Revealed: best stores for furniture and DIY supplies

Thinking of giving your home a makeover but don't want wobbly shelves or peeling wallpaper? 

Look no further. We quizzed thousands of shoppers on the top places to buy everything from paint brushes to power tools to bring you the definitive guide on the best DIY, decorating, homeware and furniture shops.

We heard about everything from tricky-to-navigate stores and dodgy deliveries to knowledgeable staff advising on specific projects.  

So whether you’re hanging up a few shelves or embarking on a major DIY project, our research has found the shops with unbeatable products, the best value and most helpful customer service - read on to find out more.

Which are the best DIY and furniture shops?

DIY specialist Screwfix is the top retailer for DIY and decorating this year, while department store John Lewis tops the table for furniture and homeware.

You can check out the highest-scoring retailers from our survey in the table. Use the drop-down button to flip between our DIY and decorating and furniture and homeware results. Links take you to the retailer's website.

• Find out more: best and worst shops based on what you're buying

Screwfix tops the DIY and decorating table

Shoppers love Screwfix for its customer service, both when buying and if something goes wrong. They also highly rate its product range, availability, quality and value.

Its returns policies passed our checks with flying colours, so it’s a Which? Recommended Provider (WRP). 

One customer said: ‘I love shopping there. Fantastic customer service, great range of products, excellent prices and speedy delivery on click and collect.’ 

Other WRPs are Brewers and Johnstone’s Decorating Centre. Both perform excellently for the quality of their products and their customer service.

Toolstation also did well across the board, and especially for customer service. But it isn’t a WRP as we believe its returns policies on faulty goods aren’t up to scratch. 

We think the wording of its policies could lead customers to wrongly believe they can't return items bought online if they've been opened and inspected. We also think the wording could lead customers to believe they have fewer rights than they do in relation to faulty goods, particularly more than 30 days after purchase – we’ve written to Toolstation asking it to make changes.  

• Find out more: best and worst DIY and decorating shops

John Lewis is best for furniture and homeware

For furniture and homeware, the department store John Lewis stands out from the crowd. 

It got top marks from shoppers for the quality of its products, range and availability of stock and its customer service - all this and it gets five stars for value for money as well. We’ve awarded it a WRP. 

One customer said: 'Good products, good range, good shop interior, good staff, good experience, good warranty and returns policy. Overall, one of the very best stores in UK.'

Procook, Lakeland and Next are also WRPs. They all get the maximum five stars for the quality of the goods they sell and the service they offer customers.

Ikea and M&S also performed well in our survey but didn’t make the grade because we have concerns over their returns policies. We’ve also written to them asking them to make changes.

• Find out more: best and worst furniture and homeware shops

Which stores came bottom? 

The table reveals the retailers that received the lowest customer scores in our survey. Again, you can flip between results for DIY and decorating vs furniture and homeware retailers using the dropdown.

For DIY and decorating, Home Bargains scored poorly for product range, availability and quality. Despite its name, it didn’t even offer great value, according to our survey. 

One customer said: ‘Products not of high quality – cheap purchase – had to throw away after use.’ 

Another remarked that the product they bought was fine, but it was often a matter of chance whether an item was available. 

Homebase (which went into administration in November), B&M and The Range were also at the bottom end of the table and only picked up two or three stars for every area we asked about. 

When it comes to furniture and homeware, Primark failed to impress shoppers on anything except value for money. 

One customer said Primark 'really needs to tidy up its store as there are always clothes all over the floor that people have just thrown there and staff have not picked them up.' Another added: 'There are almost no sales staff to help.'

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