Talk to me about Wren kitchens
Discussion
judas said:
gangzoom said:
If you have already paid a deposit with Wren good luck getting it back!!
Had absolutely no problem getting our deposit back. That's about the only good thing I can say about them. With ours, we told them our budget and had something designed to meet it. What they didn't say was that half the order didn't include fitting - only found that out when the fitter came to do the pre-fit survey and said that there would be an additional fitting charge for half the kitchen as it was being supplied flat-pack! Cancelled the order immediately as we'd been misled. Had the deposit back the next day.Fitting is clearly offered at an additional cost of course.
Wheatsheaf said:
My Wren kitchen is coming up to 8 years old and about half of the doors are delaminating... on this basis I would not recommend them. I have a utility room which is in the full glare of the sun all day with the cheapest possible B&Q units and they still look brand new 10 years later.
Our B&Q kitchen is 28 years old and from the outside still looks like new...........However the carcases are suffering from the weight of kitchen stuff Mrs BC has loaded in them so we need to replace the kitchen - I've already braced two shelves in corner cupboards and another one will need the 2x2 treatment soon.
Some of the units will be transplanted into the utility room (and I get a few new wall cupboards for the garage)
I went and looked at B&Q again and was very unimpressed - it's early days in the search for a new kitchen but comments here are useful regarding Wren,
We had a Wren kitchen fitted 9 years ago.
Positives: Good design service, delivery was great (turned up on time, no missing bits), kitchen is still in good condition. We cook every day and bake about twice a week so heavy use and nothing has fallen off yet.
Negatives: While they don't employ the fitters, they appoint the fitters. Ours were appalling. Wren quoted 1 week for the job, fitters took 3 weeks, not helped by them going on holiday in the middle of a job. On other days would turn up for 2 hours and go home, leaving house unlocked etc etc. Had issues with the fitting and finish of worktop, Wren were quite good, inspected the job, replaced the worktop and had it fitted by someone more competent.
We are happy with Wren as a supplier, but would find our own fitters next time.
To be fair we had an even worse experience when having a bathroom fitted with a national (no longer in business) chain. Basically find your own good workmen and use them for everything is what we have learnt. Convenient to get a one stop service but hear too many horror stories.
Positives: Good design service, delivery was great (turned up on time, no missing bits), kitchen is still in good condition. We cook every day and bake about twice a week so heavy use and nothing has fallen off yet.
Negatives: While they don't employ the fitters, they appoint the fitters. Ours were appalling. Wren quoted 1 week for the job, fitters took 3 weeks, not helped by them going on holiday in the middle of a job. On other days would turn up for 2 hours and go home, leaving house unlocked etc etc. Had issues with the fitting and finish of worktop, Wren were quite good, inspected the job, replaced the worktop and had it fitted by someone more competent.
We are happy with Wren as a supplier, but would find our own fitters next time.
To be fair we had an even worse experience when having a bathroom fitted with a national (no longer in business) chain. Basically find your own good workmen and use them for everything is what we have learnt. Convenient to get a one stop service but hear too many horror stories.
king awful. I can’t see if you’ve said you’re fitting it yourself or not. Had a friend recently had a wren install and it sounded a bit like luck of the draw on who wren appoint to fit it. The guy appointed didn’t want to do it through wren as he could get paid more if the friend bought the kitchen and then employed him direct. I suspect he may have also asked for cash.
No problem of you’re comfortable with that sort of thing. But if I was spending £10k plus on something I want it all done legit.
I think my point is, the kitchen will be comparable to all other high street flat pack suppliers, but you might end up with a cowboy anyway.
No problem of you’re comfortable with that sort of thing. But if I was spending £10k plus on something I want it all done legit.
I think my point is, the kitchen will be comparable to all other high street flat pack suppliers, but you might end up with a cowboy anyway.
James6112 said:
judas said:
gangzoom said:
If you have already paid a deposit with Wren good luck getting it back!!
Had absolutely no problem getting our deposit back. That's about the only good thing I can say about them. With ours, we told them our budget and had something designed to meet it. What they didn't say was that half the order didn't include fitting - only found that out when the fitter came to do the pre-fit survey and said that there would be an additional fitting charge for half the kitchen as it was being supplied flat-pack! Cancelled the order immediately as we'd been misled. Had the deposit back the next day.Fitting is clearly offered at an additional cost of course.
I’ve looked at all the low/mid suppliers recently as I’m fitting a kitchen for my daughter in her first flat.
