs the new kitchen in not near where I live now (and as I have a Howdens literally in the next street, that is where I went to ask)

I later read their website which says that all the branches set their own policy and prices (FFS), so there's obviously no corporate value in a planner in one outlet doing a plan for another one to fulfill.

But that's their problem :-)

Other retailers don't work like this (I hope - I'm off to the "wrong" branch of Wren at the weekend).

There is so little of the old kitchen left I could take it to the dump in my car

This the problem, how do you choose the fitter? And if your order from Howdens is linked to him, How do you replace him part way through the job if he is a useless ****er?

tim

[Terry Casey]

I have a namesake who is obviously a kitchen fitter who deals with Howdens.

He tried to get the same email address as me but, of course, his has a '2' appended.

About 3 - 4 years ago, someone at Howdens started leaving the

2 of his email address, so I started getting his quotes from time to time!

They quoted 'retail' prices and his discount was 80%!

The prices he paid were very good but I don't somehow think the quality could have matched what his customer paid, though!

The branch he used was in Stevenage, if I recall correctly.

Perhaps you should tell Howdens you are a fitter and ask for a quote. Then tout around for a fitter to fit the stuff when it turns up.

You pay his labour costs and save the 80% mark up!

[tim...]

I think the idea is that he passes the discount onto you

If you go to Wren Kitchens site they claim to be 28% cheaper than Howdens after a 75% discount

If they didn't pass on the discount, the prices would be silly money and completely uncompetitive.

I know that you can get some really basic units, but once you get above that into the "normal" range they are all much of a muchness IME

I think they require a bit more evidence than you just turning up pretending.

tim

[Tim Streater]

We went to Wren because they had a better range of cabinet widths than the others, and because they were the only people doing wooden drawers (everyone does wooden draw *fronts*) with proper corners. This was 18 months ago. By the time we went back to actually order, they'd scrapped all the "traditional" ranges and only seemed to do those boring modern angular ones with no door knobs (so you can't tell at a glance how to open anything).

However they did agree to make ours and now installed, it's quite nice. At the end, their after-sales left a bit to be desired as they were refusing to supply a few items that were missing from the order. But they caved in in the end.

[Chris Green]

When I refitted our kitchen some years ago I used the existing carcases, extended them to reach the ceiling and fill all the odd gaps and then had custom made wooden doors. The doors cost a fair amount but the result is excellent, no silly gaps or bits of padding anywhere.

[Andrew]

It's the same with car parts. 100% markup from 'trade' to 'retail' is typical across the board.

[Dave Liquorice]

Always a problem, the only real way to find any trader is word of mouth.

You get an account with Howdens, use their design service etc order and get supplied the stuff and contract the fitter of your choice to do the work. Be aware that Howdens units are not flat packed...

[Dave Liquorice]

Or say you are going to DIY and can I have an account please. The Penrith sales rep actually cold called here, last year and this. I've now got an account and a free 50 piece set Milwaukee drills, bits and nut spinners.

[tim...]

That's what all the fitters want - they don't want to be spending time making up units that could be pre-assembled in a factory

Though god knows how much of a faff fitting on the decor panels is.

Anyhow my trip to Wren taught me 2 (well 3 actually) things

1) Not all kitchen designs offer wall corner cupboards 2) not all kitchen designs offer drawer-line base units

(and 3) Wren use the stupid "make up a silly price and then give you a mega discount model")

To get wall corner cupboards I had to go up the price range with Wren and the price became silly money.

None of Howdens range offer 1 or 2 - deal breaker

tim

[tim...]

their company policy says - NO (we do not sell our kitchens to people wanting to DIY)

That you may get an individual manager to do this, is just luck.

tim

[Handsome Jack]

tim... posted

Huh? I have a Howdens kitchen that has both.

[tim...]

drawers - you are right, I someone skipped a page when I checked the catalogue Oops!

Corner cupboards - Nope no L or "triangular" corner cupboards available.

tim

[Dave Liquorice]

Obviously, just a heads up that if you order a load of units your going to need a lot of space to put them between delivery and installation...

I see drawer line base units in the Hewdons catalog both corner (straight not L) and ordinary. There are also some corner wall units (under "storeage" rather than "kitchen") but I can't figure out from the line drawing of a cylindrical quadrant how they fit/work... "Storeage" also has L corner base units with carrosell, shelf, or full pull out shelfy thing.

[dennis]

Have you looked at

? The units are pretty good quality. The units are not flat pack though so you will need space.

[Tim Streater]

+1

Ours filled up the conservatory for 6 months.

SWMBO avoided the carousel and all corner unit pull out thingies, because they waste space. We have L shaped corner units with L shaped shelves, and doors with the 180deg hinges so when both doors are open, you can both see and get to everything in the corner unit.

Previous kitchen had the cheap and nasty corner units, with the L split in two and so some stuff was tucked into the back, therefore out of sight. These are the "Oh, I didn't know we had one of those" corner units.

[Chris J Dixon]

No personal experience, but they have just come out tops in a "Which" review.

Chris