My kitchen - pricing

[ProDave]

We are getting prices for our kitchen,  So far have approached Howdens, Magnet and a couple of the sheds, and had a look at DIY Kitchens.  Howdens are currently cheapest, but still over budget. Some negotiating / redesign needed.

 

My questions relate firstly to appliances as this may be where we can shave the costs.  So does anyone have the "best price" for the following:

 

Built in single fan oven (best price so far £350)

 

Built in matching microwave. Note this must be a proper built in unit, not a free standing microwave with a front plate to try and make it look built in. (best price so far £550)

 

Boiling water tap (i.e boiling water, domestic hot and cold all from one single hole tap)  (best price so far £450)

 

Island recirculating cooker hood (best price so far £290)

 

 

Second question relates to a granite / quartz or similar worktop, cut to size with hole for under mount sink and hole for tap.  I have never had one of these before, but I seem to be told you get a price for a blank, and then a price for "fitting" which means cutting it to size and cutting all the holes on site.  Is this normal?  If so then as this would be a "supply and fit" I would expect it to be invoiced at 0% VAT as it is going into a new build house.  Is this gernerally what people find happens in practice?

[ultramods]

which make/model of boiling water tap are you going for. £450 sounds quote cheap, do you know anyone that has the same make/model or seen reviews of it? I have used a couple of boiling water taps in holiday houses that have splutter the water out a lot which would be very annoying to live with.

 

Regarding worktops, yes price for worktop then additional price for the templating, cutouts and fitting. Have you seen this company before http://www.sheridan-uk.com/? You can sign in the view all the prices and they also appear to regularly have special offers.

[PeterW]

Hotpoint at Currys would get you the oven and micro for £550 all in with their current £50 discount code. 

[newhome]

We received 3 indicative quotes for the granite (well quartz actually) and used these guys as they provided the best quote.  It wasn't a separate cost for the templating, cutouts and fitting etc, it was supply and fit although I think we had to pay for the templating if we hadn't gone ahead with the order. Guess they may have changed their pricing structure these days as it was a while ago. They came and took a template and brought some samples along for us to choose from (we had already told them the types we were interested in from the website so they brought those) and we ordered that day. On the day of fitting they did do some cutting on the day (outside thankfully as it's hellishly dusty) and I think this was for the cutouts and the drainer grooves (not 100% sure as I was at work). I don't believe it was much though as most of it was pre cut including the splashbacks (that are thinner than the worktops). The splashbacks and worktop lengths were already cut to size I believe. 

 

http://www.glasgowgranitemasters.co.uk/

 

 

[ProDave]

26 minutes ago, newhome said:

We received 3 indicative quotes for the granite (well quartz actually) and used these guys as they provided the best quote.  It wasn't a separate cost for the templating, cutouts and fitting etc, it was supply and fit although I think we had to pay for the templating if we hadn't gone ahead with the order. Guess they may have changed their pricing structure these days as it was a while ago. They came and took a template and brought some samples along for us to choose from (we had already told them the types we were interested in from the website so they brought those) and we ordered that day. On the day of fitting they did do some cutting on the day (outside thankfully as it's hellishly dusty) and I think this was for the cutouts and the drainer grooves (not 100% sure as I was at work). I don't believe it was much though as most of it was pre cut including the splashbacks (that are thinner than the worktops). The splashbacks and worktop lengths were already cut to size I believe. 

 

http://www.glasgowgranitemasters.co.uk/

 

 

Thanks, the indicative prices on their website are about half what I have been quoted so enquiry sent.

[ProDave]

55 minutes ago, PeterW said:

Hotpoint at Currys would get you the oven and micro for £550 all in with their current £50 discount code. 

We want a separate microwave and oven, not both in one.

[ProDave]

1 hour ago, ultramods said:

which make/model of boiling water tap are you going for. £450 sounds quote cheap, do you know anyone that has the same make/model or seen reviews of it? I have used a couple of boiling water taps in holiday houses that have splutter the water out a lot which would be very annoying to live with.