B&Q product is cheap for a reason - the carcasses aren’t as solid as others and have cheap hinges etc. having said that it’ll probably do a job perfectly well. I’ve had B&Q units in a hard working laundry room for 17 years and they stood up fine.
Wren carcasses are OK but their wrapped doors don’t have the best reputation for longevity. And their weakness is the fitter and rectification.
Benchmarx are expensive compared with others.
Howdens have the trade-only issue and lack of clarity on pricing.
Ikea are cheaper units and have the issue of a lack of service void which just makes fitting harder.
Wickes have a good product at a slightly higher price than others but it’s competitive if you can time it with a sale and then 10/15% TradePro discount.
Magnet is a decent product but it’s expensive.
DIY Kitchens are the standout for me and who I’ll be using - amongst the cheapest on price but carcasses come pre-assembled, are 18mm MDF with a nice solid back (not hardboard) and Blum hinges.
DIY Kitchens are also very cheap for solid worktops. I can’t get a local supplier/fitter close to their price on granite.
If I wasn’t going with DIY Kitchens I’d be going with Wickes.
Overall I was pretty impressed with the product from all the suppliers. Even the cheapest product (B&Q) was perfectly OK and no worse than all mainstream kitchens from say 20 years ago - just that some of them have moved the game on (MDF not chipboard, solid backs, decent hardware etc).
B&Q product is cheap for a reason - the carcasses aren’t as solid as others and have cheap hinges etc. having said that it’ll probably do a job perfectly well. I’ve had B&Q units in a hard working laundry room for 17 years and they stood up fine.
Wren carcasses are OK but their wrapped doors don’t have the best reputation for longevity. And their weakness is the fitter and rectification.
Benchmarx are expensive compared with others.
Howdens have the trade-only issue and lack of clarity on pricing.
Ikea are cheaper units and have the issue of a lack of service void which just makes fitting harder.
Wickes have a good product at a slightly higher price than others but it’s competitive if you can time it with a sale and then 10/15% TradePro discount.
Magnet is a decent product but it’s expensive.
DIY Kitchens are the standout for me and who I’ll be using - amongst the cheapest on price but carcasses come pre-assembled, are 18mm MDF with a nice solid back (not hardboard) and Blum hinges.
DIY Kitchens are also very cheap for solid worktops. I can’t get a local supplier/fitter close to their price on granite.
If I wasn’t going with DIY Kitchens I’d be going with Wickes.
Overall I was pretty impressed with the product from all the suppliers. Even the cheapest product (B&Q) was perfectly OK and no worse than all mainstream kitchens from say 20 years ago - just that some of them have moved the game on (MDF not chipboard, solid backs, decent hardware etc).
PhilboSE said:
I’ve looked at all the low/mid suppliers recently as I’m fitting a kitchen for my daughter in her first flat.
B&Q product is cheap for a reason - the carcasses aren’t as solid as others and have cheap hinges etc. having said that it’ll probably do a job perfectly well. I’ve had B&Q units in a hard working laundry room for 17 years and they stood up fine.
Wren carcasses are OK but their wrapped doors don’t have the best reputation for longevity. And their weakness is the fitter and rectification.
Benchmarx are expensive compared with others.
Howdens have the trade-only issue and lack of clarity on pricing.
Ikea are cheaper units and have the issue of a lack of service void which just makes fitting harder.
Wickes have a good product at a slightly higher price than others but it’s competitive if you can time it with a sale and then 10/15% TradePro discount.
Magnet is a decent product but it’s expensive.
DIY Kitchens are the standout for me and who I’ll be using - amongst the cheapest on price but carcasses come pre-assembled, are 18mm MDF with a nice solid back (not hardboard) and Blum hinges.
DIY Kitchens are also very cheap for solid worktops. I can’t get a local supplier/fitter close to their price on granite.
If I wasn’t going with DIY Kitchens I’d be going with Wickes.
Overall I was pretty impressed with the product from all the suppliers. Even the cheapest product (B&Q) was perfectly OK and no worse than all mainstream kitchens from say 20 years ago - just that some of them have moved the game on (MDF not chipboard, solid backs, decent hardware etc).
