Reply With QuoteGive wickes a go. Had ours done last year and the quality is unbelievable. We went everywhere looking.
We are in the planning process of "knocking through" between our kitchen & dining room, new floors, new everything. Mrs H suggested Wren, and they seem reasonable, but is the quality there? I have a vague recollection of seeing bad reports, but that was years ago, and my memory is unreliable.
Any experience, good/bad/indifferent?
Also worktops. We want white or whitish stone and I think it boils down to quartz v Corian. I'm inclined to quartz, but again no experience of either.
All advice is gratefully received.
Give wickes a go. Had ours done last year and the quality is unbelievable. We went everywhere looking.
Another vote for Wickes, though Howdens are good too. Friend had a Wren kitchen......and a load of hassle.
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Just did ours with these folk
https://www.solidwoodkitchencabinets...BoCnkoQAvD_BwE
The bottom line is all the others are mostly chipboard. These are wood throughout. The price difference is far less than you'd expect.
I had a Wren kitchen fitted. I hated it.
If you can go to a solid wood kitchen over chipboard then just do it if not then Howden are IMO decentOriginally Posted by M4tt
Last edited by mart broad; 11th December 2019 at 21:53.
I FEEL LIKE I'M DIAGONALLY PARKED IN A PARALLEL UNIVERSE
A friend of mine is a kitchen fitter.
Fits all makes Howdens wickes etc etc
He rates them highly says they go together well and quality is great.
I wouldn't go near them. We have just moved to a new conversion of an old industrial building and from a distance the Wren kitchen looks good. But... the units are very poor quality, the doors have dropped and the drawer fittings are mostly plastic and cheap. You can see the under cupboard lights though the gap between unit and the pelmet. Truly awful and will shortly be in a skip despite it being new.
I'll do my standard recommendation of diy-kitchens.
Completely unimpressed with the whole experience. Hindsight - would never use or recommend them again.
Like with most things of this sort, the competency of the fitter can make all the difference.
Cheers..
Jase
For worktops, can I recommend you look at Silestone? Of all the things we did when building our house from scratch, putting in Silestone worktops is up there as one of the best decisions we made.
Seconded.
Tapatapatapatapatalk
DIY kitchens all day long - best range, better quality all round.
When you look long into an abyss, the abyss looks long into you.........
Another vote for DIY kitchens!
Going to see their showroom on Monday. 10% off sale atm.
Wren have terrible customer service and if you need to make a change or add to your units you’ll have loads of trouble..
I would personally avoid them.
A friend of the family spend around 20k on a Wren kitchen and it was terrible, not fitted correctly, generally very poor quality etc. They had to take them to court in end as the after sales customer service was non existent.
We are in the midst of getting a new kitchen. Initially went to wren who’s showroom is very impressive. Got a plan done which was ok, nothing special. Came to £17k fitted.
Went to our local independent who do super UK made kitchens and the best Hacker German kitchens. They did an amazing spec, design and quoted with all Neff appliances etc and were £15,500 fitted.
I was quite shocked that. We’re getting a mega top spec German kitchen which is streets ahead in quality and finish for less money than a Wren.
Plus, the fitting team that the local company use are all directly employed and have nearly all worked for the local company for 10 years or more.
I’d say always give a couple of local independents a shout as well as the big boys.
Same goes for buying furniture. You’re comparing the likes of DFS and Harvey’s with a quality independent.
ETA - I might revise this post depending on how happy I am on Jan 29th when the new kitchen is fitted!
https://www.haecker-kuechen.de/en/systemat-art.html
Last edited by mr noble; 12th December 2019 at 08:51.
we are replacing our kitchen in January, Wren went out at round one as they don't do push to open doors, after a lengthy selection process we used KDH kitchens in Maidstone, the service and attention to detail is excellent. we stumbled across them when buying the Siemens Studio line appliances, they were very competitive. It is supply only but that's because I'm tight.
https://www.kitchendesignhouse.co.uk/
This very week I’m fitting my first diy kitchen and I’ve got to say the quality is up there with all the high street brands .
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A lot of folk use wren because of the 0% option,I don’t think they are too bad
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https://www.diy-kitchens.com/
No affiliation.
"Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it's enemy action."
'Populism, the last refuge of a Tory scoundrel'.
My daughter bought a kitchen from wren,my son fitted it,the quality was a little lacking in some areas.
Wren are good for one thing only, the display they have that has comparable units from Homebase/Wickes etc so you can see the difference in panel and door thickness.
I have installed many kitchens and on my 5th DIY Kitchens one now.
I've also installed a solid oak kitchen. I'm not sure there was any real advantage in having solid wood "behind the scenes". Sure, the doors are nice but the base unit could have been made of anything in my view.
I think they are streets ahead. Fully assembled units to start with!
