Has anyone installed a Howdens Kitchen in France? - if so what was your experience.
https://www.howdens-cuisines.com/produits/chaley-facades-a-cadre-bois-massif/
I have previously installed an Ikea kitchen, it seemed fine and was easy to install but reviewing their current designs I am not keen on them.
We have looked at Schmidt - good solid kitchens, expensive and again I don’t really like their designs.
Our kitchen here in the UK is Howdens, the one in France is Ikea. The Howdens feels generally better made, and there were more sensible units available at the time I designed the Howdens kitchen than there were from Ikea when I designed that one. The Howdens also has solid wood doors, which is nice. Many French kitchens I’ve seen, including in peoples houses, seem to be made of super-shiny melamine faced units, which do not appeal. The Chaley you linked to looks OK to me.
IIRC our Howdens cabinets were pre-built, which may be an advantage in some circumstances. I fitted out previous (MFI) kitchen 25 years before, and glued the cabinets so they were always sturdy through a refresh or 2.
Do they work the same as in the UK - only sell to the trade?
No in France they will sell direct to the public.
We had a Howdens kitchen fitted over 20 years ago. Still going strong.
I had a Wrighton kitchen back in Bretagne from 1989 - earlier this year when the new owners gutted the place to start again. It was in solid chestnut, never dated and never marked from all the abuse it got via the cats and dog too. Here, funds were reduced after covid as everything went up on the house construction so we went to Leroy Merlin, they designed it to what I wanted including a special size island unit, glass display shelving etc and for the cost, can recommend them. Only downside is that its flat pack so you have to fit and install or get a man who can. The quality is very good for the money paid and we installed my chosen electrical items very easily. Got 10% off too via their fidelity card which saved a few hundred euros.
Loyalty card saved you a few hundred, how much was ‘a man who can’ does that not balance your cost out ?
Considerably better quality than todays offerings and thats pretty universal for most kitchens, MDF cabinets and doors with thin paper coverings.
My son and I put it together ourselves as I bought the same kitchen units he had already fitted in his house the year before. He is qualified in electrics so easily fitted the appliances,moved sockets etc. Therefore we saved a great deal of money whereas previously, OH actually hand built my first UK kitchen and then updated the french one over the years. By the way, if anyone wants to install granite worktops, go to a marbrerie (funeral masons) and order them there, a fraction of the price of kitchen shops - I saved over €2000 by doing that in my first french kitchen and it was cut to special sizes and shapes as well.