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Oh wise ones - I’m after advice / information...

Three and a half year s into living here, we’re finally in a position where we can and really need to replace the kitchen (apparently a 25 year old MFI one).

Ive had the Howdens guy out to do a design and I’ve had the quote for that - much more reasonable that I was expecting.

So - does anyone have a Howdens kitchen or had dealing with Howdens and have anything to say? My alternative is DIY kitchens - does anyone know anything about them?

Thankyou.

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Gold star for DIY kitchens :-D

We went for a day trip to Yorkshire to look at what we'd chosen in our basket only to find that we changed our minds once we looked around.

Well worth a visit even just to choose one of their 60 + worktops.

We were quoted £30k for a kitchen from a local shop. From DIY kitchens we bought a whole new kitchen. We bought glass splash backs all round and Karndean flooring in our kitchen, hall and downstairs toilet for almost £6k.

It did take longer doing it ourselves but definitely much cheaper. 

 

 

 

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I don't know Howdens kitchens, but form experience when I got mine done several years ago, I would shop around, take your plan/visuals to various suppliers to get alternative prices to beat them down with - they all have a massive margin for reduction, and plenty of sales too. I managed to bring mine in (total amount) for less than half what the suppliers quoted me - I beat them down in price, used their design but got my own fitter (much better than theirs) to install it. My final amount included wall and floor tiles and painting, which theirs didn't.

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Our kitchen is made by Howdens - it seems nice enough quality.  But I'll be changing it at some stage - the top cupboards are way too high and I can't reach the top shelves!  They have little things in the tight corners of the doors so that they don't slam when closing - nice.  There are two corner units with 2 funny peanut shaped shelves that pull out - I preferred my old kitchen there - so much room is wasted and then my doors were hinged so I could access the whole corner unit shelves easily.  The sliding drawers are nice for saucepans and frying pans but still fiddling about to see where our stuff can be stashed away.  Still, there may be that option.  For a modern kitchen (this is 10 years old) it seems quite good quality.

Enjoy the process - it's messy, but well worth getting the kitchen made to your own design and requirements.  

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8 hours ago, Grandmashazzie said:

My daughters friend got Ikea Kitchen,got her own fitter,then went elsewhere for expensive worktops,apparently it looks fabulous.

Yes, I've seen one in situ and it looked fab and they have a lot of fancy storage.  I think I will pay the £50 fee for the ikea planners to come to my house because I wouldn't know where to start otherwise and then my lovely plumber will fit it for me

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On 31/10/2018 at 9:50 AM, SeramaSilly said:

Ooooo I'm going to follow this thread too - we're desperate for a new kitchen and will finally have the funds for it by next Spring.  I really like the high gloss grey kitchen in Ikea and my plumber seems to like fitting them!

I really wanted high gloss white but once we had our day trip to Yorkshire (a long way from Hampshire) we decided on the high gloss cream.We also chose a different tap and sink and worktop to our original choice - that's what I meant about everything changing.

I love my shiny cream very much.

21 hours ago, Patricia W said:

My friend is having a Magnet kitchen fitted by a local tradesman.  

Admittedly a while ago now, but my parents had Magnet. It was a pine kitchen but the doors themselves a few years later started leaking glue and the pine went very, very yellow. The other thing was that the man told my mum she didn't need a certain oven, so she got what the Magnet man said instead but always regretted not standing up to him for what she wanted. She eventually got the oven she wanted much later.

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We've just gone with Wren. Pretty competitive pricing, especially given we're having quartz countertops. They're doing our pantry/utility area for us too. And they're pretty easy to customise. We're having dark blue cupboards at the bottoms, white quartz counters, and then some cupboards at the top. A new range oven, a dishwasher, a second wall oven/microwave, and a new 'American' style fridge-freezer.

You can go in and get one designed and you even get these cool 3D renderings and they can show it to you on VR. We got a lot of money off on discounts and interest free repayments etc.

The kitchen is costing us £12k - but £3k of that is quartz countertops, and the another £2k is on a new oven, fridge-freezer, and dishwasher - so depending on what you want, it can be a lot cheaper. We've also gone with a slightly more expensive design. Oh, and the kitchen is 5m long with an island too, which also adds to the cost.

