New kitchen - where'd you get yours from

fastonebaz

According to Mrs Fastone, its time I put my GAS fund to good use and gave the kitchen a makeover.   Total refit top to bottom.   Having never done one before I'm only really aware of Wren Kitchens.

Any recommendations for my epic journey into brokeness?

Iamnobody

My No. 1 recommendation is don’t go to Wren. They use the Same worn out and underhand sales technique that double glazing outfits use.

They start high on the off chance you are gullible, then when you’ve finished laughing there’s some nonsense backwards and forwarding between their management to offer a special deal that’s half the price but you must signup today etc.

I think the kitchens are ok - but the sales technique meant I couldn’t deal with them.

BGG

I know a few folk that have used Wren and the build quality has been absolutely shocking. 

boogieman

Howdens is good quality stuff with good thickness carcasses and all well made. Not that cheap but worth it IME. There’s a downside to them in that they don’t deal with the public, so it depends if you’re planning on doing a self install or not. If so you’d have to get a tame builder to order it for you. They have a weird/stupid pricing system too, where they quote an initially ridiculous price then give the installer an enormous discount which gets it down to something more realistic. We had Howdens units put in at our last house and it still looked immaculate 5 years later when we moved out, we’ve also gone with them again in our new place (not been installed yet though). Their Lamona own brand appliances are crap, don’t be tempted by the price or long warranty, read the reviews. Oh they do free planning by the way. 

Be careful with DIY supermarket kitchens, their units are often sourced from Europe and ordered in as required. If you get any broken or missing bits it can sometimes take weeks or months to get replacement parts. Probably even worse at the moment what with brexit and covid. Howdens make everything in-house and you can just walk in to a store to get spare parts. 

Edit: if you’re doing it diy have a look at IKEA. Not the best quality but it’s ok and still much better than stuff like Wickes. (Which is utter shite btw). 

LastMantra

My parents had theirs done not long ago. They just got a local, known, joiner to do it. 
Maybe took a bit longer but they're happy. 

TheBigDipper

I couldn't fit one myself. I don't have the skills or the motivation. Last one we had done in our old house was through John Lewis. They did a great job and were in and out in under a week. Of course, now I know how ghastly John Lewis actually is, and what it says about me, I'll probably go somewhere really expensive next time. Maybe I'll get a loan... :-) 

(It really was done well by John Lewis, BTW, I'm not posting for comic effect)

fastonebaz

Wow not much love for wren kitchens then.  I didn't even think of John Lewis as an option. 

mart

fastonebaz said:

...  I didn't even think of John Lewis as an option. 

You are Carrie Symonds and ICM£5.

boogieman

fastonebaz said:

  I didn't even think of John Lewis as an option. 

They’re good but a second mortgage job I think. At least you’d have some comeback if it was crap I suppose.  

So much of a getting a good result is down to the fitters, bit like double glazing. The one we’ve inherited in our new (to us) house is terrible, all held together with plastic blocks and bits of timber randomly nailed on, bodged together everywhere. The wall units are just about held up with 25mm screws into tiny wall plugs. I’d assumed it was a diy job but we found the plans and invoice and it was professionally done in 1996 and cost a small fortune at the time. If you’re going for a pro installer look for personal recommendations and/or ask to speak to their previous clients and actually see their work. 

springhead

+1 for Howdens for all the reasons stated above. 

adampeter

Howdens all day long, either go with a fitter that has accounts with them or open an account, its not that hard tbh

SteveRobinson

I refitted ours with Neptune units about 5 years ago. I wanted in-frame doors and it was one of the cheaper options.

Carcases came fully built and are very strong ply and solid wood construction. No chipboard or MDF.

M1ck

We have a Wren kitchen and aside from the gullible side previously mentioned are very happy with it, they did try it on price wise but I wasn’t having it, got it at a price we were happy with and comparable to (or maybe better than) Howdens in the end. Quality wise we’ve had no issues, customer service can be a bit iffy, we had an incorrect unit delivered and had a little bit of bother but nothing major to get it changed it was their fault anyway but we took a while to report it as we didn’t fit it straight away. 

I personally would never have anything to do with Roundel (I think they’re trade only anyway) or Nixons kitchens (one and the same, ones trade the other retail, same company - same ethics or lack of!)

tone1

Howdens for me too...Their approved fitter was a numpty but you can’t have everything 

BigMonka

If you’re thinking of fitting it yourself then I can really recommend DIY Kitchens (https://www.diy-kitchens.com/). They’ve got a physical showroom in Pontefract but even then when it comes to placing the order they sit you down at a PC in the showroom and you do it yourself on the website. I was really impressed with the quality of the cabinets and doors (I didn’t get a worktop so can’t comment on those).

Howdens can be ok, but you get what you pay for with the different price points. We had a utility room put in with Howdens cheap stuff and the plasticy paint coating on the doors has delaminated from the MDF backing.

As others have mentioned the Howdens pricing is a complicated model in that the retail price is huge but each fitter with an account gets a decent discount. The more kitchens they buy from Howdens from bigger the discount, so you may not get the same price from two fitters.

GuyR

Got mine from magnet approx 4 years ago. Perfectly satisfactory.

sw67

Howdens Kitchens - find a good joiner. The appliances are rubbish and not much cheaper than good ones. We went Neff for appliances. 

fretmeister

I went to a local high price place for a free planning session. They massively over spec’d it but the layout was great. (Including a custom sized and built microwave for about £4000 - twats).

Then I bought units at Wickes and got a local installer to put it in.

more

A few years ago bought a kitchen from http://simonbenjamin.co.uk/   . He is a small family business not far from where I live. There must be simaler businesses near you.   The quality was really good, and I fitted it all myself. More recently I moved to a new house. The kitchen was a bit worn out. I removed the entire kitchen,  hand-painted it and refitted all the best bits, with a new sink.  Personally, I found most of the big firms to converting chipboard into gold, for them.  With regards to Howdens. Howdens have this little setup that hides the cost of the units from bulders customer. When I was looking around at kitchens, I went into Howdens and asked if they would supply a kitchen, I was told that it was not a problem for non-trade sales. But I think it down to the local branch.

the_jaffa

BigMonka said:

If you’re thinking of fitting it yourself then I can really recommend DIY Kitchens (https://www.diy-kitchens.com/). They’ve got a physical showroom in Pontefract but even then when it comes to placing the order they sit you down at a PC in the showroom and you do it yourself on the website. I was really impressed with the quality of the cabinets and doors (I didn’t get a worktop so can’t comment on those).

Howdens can be ok, but you get what you pay for with the different price points. We had a utility room put in with Howdens cheap stuff and the plasticy paint coating on the doors has delaminated from the MDF backing.

As others have mentioned the Howdens pricing is a complicated model in that the retail price is huge but each fitter with an account gets a decent discount. The more kitchens they buy from Howdens from bigger the discount, so you may not get the same price from two fitters.

Absolutely this. The guy who set up DIY Kitchens is a big machine addict and bought a load of posh CNC machines to build all their stuff in house. By far the best carcasses I’ve seen (that aren’t bespoke hand built). 

Great product, really good service and super easy to deal with. I’ll not go anywhere else now. No connection other than being a very happy customer

Dominic

Howdens