I’ve just fitted my first DIY kitchen after many years of using Howdens. Howdens wanted £5500, DIY was £4100 and better spec. I have asked Howdens to price match in the past but I couldn't be arsed this time and just ordered from DIY. There isn't that much difference in quality, as you say the backs are better, the doors I got are thicker and the minimum standard for hinges and drawers are Blum. I'm not as keen on the corner posts and the units aren’t quite as deep, but apart from that they are excellent for the money, one door was slightly off colour and they changed it without any fuss. Their new showroom opens this week.B&Q product is cheap for a reason - the carcasses aren’t as solid as others and have cheap hinges etc. having said that it’ll probably do a job perfectly well. I’ve had B&Q units in a hard working laundry room for 17 years and they stood up fine.
Wren carcasses are OK but their wrapped doors don’t have the best reputation for longevity. And their weakness is the fitter and rectification.
Benchmarx are expensive compared with others.
Howdens have the trade-only issue and lack of clarity on pricing.
Ikea are cheaper units and have the issue of a lack of service void which just makes fitting harder.
Wickes have a good product at a slightly higher price than others but it’s competitive if you can time it with a sale and then 10/15% TradePro discount.
Magnet is a decent product but it’s expensive.
DIY Kitchens are the standout for me and who I’ll be using - amongst the cheapest on price but carcasses come pre-assembled, are 18mm MDF with a nice solid back (not hardboard) and Blum hinges.
DIY Kitchens are also very cheap for solid worktops. I can’t get a local supplier/fitter close to their price on granite.
If I wasn’t going with DIY Kitchens I’d be going with Wickes.
Overall I was pretty impressed with the product from all the suppliers. Even the cheapest product (B&Q) was perfectly OK and no worse than all mainstream kitchens from say 20 years ago - just that some of them have moved the game on (MDF not chipboard, solid backs, decent hardware etc).
Thanks for all of the comments so far, especially with the doors. This is something I was aware of and I *believe* we're using painted doors (so far!) but have sought clarification on this.
There's been some changes since I last looked at this with DIY Kitchens but utilising the same plan as Wren have provided, DIY kitchens comes in at a couple of hundred quid more expensive, whilst everything else in terms of the number of units, layout, thickness of Quartz and so on remains the same. There's some differences in Wren using Neff appliances whilst using AEG at DIY, but the overall cost difference on the appliances is negligible. In terms of fitting, it would be a fitter that I've used previously for other projects. He's... hesitant at using Wren but has said he'll work with it if that's what I opt for. He's asked for me to send the plans to him to compare Howdens and Benchmarx, too, which I intend to do. One issue I'm facing with the partner is that the Wren design is true handleless, whereas DIY can't replicate that, but I can probably get that over the line if needed.
I think I mentioned previously but DIY are coming in at 14700 and Wren at 14100.
Plan provided by Wren if anyone wants to spot any glaring errors.
This is the 3d view of the plan with DIY (albeit the venting hob isn't placed on the island, but is priced in).
There's been some changes since I last looked at this with DIY Kitchens but utilising the same plan as Wren have provided, DIY kitchens comes in at a couple of hundred quid more expensive, whilst everything else in terms of the number of units, layout, thickness of Quartz and so on remains the same. There's some differences in Wren using Neff appliances whilst using AEG at DIY, but the overall cost difference on the appliances is negligible. In terms of fitting, it would be a fitter that I've used previously for other projects. He's... hesitant at using Wren but has said he'll work with it if that's what I opt for. He's asked for me to send the plans to him to compare Howdens and Benchmarx, too, which I intend to do. One issue I'm facing with the partner is that the Wren design is true handleless, whereas DIY can't replicate that, but I can probably get that over the line if needed.
I think I mentioned previously but DIY are coming in at 14700 and Wren at 14100.
Plan provided by Wren if anyone wants to spot any glaring errors.
This is the 3d view of the plan with DIY (albeit the venting hob isn't placed on the island, but is priced in).
Many years ago we went into Wren to spec up a kitchen for our extension that was being built. Went in with the plans and measurements of the kitchen space, along with a sketch of what we what we wanted the layout to be.
The Wren designer drew it all out and adjusted the cabinets to make best use of the dimensions we had and the price came out really high so we wanted some time to consider things.
So they started with all the pushy calling the manager and getting us a one off discount if we put down a deposit there and then type sales techniques.
We felt very pressurised and uncomfortable with it all so left. As we were leaving the designer intercepted us near the door and stated "that we couldn't go elsewhere for a quote on that kitchen as that design has been drawn up by Wren and was now their copywrite"
(He was refering to the sketched we brought in with is, they hadn't provided us with any print outs of what they designed)
A short while later we went to Wickes and used their design service with no pressure, the price was half of what Wren quoted. It's been in 6 years now and we have not had a single issue with it, still looks good.