 

Lamona, from Howdens, £450 plus VAT, and I though that was expensive.  No reviews at least none that I have seen.

 

There is this one on ebay for £300 but it does not tell me what make. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Instant-Hot-Boiling-Water-Kitchen-Tap-3-in-1-Cold-Hot-Water-Heating-Unit/192074602857?hash=item2cb889d969:g:pSkAAOSwi0RXzKr8

[newhome]

Cooker hoods - there are some cheaper ones here (but can't comment on the make / performance):

 

https://www.appliancesdirect.co.uk/ct/cooker-hoods/island-hoods?sortOrder=1

 

Tesco Direct have quite a few in that sort of price range (note they close down on 9th July)

 

https://www.tesco.com/direct/home-electrical/island-hoods/cat37480027.cat?source=others

 

[richi]

I found Howdens to be excellent value, but they have at least three price lists:

1. The retail price list (which you can't buy from, because they only sell to trade)
2. The fake trade price list, which they'll "accidentally" give you when you show enough interest in the showroom -- roughly 30% off retail for the cabinets
3. The real trade price list -- roughly 60-70% off retail

I guess the idea is that they expect the tradesperson to pay #3, but let you think you're paying #2, so they get a nice cut of the deal. My tradesman didn't play those games.

 

My experience is just with the cabinets and fittings. I didn't buy appliances or worktops from Howdens.

 

The fittings are mainly Häefler, but don't seem to be marked up from what I could get direct. 

Edited June 23, 2018 by richi
Häefler

[ProDave]

On the Howdens quote, each item lists the % discount applied. They seem to have applied 65% to the cabinets and up to 85% from the appliances.  Should I be negotiating for more discount from the cabinets?

[richi]

Hard to say. Here's part of my quote from a year ago. We negotiated it down from this by £200 plus some rather nice oak cutlery trays to replace the "silver" plastic ones.

[newhome]

22 minutes ago, ProDave said:

We want a separate microwave and oven, not both in one.

 

I think that's what @PeterW meant actually as you can get this:

 

https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/household-appliances/cooking/microwaves/hotpoint-mn-314-ix-h-built-in-microwave-with-grill-stainless-steel-10151127-pdt.html

 

and this:

 

https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/household-appliances/cooking/ovens/hotpoint-class-4-sa4-544-h-ix-electric-oven-stainless-steel-10153540-pdt.html

 

for £473 with the £50 off. 

 

Many built in microwaves are combis or have grills. Mine is a combi although I only actually ever use it as a microwave as I have a separate oven too. 

 

[PeterW]

11 minutes ago, richi said:

Hard to say. Here's part of my quote from a year ago. We negotiated it down from this by £200 plus some rather nice oak cutlery trays to replace the "silver" plastic ones.

 

That’s about 5-7% more than DIY kitchens and then there is VAT on top of that I assume ...?

 

Howdens door quality finishing is pretty average for what they charge - cabinets are ok, fittings are all a mix of Hafele and own brand stuff. 

 

Lamona is a mix of Candy, CDA and Beko. Ovens are Beko, dishwashers and laundry stuff is Candy. 

 

After my recent exchange with Howdens I wouldn’t touch them with a barge pole but that’s more about their company ethos rather than the products. 

 

Caveat Emptor

[MikeSharp01]

Someone told me that the trick with Howdens is to get the quote from them for everything you want then sit back and wait for one of their deals to kick in that brings the price down that bit more. It would have worked as we should have done that for the garden room kitchen but took too long deciding if we really wanted the  style when the offer was active. (You need an account so you get the offers) 

Edited June 24, 2018 by MikeSharp01

[Crofter]

If you have the patience to wait for stuff to come up secondhand, you can save a small fortune on the appliances.  E.g. my Bosch single fan oven was £50 and looks/works like new. 