BTW if you do go to wickes, at the end tell them you want 0% finance or you will go to wren. Worked for me
or go to Benchmarx kitchens and get exactly the same kitchen for half the price, both part of Travis Perkins
In my opinion -any fitted kitchen is only as good as the fitter
They all mostly made out of the same crap chipboard
But what do I know
Just had a look at their website. Seems have to get one of their designers in first - no mention of prices which are no doubt nebulous and will depend on my bargaining skills. Some people might enjoy this but immediately makes me look elsewhere - hate dealing with wide-boy salesmen.
I know three builders who use them, they all praise them and say they easily the lowest cost.
A friend of mine is using them for her kitchen and full of praise.
As she does home remodelling for other people, that counts as high praise for me.
M
Nobody has doubted the veracity of your comments so what’s the need for the point of that last sentence?
They know what they can get them for, not so sure average buyer will necessarily get similar price.
Other half's sister got a Wren kitchen. Had loads of hassle with wrong things delivered or things damaged.
It ended up ok in the end but was a real pain in the backside & took a while to sort.
Personally I wouldn't use them.
One of the problems with wren is they don’t stock anything,if you go to magnet or Howdens,if something turns up wrong or damaged you can usually get it swapped the same day .
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Thanks very much guys, that's a pretty resounding no to Wren, and ties in with my vague memory of a discussion about them.
Also thanks for your very good advice about alternatives, much appreciated.
Just done the same in our house. We ended up going for a Dekton ceramic worktop. Had quartz in the past and very pleased with this in comparison.
Ross
Whichever worktop you choose, don’t buy it from the kitchen supplier. They just pass it onto a third party and add their uplift. Go directly to a worktop supplier who will send their own staff out to template what is required first and then come back at a later date to fit.
Worked for them. Absolutely awful company. Parts missing. Long wait times for replacements. Bad communication definitely use a local smaller company against big boys. There’s far better out there.
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Seems from the above comments that Wren has gone down hill since we bought our kitchen from them around 10 years ago. We had no issues with them whatsoever. All cabinets were fully assembled prior to delivery, the planning was excellent as was the quality and price. No issues at all in returning one cabinet for a refund as we'd miscalculated. We did use our own fitters though.
Sad to see their standards seem to have dropped in the intervening time.
Best Regards - Peter
I'd hate to be with you when you're on your own.
We have chosen that, island, worktop and window sill, I hope it was the right decision as it is stupidly expensive.
Last edited by adrianw; 13th December 2019 at 10:16.
Did you have a look at these guys Adrian?
They were by recommended by two separate fitters before we went with a small local kitchen company who use their own fitters. They were very happy for me to use these guys rather than the company they use.
I was impressed with their showroom in Knebworth and they got my business by offering to do our utility room and downstairs loo, which we had specced in laminate, for free! We get to pick pieces of anything we like from their off cuts warehouse, and they'll template and fit it in those two rooms for nothing. They were also over £1500 cheaper than going through the kitchen company.
https://www.cawdorstonegallery.co.uk
The Dekton stuff did look lovely, but out of my price band!
Hi Greg, we did have a good look around, the island is 3.1 X 1.4 and they can do it in one piece, that is a big advantage, I forgot to say we are going top use it as a splashback as well. the kitchen is black (very dark Grey) Glass and it all matches very well.
Would t fancy trying to carry that slab in! 😂
What are the advantages over quartz?
Have a look at Schuller kitchens, Germany company. We've had ours for a couple of years and it's still like new despite a couple of heavy handed kids doing their upmost to destroy anything. Went with a quartz top which is again holding up very well. Not as expensive as you may think - we did pay a decent wedge for a cabinet maker/kitchen fitter as we live in a listed house with wonky walls/floors etc and it looks fab. Definitely find a good fitter.
Anyone thinking of using DIY Kitchens, they have a 10% off sale on at the moment. In a world where everyone seems to have permanent sales, I can confirm the DIY Kitchens one is genuine in that they only hold them once or twice a year for a short period.
No connection to the business, just a happy customer.
Mate of mine had huge issues with wren. There's a few anti wren fb groups set up.
For me I think it's more about the fitter than the kitchen in general, I had a freelance fitter install my cucina colore and 10 years later I'm still very happy with it.
Wren have some nice modern designs. I got our kitchen priced and designed by them came in at 9k and looked awful. Very nearly bought from DiyKitchens. Went to a local place doing a similar thing to diy but quality was next level. I ended up spending 9k which was way more than I anticipated.
I know a salesperson who works for wren and showed him my finished kitchen. First glance he thought it was a wren premiere kitchen and would cost 15k. So I’m very satisfied with the end result. I fitted the kitchen myself and was impressed with the carcass feet, if the bit you don’t see is quality then that tells me something. Apparently the owner took ages to find them and now sources them from Spain.
He does about 40 kitchens a month into London.
No affiliation but a pleased customer OKS online kitchen store.
Fancy German kitchen just not fancy prices
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