New Kitchen

I had a Howdens kitchen fitted in my last house. The cost was the same as the Wickes quote I had and it was good quality.
I did not like the salesman or his design or their way of only dealing with the builder and not the customer. I had to use them as the builder I found only used Howdens.
I'm considering a new kitchen in my new house and planning to get a quote from Wickes and a local bespoke company.

Franbern they left a toilet that was not accessible to a 86 year old lady and when that was pointed out, they shrugged their shoulders and left. My uncle phoned wickets who said it was nothing to do with them and to take it up with the sub contractor. Mum had to decamp to her brother's for a couple of days. Their callousness was shocking.

We went to a small local kitchen installer. We have Dutch cupboards and Miele appliances - after 10 years it is as good as new. We found going to a local supplier meant the after sales was excellent. We were so thrilled we had my DD's kitchen in London done by them - they sent their fitter down there for a week!

KseniyaP would welcome contact details. Thanks
Franbern I’ve had visits and designs from Wren and Howdens, no money involved.

Ithought it was not legal to leave someone without a working toilet, even overnight, when work is being carried out.

I notice that several people on this thread have mentioned that they obtained designs from various companies. Is that a possibility? - as I have been told that some companies will only do a design if you put a deposit down for them to do the eventual supply of units.

I'm late to this thread but would not ever recommend Wickes. My friend's mother had a kitchen from them and everything went smoothly. My own mum ordered a kitchen and bathroom and had a catalogue of failures from them. Work not done, units missing etc. They were not at all helpful when contacted. Apparently they don't have their own fitters and sub contract out so you're at the mercy of who you then get. It was a truly awful experience for her. They left her with no toilet or bath for a week. Dreadful firm.

I am planning a new kitchen, but not for about three years - if I can manage to hold out that long, So, just looking and getting ideas together.

I would do my own design - as only I really know what things are most and least important to me and how I want to store things. Enjoyed looking at Ikea kitchens yesterday, loads of good, useful space saving ideas. Likely, eventually to take my design to their design department to see what they say - but really will only want them to do the very final sorting out on this. Whoever, I finally go to, I will need to do all the work to get it put together.

Will be wanting mainly drawers in base units rather than cupboards. Having loads of fund looking.

Hobs not jobs.

Induction jobs with circles will only take pans the size of the circle. Crosses you can put any size pan on any cross. Eg small circle only small pan etc but crosses you can put either a milk pan or preserving pan on any cross.

KseniyaP

If you want something personalized, you can make custom-made furniture. then all your wishes will be taken into account both in style and quality and in price - this is ideal!
we ourselves have recently used custom-made furniture for the first time - I am very pleased! I got what I wanted, I am delighted with the working team!

If you need, I will share a contact where we made furniture

If you want something personalized, you can make custom-made furniture. then all your wishes will be taken into account both in style and quality and in price - this is ideal!
we ourselves have recently used custom-made furniture for the first time - I am very pleased! I got what I wanted, I am delighted with the working team!

GrannySomerset thank you, we’re having quartz worktops, there isn’t a huge amount. The separate discussion running here on vinyl flooring is helping me too.

Whiff, what is the difference between induction hobs with crosses to circles?

My home improvements guys recommended Benchmarx because he had a trade account .I had a very good deal because he let me have the whole discount they give him and a beautiful kitchen which was fitted nearly a year ago. Wide range of worktops and cabinets. Only had sink and tap from them. Sourced my own appliances. If you want an induction hob have on with crosses not circles.

Jax hope you’ve bought it in the annual Howden’s sale. The way it worked out our fridge/freezer cost £2.99! We ‘ve been delighted with our kitchen and it still looks as good 5 years on.

Jax our Howden kitchen is five years old and looks like new. We were delighted with it and still are, and I would choose it again. We decided against wooden work surfaces, having had them in a previous kitchen, and I am too neurotic for any form of shiny stone, so our wood effect laminate is fine. We also have a lot of it so couldn’t have the most expensive kind. Hope it all goes well and that you are as happy as we are with the results.

I had an Ikea kitchen and fitted it myself (as I'm extremely fussy and wanted it millimetre perfect). I'm very pleased with the result.

B&Q

Taken a while, with this my first topic on here. Have plumped for Howdens, due to be fitted in November, hopefully. I’ll probably bore you all to pieces with it!

I've had new kitchens from both Wickes and IKEA and both have been excellent value for money but for sheer ingenuity of storage solutions, and guarantee of durability, IKEA wins hands down.

We had kitchen plans from Homebase, Wren and Wickes. Thought about their suggestions then did our own plan. Decided on Wren. Their ‘designer’ found one flaw in our plan which we were happy to change. As we were new to the area we did use their fitter and were incredibly lucky to get a good one who was thoughtful and paid great attention to detail. Seven years on the kitchen only has one small ‘dink’, totally my fault and continues to get compliments. Having said that if we refitted now with the benefit of local knowledge we would use a small, local company.

B&Q and Howdens is the same company so cheaper to look at B&Q then order from Howdens.
The one extra I bought which I am so glad I did is aluminium liners for the shelves. My kitchen is now 15 years old but still looks great.

As others have said the fitting and finish is really important. In our last house we had a difficult shaped kitchen and bought solid oak units. They had to be cut to fit the difficult spaces, by the independent fitter.
A different fitter fitted the sold beech work top. The whole kitchen looked as good as new 8 years later, when we moved.
Our new house already had a Howdens kitchen, solid painted wood, to our taste and probably about 8 years old.
My only grumble, is that the paint is chipping on the sink unit and Howdens don’t do touch up paint! I can match the colour in ordinary paint, but it looks different when applied.

We used Howdens for our solid wood kitchen last year and are very pleased with it. We chose our own fitter based on local recomendations from our Builder, and he was excellent, made a first class job. I much prefare a simple kitchen rather than one with lots of fitted racks and gadgets, which are often more expensive than the units themselves, and turn out to be nothing but dust harbourers and gimmicks. We do love our new deep pan draws and wide under hob unit though, so practical and easy to use, much better than trying to reach stuff out of the back of a low base cupboard, and you can easily see straight away what is actually in there.

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