The Wren designer drew it all out and adjusted the cabinets to make best use of the dimensions we had and the price came out really high so we wanted some time to consider things.
So they started with all the pushy calling the manager and getting us a one off discount if we put down a deposit there and then type sales techniques.
We felt very pressurised and uncomfortable with it all so left. As we were leaving the designer intercepted us near the door and stated "that we couldn't go elsewhere for a quote on that kitchen as that design has been drawn up by Wren and was now their copywrite"
(He was refering to the sketched we brought in with is, they hadn't provided us with any print outs of what they designed)
A short while later we went to Wickes and used their design service with no pressure, the price was half of what Wren quoted. It's been in 6 years now and we have not had a single issue with it, still looks good.
mrmistoffelees said:
Thanks for all of the comments so far, especially with the doors. This is something I was aware of and I *believe* we're using painted doors (so far!) but have sought clarification on this.
rl]
Painted doors from Wren also suffer problems; the j-pull doors in particular are prone to chipping and flaking. rl]
The ‘pacrylic’ doors are also notorious for fading.
Wren are extremely aggressive in protecting their reputation on review sites and social media. They routinely get hundreds of negative TrustPilot reviews flagged and removed, in a way no other reputable company does…
Check ‘Wren Kitchens Disasters’ and ‘Wren Kitchen Disasters’ on FB. There have been numerous other groups that Wren’s aggressive lawyers have forced to be closed.
They must have some happy customers, but in my experience it’s a big gamble that’s not worth taking. DIY Kitchens on the other hand, seem to have a very good reputation.
Do plenty of research!
Little Lofty said:
ade73 said:
Wren used to be MFI in a previous guise.
We used a local indy Kitchen co, more units than wren and quartz worktops with upstands rather than laminate and a section of double thickness wood top. Cheaper than Wren.
I think it was Howdens that evolved from MFIWe used a local indy Kitchen co, more units than wren and quartz worktops with upstands rather than laminate and a section of double thickness wood top. Cheaper than Wren.
FWIW said:
Little Lofty said:
ade73 said:
Wren used to be MFI in a previous guise.
We used a local indy Kitchen co, more units than wren and quartz worktops with upstands rather than laminate and a section of double thickness wood top. Cheaper than Wren.
I think it was Howdens that evolved from MFIWe used a local indy Kitchen co, more units than wren and quartz worktops with upstands rather than laminate and a section of double thickness wood top. Cheaper than Wren.
mrmistoffelees said:
This is the 3d view of the plan with DIY (albeit the venting hob isn't placed on the island, but is priced in).
Was always warned off Wren back in the day, but that was mostly due to them subcontracting the install to the cheapest bidder if left to their own devices. May have improved in recent years but as others have said, source your own if possible.On another point, I'm amazed that a nationally recognised firm thinks it's OK to provide the 3D above to customers spending c £20K.
It's like nothing has moved on in the last 15 years.
OzzyR1 said:
On another point, I'm amazed that a nationally recognised firm thinks it's OK to provide the 3D above to customers spending c £20K.
It's like nothing has moved on in the last 15 years.
That’s the DIY Kitchens designer. The 2D designer is good, but the 3D renders are appalling. The lighting model is atrocious and everything comes out a shade of mid grey. On the plus side you can spin and move in the 3D image which helps understand the layout, but it also needs a high-fidelity render option that is slower.It's like nothing has moved on in the last 15 years.
We had a Wren kitchen fitted 18months ago.
No issues really, a few minor problems with the fitter but these were resolved after a few calls. We had a separate agreement with their fitter to take the room back to brick and re plaster, in hindsight I would have found someone to do that myself.
No missing parts. Some units had very very minor damage, the odd scratch which I didn’t think they would replace. But one call later and new doors/units arrived within a couple of days and the fitters swapped them out.
I would definitely use them again.
No issues really, a few minor problems with the fitter but these were resolved after a few calls. We had a separate agreement with their fitter to take the room back to brick and re plaster, in hindsight I would have found someone to do that myself.
No missing parts. Some units had very very minor damage, the odd scratch which I didn’t think they would replace. But one call later and new doors/units arrived within a couple of days and the fitters swapped them out.
I would definitely use them again.
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