Yes, Howdens is a great place to buy cheap kitchens & appliances, i am aware they are doing a 3 piece deal ,a cooker hob, extractor fan, oven, for £220 +Vat and they do have other deals , JORDAN From Tottenham N22 5QL branch is very help full 0208 888 7126

I found Howdens also very good. You can open a trade account easily. You can also offer less and negotiate a good price. They are very helpful

I recently bought a Magnet kitchen and really couldn't fault it thus far. They have a lot more 'on-trend' styles than Howdens do and the prices are fairly negotiable (we negotiated almost 50% discount on ours). It is worth going to both for a design appointment and see what they come out with re prices!

I own a kitchen and joinery company and have on more than one occasion quoted against Howdens and Magnet and knocked a considerable amount off their prices without knowing what the original prices were.
Just because they buy in bulk doesn't make the price any cheaper. We all buy in and put on a %. No doubt we buy from the same company. We used to buy from the same company as B&Q.
Some people just don't realise that automatically going to well known major outlets doesn't necessarily work out better. Perhaps try more than one independent. Another advantage with independents is that they can usually get bespoke sizes which saves having to use lots of fillers which look unsightly. We can buy carcases and fascias to the mm.

I am planning a new kitchen and so have just subscribed to WHICH? It makes fascinating reading. Appears that Ikea gets pretty good reviews and there is no bartering involved. Surprisingly, some of the better range cookers, freezers etc are not the ones we would expect. Take a look. For me it is the cost of worktops that makes me almost faint. I am opting for birch ply formica with a lovely stripey edge.

Just to weigh in on the Howdens comments, the key is to make sure you know someone in the trade who can put you forward to them, that way you just get dealt with as a trade using their account. They do have sales on but generally speaking the price doesn't fluctuate much through the year, except when they have their big sale on which is usually October time.

I do use Howdens and no, they're not perfect but most of the grumbles I hear are more to with customer service which don't fall in line with the glossy showroom kitchen providers. The quality of the kitchens is very good (25 year warranty iirc) so if you have access to them then do get a quote from them.

I think what I would say is that if you go to Howdens, expect a slightly tradesman type relationship (the showrooms are far from impressive) but a key thing is that they hold stock on most items. If you get a damaged door for example, it can be replaced next day, try getting that out of Homebase.......

With regard to appliances, we have SMEG in our kitchen and I'd never buy it again. Hobbs been fine, but three new ovens on warranty and whilst it now works fine, the previous two didn't. Previously we had Bosch for everything and it all worked faultlessly, so I can't recommend them enough.

I have just ordered a new kitchen. Looked at all the brands; Magnet, Howden's, Wren etc etc but not keen on any of them. Would have liked Neptune etc but am on a budget. Have got the cabinets from Bestkitchenquote.com - some lovely units. Siemen's are good but am getting Bosch appliances & then the builder it putting it all together. Good luck.

The dark grey one above looks like 1909 range which is one up from Second Nature.