Help needed, which kitchen manufacturer would you recommend?

Lots of people I know have used Howdens over the years and have been delighted. I don't believe they have a lot of choice but quality is good.
Our Kitchen was from a smaller firm. Lovely quality but it closed down so maybe a big company a wiser choice for any replacements or problems

I agree with Thecat. I have had a B and Q kitchen for years and it still attracts nice comments from visitors. My son also has a lovely B and Q kitchen. Worth a look.

As an indication of how old my kitchen is, it was supplied and fitted by MFI! I loved it from the minute it was installed and it has never aged or deteriorated.
What a shame MFI went out of business - another decision by accountants.

I belong to a build it yourself community and a number of them have recommended DIY kitchens - the kitchens come ready made - all helpful for your installer.

I have always preferred Ikea kitchens myself - they've been recommended by which. Their online planning tools are excellent if you like to play with your design - it even produces the shopping list - so you can see immediately the cost difference between ideas. I've just ordered my third one (I've moved a lot) & am having all drawers for easy access.

My kitchen is from kitchencollection.co.uk It's 5 years old now and is still in excellent condition. Their website is great and they offer all sorts of cabinet colours to match the doors (not just white which some of the larger suppliers sell) My doors are a dove grey shaker style and the cabinets match. Their prices are also very good. All their cabinets are ready assembled unless you want a kitchen quickly and then they have an express range which can be delivered in a week (which also has quite a large choice of styles)

Howdens kitchens are fabulous & a reasonable price for the quality but you have to buy via a registered fitter ie you cant buy directly yourself. Sounds obvious but the fitter is key so would go by recommendation if possible.

IMO it’s more about the installer than the units. The house we moved into has a Magnet kitchen, (which allegedly came out top in a Which survey,) and I’m very pleased with it because the installation is excellent. Perhaps it helped that the previous owner was a reputable local builder. I hope you’re pleased with whatever you choose, as it’s a huge layout!

20 he's ago I had a Magnet kitchen fitted, Shaker style and included integral dishwasher, fridge freezer and Neff double oven and 5 ring separate hob. I loved it, good quality and the girl who helped design it was amazing. She suggested putting on a few painted doors to break up the wood look and gave us the Dulux paint number so we could use it on the walls. The effect was wonderful. It worked fantastically and I loved it. I was very tempted to bring a Magnet kitchen with us when we moved to France, I now wish I had!

Whichever kitchen you go for, it's your installer who is key. My husband has been a joiner for 40 years, and he says a good installer can make a cheap kitchen look fantastic and a bad installer can make an expensive kitchen look cheap and nasty.
There's so much variety to choose from, too, so hone it down to a style you like, and dont be fooled into going for all singing all dancing appliances if you're really not going to use them. Buy the best basics (oven, hob etc) you can afford so they last.
If you like colour, then I'd suggest having white or ivory units and painting strong colours on the walls. You could find yourself sick of the bright or dark units in a few years time, but walls can easily be repainted for very little cost.

It depends where you live - I had a great made-to-measure kitchen when I lived in Berkshire - essential, because 30cm, 60cm etc units would not have fitted. The London Kitchen Company.
If standard sized units will fit, the world's your oyster - Wren are great for a modern look, Magnet for a country kitchen; would just add the warning - make sure sink bowls are big enough for your largest roasting pans - even if it means a butler sink!

We live too far away to help Jude2006 - but good luck and hope you don't mind if I gatecrash your message - I'm in the same boat and wondering if anyone has any good kitchen installers to recommend in Taunton please. Thank you

Ikea - you get just as good a kitchen for far less than if you go to one of the firms that only sells kitchens.

we moved to a new area and needed tradesmen, , so we used checkatrade.com where you put in your postcode, and what trade you need, people write reviews about the work and give marks out of ten for price, cleanliness, etc so far it has proven to be brilliant and all the trades have lived up to their 10 out of 10 marks from checkatrade. I would recommend it!

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Quite a number of people we know have chosen Howdens and the quality seems to be very good.

We had a kitchen from Magnet fitted before we took the decision to move and I really miss it. We had one of those tall narrow pull out larder storage units included. Can see everything at a glance, great. Also went for oven higher up so I no longer had to stoop. Good friends webt for Wren and have been very happy. Seems to depend on the fitter you get.

We used a good company (unfortunately now shut) who manufactured cupboard fronts with every design and colour to choose from, with samples. I assume there are other companies around that do this. We bought new carcasses from B&Q, and they were the best for carcasses. Your measurements have to be spot on if you go down this route, but if you know someone who can design and fit, and you are ok using the internet for sourcing hinges etc you will save a lot of money. The savings we made were spent on granite worktops. Although not a big kitchen, my kitchen is designed perfectly and works for me and I cook a lot.

Some years ago we had a Magnet kitchen which was absolutely lovely. We paid a fitter of our choosing who did a great job. More recently, having moved, we had to fit out the utility and our chosen fitter used Howdens - we are very pleased with that too and if I ever replaced the present kitchen I would continue with Howdens to match it all up.

We literally just had an ikea kitchen fitted and its brilliant. All deep drawers so no bending to get to the back is cupboards and high level oven. The ikea fitters were marvelous. So quick and clean, well worth the money. We live in Spain, so maybe not typical.

We sourced a recommended kitchen fitter and after much shopping around, chose Howdens, ivory wooden cabinets with Iroko wood work tops. Very good quality and price. 10 years on still looks perfect.

We had a new kitchen installed in November 2018 We bought all the units from DIY kitchens. They delivered when they said they would. We didn’t go to their showrooms as it was too far, but they sent us door samples as I couldn’t decide on the colour I wanted. This was really useful as we could position them in different parts of the kitchen and depending on the lighting got a really good impression of what the kitchen would look like. The quality is excellent and hard wearing. We also bought the work surfaces from them. We used a local kitchen fitter to install the kitchen. We thought Howdens were very expensive in comparison

nb. Three coats of good quality wood seal on worktops have stood the test of time, especially around two Belfast sinks. Worth doing.

We have used DIY Kitchens recently and are very pleased with the quality and the prices. They were installed by our builder who also used them in his own house.

We visited their showrooms several times and the staff were very helpful , checking that our cupboards would actually fit the space available.

There were people from all over the UK visiting the show rooms.

And I loved going because of the free cake and coffee.

Dear jude2006 we had ours from B and Q and I would never ever purchase from them again. We have just had two bathrooms fitted with Wicks and we were lucky and had good service. I would for a kitchen try a small firm. Xxx

Have only had two kitchens in 38 years of same house ....first on was MFI ‘rubbish’ as it was all we could afford ...it lasted a magnificent 32 years! The last one was Magnet..... much better quality ...and had a local fella to fit it ( recommended). He was great as well. So far , so good. Magnet...every time. ...