Any recommendations for where to buy a kitchen?

[Misscvsworn]

We have someone coming to fit it but haven't got a clue where is best to buy it from. Ideally like to keep cost down with a shaker style cream kitchen and wood work top.

Thanks

[Chocoholic]

Howdens in East Dulwich Road SE22. Just before Goose Green Rounderbout.

[BM13]

Try Bromley and Ellis in Herne Hill. We ordered kitchen and bathroom furniture from them couple of year ago, very pleased.

http://www.bromleyellis.com/

[Sue]

British Standard.

http://britishstandardcupboards.co.uk/

Excellent value for money. Solid wood and also supply wooden worktops or you can get those from elsewhere.

They come ready made, not as flatpacks.

Very helpful people too.

Be very careful with Howdens (although surely they don't have a branch near Goose Green Roundabout, Chocoholic???), they were outed in the Guardian recently as having three separate price lists. Here's the article:

Howdens Joinery, Britain?s biggest manufacturer and supplier of fitted kitchens, has been accused of helping builders exploit unsuspecting consumers by producing estimates that bear no relation to the true price of a kitchen.

The supplier recently produced three wildly different itemised estimates for one Hertfordshire family that varied from ?9,916 to ?44,895. Yet all three estimates relate to exactly the same set of modest kitchen units and appliances. So on the ?44,895 estimate, for example, a Howdens 1600RPM integrated washing machine is listed as costing ?1,291.99, yet on the ?9,916 estimate the price of the same machine has plummeted to ?380. And it?s a similar story with the other listed items. So how can the price of white goods and kitchen cupboards vary so dramatically?

Howdens is unusual in that it refuses to sell to the public direct. Builders buy the kitchen chosen by their customer and either pass it on at cost or sell it on at a profit ? helped, it is claimed, by estimates produced by Howdens staff.

Internet forums are awash with customers complaining about what they dub the company?s ?smoke and mirrors? pricing. But Howdens, which proudly displays its royal warrant on its website, argues that complainants simply ?don?t know how the building trade works?. What is not in doubt is that Howdens is a big beast in this sector, claiming that in 2015 it supplied more than 400,000 kitchens, 2.4m doors and 750,000 appliances to UK homes.

Adam Hussein, a surgeon who lives in Hertford, contacted Guardian Money to ask whether the company can be trusted by consumers given that it is seemingly happy to produce differing estimates at the drop of a hat. He says he was given three different quotes for exactly the same kitchen. The first, via his builder, was for ?16,003; the second, provided by Howdens directly, was for ?9,916; and the third, for ?44,895, was provided to show the ?full? price before discounts. Each one includes VAT at 20%. The paperwork, seen by Money, shows that this is for exactly the same kitchen units and appliances.

Hussein?s story will make uncomfortable reading for anyone who has had a Howdens kitchen fitted during the past few years. It also shows how anyone buying a kitchen in this way needs to be aware of how the system works.

It?s a very strange way to do business ? one that has left me thinking that I?d rather buy it elsewhere

?We were recommended a builder by a family friend, who in turn suggested we use Howdens because he said he?d be able to get us a good trade discount,? Hussein says. ?The saleswoman came and measured up and we chose the kitchen, but when the estimate came through it was ?16,000 ? significantly more than we?d been expecting, and much more than my brother had recently been quoted by Howdens for a similar-sized kitchen.?

When Hussein questioned it, the builder was, he says, evasive. And when Hussein took the matter up with Howdens, a representative asked him how well he knew his builder, and implied he might want to choose another. To his surprise, the company then set up an account for him in his own name.

?I was then sent an estimate in my own name for the same kitchen ? the only difference was that instead of ?16,000 it was now just under ?10,000. When I took it up with the builder he sent me a third invoice ? this time for ?44,000. This was the full price and appeared to be sent to allay our fears that he was overcharging us, and demonstrate that he?d got us a big discount.?

Hussein says the whole experience led him to call off the deal as he says he no longer trusts his builder, or Howdens. ?What I still don?t understand is what?s in it for Howdens to produce these estimates for the builder? Had I gone with the original quote would the builder have pocketed all of the extra ?6,000 on top of his fee that we had agreed to pay him to install the kitchen? Or would Howdens have kept some of that money for themselves? I still don?t know, but to me it?s a very strange way to do business ? one that has left me thinking that I?d rather buy it elsewhere,? he says.

A look online shows that Hussein is not the only person bemused by Howdens? far-from-transparent pricing policy. On the Mumsnet website there are several discussions on the subject.

?They will issue builders with two invoices, with a percentage mark-up of the builder?s choice on the second invoice to give to the client. This means that your builder can make a profit on any product purchased by Howdens. A really shady practice IMO,? says MakeItACider on one such thread.

On a similar thread on the MoneySavingExpert website consumers are also complaining of a lack of transparent pricing. ?Claims of an 80% discount are just smoke and mirrors,? says one. Another says: ?Howdens? discount structure is deliberately opaque and designed to favour the tradesman rather than the end user. So the best way to find out if you are getting a fair price is to get a comparative quote elsewhere.?

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Posters on these forums say that one of the odd things about the firm is the fact that some Howdens branches will deal with customers direct, provided they use a fitter, while others won?t. Others claim that prices vary significantly from branch to branch and depend on when in the sales commission cycle the estimates are issued.

A spokesman for the company told Money: ?Howdens? pricing is based on the confidential trade discount that it gives individually to each of its 430,000 trade customers. If and how our customer discloses the discount to clients is for them to decide when they give a quotation for the price of the project.

?In some cases a builder may choose not to show any of the discount, but could include the fitting cost and their profit margin within this. In some cases they may disclose all of the discount and will add on the fitting cost and profit margin as separate items. In other cases they will just give a single price for the whole project. Whatever the builder chooses to do, it is for them to decide.

?For the builder?s client, the key figure is the overall price quoted for the whole project. If they are unhappy with this they can discuss it with the builder or seek an alternative quote.?

?1,600 for a fridge-freezer?

Would anyone in their right mind pay almost ?1,300 for an apparently basic, own-brand washing machine? Or more than ?1,600 for a similarly basic fridge-freezer? How about ?1,090 for a dishwasher? All of these prices were on the Howdens ?full price? estimate given to Adam Hussein.

Car dealers have long had full ticket prices that no one actually pays. However, Howdens seems to have taken the concept to a whole new level. Hussein says he was left wondering why the company even publishes them in the first place, given their absurdity.

While the washing machine was quoted at ?1,291.99, another estimate received by Hussein shows that the exact same item could be supplied for just ?380 ? a ?912 saving. The dishwasher came down to ?320, while the integrated 70-30 fridge-freezer fell from ?1,609 to ?480.

You can easily find all three items on the Howdens website. You will also find photos of the items and full specs ? but no information about prices.

Shopping around, Guardian Money found what appeared to be an equivalent Beko washing machine from Appliances Direct for ?319. It was also selling Hotpoint and Whirlpool dishwashers boasting similar features for ?274 and ?328 respectively, and integrated 70-30 fridge-freezers made by Candy and Smeg for ?254 and ?408 respectively.

[edcam]

John Lewis.

[Jeremy]

Sue Wrote:

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> Be very careful with Howdens (although surely they

> don't have a branch near Goose Green Roundabout,

> Chocoholic???)

They do!! In the Goose Green Trading Estate.

[Salsaboy]

Ikea.

[Misscvsworn]

Thank you all. Helpful info.