The pantry is another £7k on top, but that's because the cupboards have some hidden draw systems - oh, and because Rich decided he wanted an £800 wine cooler out there too! 9_9

Here's the design of our kitchen:

https://panorama.wrenkitchens.com/?image=aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWFnZS53cmVua2l0Y2hlbnMuY29tL3Bhbm9yYW1hLzEwMTg1NC5qcGc/cz05M2ZmY2E0ODI2NjYxOTJiMmNjNzI4ZDg1YTljZWMwZA==

And the utility/pantry area:

https://panorama.wrenkitchens.com/?image=aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWFnZS53cmVua2l0Y2hlbnMuY29tL3Bhbm9yYW1hLzMxODE1MC5qcGc/cz05YWEyNGE1YjQ1ZTZiOTkzZmEyNWM0NmYwMDgzMGNkMw==

You'll have to forgive the fact that the images distort slightly and you need to zoom out... it can give you a bit of vertigo. lol

Edited by AndyRoo
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8 hours ago, SeramaSilly said:

storage.  I think I will pay the £50 fee for the ikea planners to come

Howdens will do this for free then you can use their plan to compare prices for other places

33 minutes ago, AndyRoo said:

We're having dark blue cupboards at the bottoms, white quartz counters, and then some cupboards at the top

Hahaha - me too 😂 Just I cant afford the quartz worktop.

34 minutes ago, AndyRoo said:

can go in and get one designed and you even get these cool 3D renderings and they can show it to you on VR

This is what Howdens to too

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1 hour ago, mullethunter said:

Howdens will do this for free then you can use their plan to compare prices for other places

Hahaha - me too 😂 Just I cant afford the quartz worktop.

This is what Howdens to too

We looked at Howdens, but we just didn't find anything we liked - although I think Howdens were probably slightly cheaper overall. Looked in Magnet too, but we thought they were slightly overpriced!

I thought I wasn't going to get my countertops, but with some offer they had on they were actually a lot less than we thought they were going to be! Phew! Plus I had been begging Rich for about the last 8 years to get a kitchen with quartz counters - so I finally got my own way! lol

He's now banned from cutting anything on the counters, putting anything hot down without a matt, and he's not allowed to use anything that might stain, either. MWAHAHAHAHAHA!

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1 hour ago, AndyRoo said:

He's now banned from cutting anything on the counters, putting anything hot down without a matt, and he's not allowed to use anything that might stain, either. MWAHAHAHAHAHA!

That’s so funny. We’ve had exactly this conversation at work today - why would anyone just cut cheese directly on the worktop and then leave greasy cheese crumbs and the knife out!!!!??? I mean WTAF??!! One of my friends said I should put a lock on the kitchen door and make my OH use the utility room instead if the kitchen unless he can prove himself worthy 🤣😂

I’m not even a clean freak but if I have something nice I do like it to stay nice.

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1 hour ago, Valkyrie said:

Be careful with fruit juices - the acid can affect the stone.  In spite of telling my lot to put their glasses on the table and then pour their orange/pineapple etc, my granite ended up getting a bit of damage.  Grrrr!  But I loved my granite.

Rich knows that I will pull his toes off and feed them to him if he spills! lol

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17 minutes ago, mullethunter said:

That’s so funny. We’ve had exactly this conversation at work today - why would anyone just cut cheese directly on the worktop and then leave greasy cheese crumbs and the knife out!!!!??? I mean WTAF??!! One of my friends said I should put a lock on the kitchen door and make my OH use the utility room instead if the kitchen unless he can prove himself worthy 🤣😂

I’m not even a clean freak but if I have something nice I do like it to stay nice.

It's not so much the clean freak in me - although that is a large part of it - but, currently, we have wooden counters and Rich will cut things directly on them even though we have chopping boards! It drives me absolutely insane!! When I complain about it damaging the counters his response is "I don't damage them!", at which point my eye starts twitching because I can literally see the cuts in the wood!!

Rich is a lot messier than I am in every aspect. I could happily live in a minimalist environment, unfortunately living with him is like sharing a house with 4 students at once. After 15 years of it, I've sort of made my peace with it. I just keep telling myself that if we ever adopt a kid, at least I'll be able to explain the mess off as to do with children as opposed to one grown man!! lol 

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2 hours ago, AndyRoo said:

We looked at Howdens, but we just didn't find anything we liked - although I think Howdens were probably slightly cheaper overall. Looked in Magnet too, but we thought they were slightly overpriced!

I thought I wasn't going to get my countertops, but with some offer they had on they were actually a lot less than we thought they were going to be! Phew! Plus I had been begging Rich for about the last 8 years to get a kitchen with quartz counters - so I finally got my own way! lol

He's now banned from cutting anything on the counters, putting anything hot down without a matt, and he's not allowed to use anything that might stain, either. MWAHAHAHAHAHA!

I thought you could put hot things on quartz worktops - I thought that was the point of them?

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18 hours ago, SeramaSilly said:

I thought you could put hot things on quartz worktops - I thought that was the point of them?

It's a yes and no answer. They are better with heat than laminate - and sometimes wood, BUT the resin in them can burn if you put something really hot on them like a pan straight off the stove. They don't split and crack like granite might under heat, but they can discolour and scorch!

Google 'quartz countertop burns' and do some research if you're thinking of getting them. :)

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