B&Q kitchens

[m4ckg]

I've fitted kitchens from all the sheds and the only one that are any good are Wren but you can still expect the same poor customer service as the others

[Neil - YVM]

m4ckg said:

I've fitted kitchens from all the sheds and the only one that are any good are Wren but you can still expect the same poor customer service as the others

Wren? You have got to be kidding. The only customer service you can expect with Wren is dreadful.


Of the large sheds, their products are all much the same, though Wickes are the only ones that include Blum hinges and soft close drawers, rather than cheap unbranded hinges.

[okie592]

Having worked in 3 diffrent B&qs for 4 years untill 2012 I can tell you they are shocking. Staff ordering parts that where discontinued. Orders always going wrong, designs not being usable. Parts being dManged. No returns without reciepts.

Avoid, there's plenty of better local places out there.

[m4ckg]

Neil - YVM said:

m4ckg said:

I've fitted kitchens from all the sheds and the only one that are any good are Wren but you can still expect the same poor customer service as the others

Wren? You have got to be kidding. The only customer service you can expect with Wren is dreadful.


Of the large sheds, their products are all much the same, though Wickes are the only ones that include Blum hinges and soft close drawers, rather than cheap unbranded hinges.

No I'm not kidding, I've fitted them all and I think I said their customer service is poor

[RoyalVilla]

Neil - YVM said:

m4ckg said:

I've fitted kitchens from all the sheds and the only one that are any good are Wren but you can still expect the same poor customer service as the others

Wren? You have got to be kidding. The only customer service you can expect with Wren is dreadful.


Of the large sheds, their products are all much the same, though Wickes are the only ones that include Blum hinges and soft close drawers, rather than cheap unbranded hinges.

I've just had a Wren kitchen fitted (by my builder) and also had a utility which I designed and bought myself from Ikea and had the same builder fit.

I'm really happy with both of them.

For the kitchen I was originally going to go with Howdens, but even with their sale and a full discount from my builder, they were still about 20% more than Wren
The carcasses from Wren are very good - I would say better than Howdens from what I saw. The wall cupboards are deeper too.
The doors are gloss handless, so I'll have to see how they hold up.
I got all appliances from Wren (all Bosch). My plan was to shop around, which I always do, but Wren were very good on the appliance prices and I would have struggled to better them, so it was easier to get everything done at once.

That's not to say there weren't some probs. There were a couple of issues with the design which my builder noticed and also a couple of units / doors were damaged on arrival. Luckily nothing that delayed templating the worktops.

I was nervous about Wren, due to the reviews I read. The sales experience was very good, though I was expecting this. It was the delivery / aftersales stuff I was most concerned about. In fairness, when problems did arise post delivery, I found the customer service to be excellent, esp when I started talking to the manager. Stuff was sorted really quickly, and if I'm honest, they went above and beyond what I'd really expect from anyone.

My builder was impressed by the quality and he'd mentioned, before the kitchen was delivered, that a friend of his had fitted some recently and was also impressed.

Over all I'd recommend them from my experience

[Neil - YVM]

RoyalVilla said:

Neil - YVM said:

m4ckg said:

I've fitted kitchens from all the sheds and the only one that are any good are Wren but you can still expect the same poor customer service as the others

Wren? You have got to be kidding. The only customer service you can expect with Wren is dreadful.


Of the large sheds, their products are all much the same, though Wickes are the only ones that include Blum hinges and soft close drawers, rather than cheap unbranded hinges.

I've just had a Wren kitchen fitted (by my builder) and also had a utility which I designed and bought myself from Ikea and had the same builder fit.

I'm really happy with both of them.

For the kitchen I was originally going to go with Howdens, but even with their sale and a full discount from my builder, they were still about 20% more than Wren
The carcasses from Wren are very good - I would say better than Howdens from what I saw. The wall cupboards are deeper too.
The doors are gloss handless, so I'll have to see how they hold up.
I got all appliances from Wren (all Bosch). My plan was to shop around, which I always do, but Wren were very good on the appliance prices and I would have struggled to better them, so it was easier to get everything done at once.

That's not to say there weren't some probs. There were a couple of issues with the design which my builder noticed and also a couple of units / doors were damaged on arrival. Luckily nothing that delayed templating the worktops.

I was nervous about Wren, due to the reviews I read. The sales experience was very good, though I was expecting this. It was the delivery / aftersales stuff I was most concerned about. In fairness, when problems did arise post delivery, I found the customer service to be excellent, esp when I started talking to the manager. Stuff was sorted really quickly, and if I'm honest, they went above and beyond what I'd really expect from anyone.

My builder was impressed by the quality and he'd mentioned, before the kitchen was delivered, that a friend of his had fitted some recently and was also impressed.

Over all I'd recommend them from my experience

Pleased it went well for you. Having someone else install for you may have saved you an aggravation.

As I have already said there is little difference in standard between then sheds, including Wren. The major issues I have been involved in resolving have been with their installation and customer service post delivery.

The standard of fitting can make or break an installation. The saying that a good fitter can make a average kitchen look good, and visa versa a poor fitter can an expensive kitchen look poor , is so true.

Edited by Neil - YVM on Friday 30th January 06:27

[RoyalVilla]

Neil - YVM said:

Pleased it went well for you. Having someone else install for you may have saved you an agrovation.

As I have already said there is little difference in standard between then sheds, including Wren. The major issues I have been involved in resolving have been with their installation and customer service post delivery.

The standard of fitting can make or break an installation. The saying that a good fitter can make a average kitchen look good, and visa versa a poor fitter can an expensive kitchen look poor , is so true.

Well, that might well have helped. Agree about a good fitter. In fact, in hindsight I should have got the builder more involved at the design stage as that would have helped with the some of the minor issues we had and I might have been able to optimise the space a bit more. Having said that, I am pleased with how its turning out (not quite finished yet!).

I got my quartz worktop from a separate place also (recommendation from builder). And shopped around for a nice undermount Franke sink and Grohe tap. Total cost inc fitting was about £10.5k, but IMHO, kitchen looks much more expensive.

Something else I found really useful, though sounds a bit silly, was standing in the space and pretending to physically go through various kitchen processes, like prepping then cooking food, getting all the dirty plates back in the kitchen and in the dishwasher, unloading dishwasher, bringing in the shopping, making a coffee etc. My wife thought I was nuts! Really helped with the design like where to put stuff like bins / dishwasher etc.

[okie592]

Having worked in 3 diffrent B&qs for 4 years untill 2012 I can tell you they are shocking. Staff ordering parts that where discontinued. Orders always going wrong, designs not being usable. Parts being dManged. No returns without reciepts.

Avoid, there's plenty of better local places out there.

[Djtemeka]

Get Howdens to design a kitchen for you. Their quality is FAR better than the likes of idea and b&q. Also, their kitchen carcasses are preassembled this saving around a days labour to build them

They aren't cheap but them b&q are catching up in pricing. Where you are likely to spend lots is on the options list! Just like cars. Soft close sir? That will be ££. Touch open sir? