Wren Kitchens, has anyone bought from them?

[Kingstepper]

Anyone use the Wren fitters?

[Martylaa]

So haggling, the more units you buy the better your chances. The 50% off is a con (surprise surprise), you will not find a true price list. They started out with a price of about £12k, when I finished laughing that immediately dropped to £8k. We finally paid just over £4,500, and about £600 for the electrical - all Bosch and all less than we could find anywhere else. The key is bid them and say you want to think about it, they will drop it, say you are a little unsure, they’ll drop it again. Go home and they will call you with their ‘best price’. Go in to sign up, and drive it down a bit more before you sign. Our kitchen is not huge by any stretch of the imagination but we bought a lot of units.
Good luck,

Cheers, approx 10 units, with Belfast sink, nice tap, handles, plinths etc etc they came down from £14,000!!! to £6181 in the blink of an eye, thats just supplying the units, no worktops or appliances as I can get them elsewhere cheaper.

Think if I get them down to £4k then I may go with them.

[JamesG]

A few years ago Wren Kitchens were one of my clients (I was a Management Consultant at the time) and I got to spend a few weeks travelling between a number of their showrooms including Bristol, Reading, Newcastle, Doncaster and some other places I can't remember, spending a few days in each. It was both interesting and eye opening.

Off the back of that I bought a number of units (Cashmere handle less as I recall) and worktops for a utility room and fitted it all myself. The units are pre-assembled and everything was very straight forward to fit, although I did need to go back to my local showroom (Guildford) and pick up an end panel that had been incorrectly sized during the design phase.

Last year I reconfigured that utility room and went back to them to get some extra units, again no dramas and all supplied quickly. Quality of the units had improved (thicker end panels, better carcass construction) and again I fitted it myself with no issues. Our main kitchen is Magnet and I would say that the Wren product is of better quality. It certainly feels more sturdy, but our Magnet fitter was excellent so I've had no issues with either. A key Wren differentiator is the strength of their drawers and while I was in their showrooms sales staff were encouraged to demonstrate this by standing in them. I kid you not.

So as has been mentioned, the quality of the fitter is key and haggle as hard as you can as the initial price was/is always much higher than they can sell for.

[TheFlyingBanana]

I don’t know about Wren or any of the other companies as our current kitchen was made and fitted by a local bespoke company, however I can give one tip!

Source the worktops separately and use a company that will come and fit them after the units have been installed- I’ve done this twice and both times got excellent value on a lot of high quality granite, beautifully fitted.

[kungfupanda]

Totally agree with the worktop recommendation. Get a separate company out to template and fit the worktop. It will work out a lot cheaper however it might delay the final instal slightly but the financial savings will more than outweigh the slight disruption.

Think I got a 3.5 metre run with two cutouts and draining channels supplied and fitted for £1600 from a local company up here in Manchester.

[MrSmith]

Anyone use the Wren fitters?

interested in this too.
i had the measuring up visit and am yet to go to the showroom. thing is i like the idea of the all in one option as it’s a tricky small kitchen and i don’t have any decent contacts to pull all the trades in or the time.

annoyingly my cousin is a carpenter/kitchen fitter in basingstoke but will not travel to me in SE london

[Martylaa]

I don’t know about Wren or any of the other companies as our current kitchen was made and fitted by a local bespoke company, however I can give one tip!

Source the worktops separately and use a company that will come and fit them after the units have been installed- I’ve done this twice and both times got excellent value on a lot of high quality granite, beautifully fitted.

That’s exactly what I’m doing, same with appliances, Wren will just be supplying the units, their units look good quality but I’ll save on getting things myself cutting out the middle man.


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[Glamdring]

Just our experience but when we visited their Guildford showroom they refused to give us a quote without first knowing what our budget was; they would not simply spec what we wanted and give us a price. They then produced a "quotation" that matched the amount they thought we had to spend.

Needless to say we went with a local'ish independent in the end.

I've met that with double glazing companies.

[jwillans]

Has anyone compared the prices / quality of Wren kitchens with "DIY kitchens"?

[kungfupanda]

Just a bump on this thread.

I’ve had my Wren kitchen since February 2018. A small drawer front which clips in to cover a small void under the oven has failed. The front corner has somehow become damaged and the front lacquer was peeling away.

I contacted Wren on Monday by phone. They asked me to email pictures. I got confirmation at 5pm that they would replace the door FOC and it has just arrived today.

Still very impressed with their customer service.

[mindforge]

Funny, I had a flip up cupboard above my microwave from Wren and could never get it to work, it kept failing and the hydraulic hinges couldn't hold the weight of the door. Wren sent some replacement hinges but these failed too and eventually we resorted to holding it open with our heads! Had to sell the house in the end... (unrelated to the door)

[SeePee]

If it helps I live in a National Trust cottage and Howdens do all theirs,ours is being done in February and Howdens design service has been great.

Just been installed not too thrilled with the quality of the carcasses behind the doors looks great but can’t see it lasting 20 + years like the previous one.

[Glamdring]

I see on the news today Wren is almost doubling the size of their factory in Barton-on-Humber.