Howdens Kitchen Accessories

[hannahdeen]

I have moved into a new house which has a Howdens kitchen fitted, however it was only a basic installation so I am looking to purchase some additional things to make it slightly easier to use - a cutlery drawer, a divider for the pan drawer and an under sink bin. The drawers are 600mm wide (externally)

I tried Howdens and they wont sell to me without a builder, and I don't want to hire a builder to buy me some accessories! Does anyone have any suggestions of companies who will sell these things that fit the drawer correctly?

I have looked on ebay/amazon etc. and you can get drawer inserts but I want to guarantee the perfect fit

[davyp1]

Go back to Howdens. Perhaps ask to speak to a manager and explain your dilemma.
The fact that you have inherited an Howden Kitchen and just want to improve it with accessories should be enough.
If that provides no joy, keep going up the ladder!
You may not get hold of the Sales Director on the phone, but a bit of research will get you email addresses.
Their stance is ludicrous.
Keep going right up to the MD if you have to!

Davyp1

[hannahdeen]

I called them today to discuss, and they flat out refused to even entertain it! My mum is going to pop in directly on Monday but if not its not a bad idea to contact the office, I have tried to find the pan drawer dividers online but they dont seem to be readily available - my parents got their kitchen from Ikea and it seems a lot easier!

[arco_iris]

From my experience, albeit many years ago, Ikea kitchens are weird sizes and their accessories like drawer dividers don't fit British made units, so definitely don't go there.

You could try, no promises though, B&Q accessories which can be bought separately, open the box very carefully, see if they fit satisfactorily - take them back for a refund if not.

You may find that (a) there are two types of drawer liner (I.T. Kitchens / Cooke & Lewis, see below) - buy one of each (b) you may find the liner too short, in which case pack it forwards at the back, you'll never see the packer (c) it may be a little too wide, you can sit it on something to raise it up (old magazines) or carefully cut it down.

Pan drawer dividers don't come separately at B&Q afaik, they're included in the drawer box kit and are more trouble than they're worth anyway, so get thrown away. They do look similar, I have a couple of sets of C&L ones, perhaps another forum member knows if they will fit?

The bins, assuming you mean door mounted ones, will almost certainly fit but you may possibly not be easily able to use any mechanism that opens the lid as it pulls out.

British kitchens are all pretty similar allowing for whether made of 15mm or 18mm carcases, e.g. a 600 wide standard unit less 2 x 18mm sides will always be 564mm wide inside. Drawers can vary in construction having wooden sides (narrower inside) metal sides (wider) or the C&L ones have a shaped side - have a look at the displays.

Best of luck! If this doesn't work, make a note of the item numbers you are interested in from the H website, send me a Private Message with your postcode & I will investigate being able to help, as long as you're not in a great hurry (2-4 weeks).

[wine~o]

kitchen units tend to be standard sizes (ish) so Magnet kitchens/wren kitchens/ homebase kitchens may well have inserts that are the exact same size. Measure internally and ask around.