Buying a howdens/ benchmarx kitchen

[Fmm]

I'm looking to buy a howdens/ benchmarx kitchen - I think - as I understand they are cheaper than a kitchen showroom kitchen. However I am baffled as to how I find out how much it will cost. I need to know how much the kitchen will cost before I decide on the builder, so that I can budget accordingly for the building work. However you can't get prices, they will only be given to a builder. So, my kitchen units may cost ?8k or they may cost ?18k and I don't know until I have engaged a builder to fit the thing! Plus every builder asks which kitchrn I am going for, but I can't confirm as I don't know how much they each cost! Is there any way to find out the cost of a kitchen before engaging a builder? I don't want to waste a builders time, or worse, engage a builder, before knowing how much the kitchen is going to cost approx. can anyone tell me how I deal with this? Thanks a lot.

[DuncanW]

From my experience, Howdens only deal with trade, so you won't get a price from them.

If builders want to know what kitchen, they will know what's involved with Howdens as they are all the same carcassing I think. Some other kitchen types do require more involved fitting.

Prices: depends on how many units obvs and there is a range of styles so you won't know a final figure until you're a bit further down the line. I would say the ?8k figure is a lot closer to where you'll end up than the ?18k.

They do have a showroom in ED tho that is open to the public and I believe open on Saturday mornings.

[davidq100]

We recently had a Howdens kitchen installed by our builder as part of a bigger project. For us at least they were ok to tell us the costs involved, although presumably that's because they were able to create a quote on our builder's account.

For what it's worth it cost about ?5.5k for Burford cabinets and doors, handles, a built-in microwave, wine fridge and waste disposal. Ours was quite a large kitchen with a long run of cabinets along one wall and an island. The quote was similar to Ikea, a little cheaper than Wickes and massively less than Magnet. We bought the worktops (quartz) separately from Bells on Lordship Lane after a tip on the forum. Was a good decision as they were cheaper than anyone else and did a great job with installation.

We are very happy with the end result - the kitchen looks amazing and has a genuine quality feel. I'd certainly recommend the Howdens units although for what its worth, we also had a quote from Bells for comparable cabinets and doors which were a little more expensive than Howdens but not by much.

If you set-up an appointment with Howdens (Kevin is the manager there I think), they should be able to give you some indication of the cost. I'd also suggest having a chat with Keith at Bells.

[Fmm]

Thank you very much - that's really helpful.