[Triassic]

A friend has just taken delivery of a Wren kitchen and the build quality looks very good. He tells me the price was also good, he negotiated hard. The good thing with Wren is the units are delivered fully assembled, complete with doors fitted, so his 12 m of kitchen was installed in a day and a half.

Edited June 24, 2018 by Triassic

[ProDave]

2 hours ago, MikeSharp01 said:

Someone told me that the trick with Howdens is to get the quote from them for everything you want then sit back and wait for one of their deals to kick in that brings the price down that bit more. It would have worked as we should have done that for the garden room kitchen but took too long deciding if we really wanted the  style when the offer was active. (You need an account so you get the offers) 

At the moment their current offer is one free appliance, or a free wortktop. Their quote offers me the integrated dishwasher for £0.  I wonder if I could stretch the "free worktop" to be the granite one, cut and installed?  Somehow I doubt it.

[recoveringbuilder]

Howdens will give you an account as a self builder, we have had our account with them since our last build in 2007 , our kitchen came from there then , large kitchen with d/washer,w/machine and built in microwave and hood for cooker , central island a lot of units £5,500 , was still looking good when we left in 2016 however the new owners were going to keep it until they got a joiner in to do other work and he talked them in to a new one and organised it for them through howdens-£18000!

[newhome]

2 hours ago, ProDave said:

At the moment their current offer is one free appliance, or a free wortktop. Their quote offers me the integrated dishwasher for £0.  I wonder if I could stretch the "free worktop" to be the granite one, cut and installed?  Somehow I doubt it.

 

Personally I would never buy a granite worktop from a kitchen company. The granite specialists should always provide a more competitive quote and they will be fitting them day in day out. 

[Jeremy Harris]

10 minutes ago, newhome said:

 

Personally I would never buy a granite worktop from a kitchen company. The granite specialists should always provide a more competitive quote and they will be fitting them day in day out. 

 

 

Mirrors our experience. 

 

I cheated, in that when we were ordering our kitchen we spotted that the kitchen company used another company to cut, supply and fit stone worktops (there was a label on one of the stone samples).  I got a quote for the whole kitchen, supply only (except the worktops which were supply and fit) and then went to the worktop company directly and got them to quote to cut, supply and fit the stone.  I'd done the design and provided all the drawings, so there was no question of misusing any work the kitchen company had done.  The stone company quoted us around 60% of the price from the kitchen company, for exactly the same stone, including cutting and fitting.  Even then the stone worktops were around 50% of the total kitchen cost, excluding appliances.

[Ferdinand]

2 hours ago, ProDave said:

At the moment their current offer is one free appliance, or a free wortktop. Their quote offers me the integrated dishwasher for £0.  I wonder if I could stretch the "free worktop" to be the granite one, cut and installed?  Somehow I doubt it.

 

Remember that Howdens do sales in October, which can make a big difference.

[PeterW]

9 minutes ago, Ferdinand said:

 

Remember that Howdens do sales in October, which can make a big difference.

 

That is debatable as if you get the proper pricing it is near as counts as cheap as their “Sale” it’s just that they advertise the lower prices to get the public in. 

 

Magnet are the same - open a trade account and you get list -60%, Magnet retail sale is “up to 60% off, which is just trade prices really. 

[PAR1969]

Hi do you have any local independent kitchen suppliers - we got a really great deal with one (family based) who supply German made kitchens - as they were an independent business we were able to "negotiate" a really good price

[divorcingjack]

Can I chip in with a built in miele microwave (loads on eBay) for between £430 and £450. They have a grill function too. Loads of single ovens to match, including steam if that's your thing. 

 

As far as the island extraction hood goes, we are dropping the ceiling above the island, putting a cheap recirculating unit hidden away in the boxing, and fitting a slot grille. Very minimal and cheap and you can not the lighting in the dropped section too. 

 

 

[divorcingjack]

defo gumtree for the boiling water tap - there is a franke minerva one on there just now for about £200 I think. I always ask if they would package for a courier pickup, most people will box and then you just get a quote from parcel2go.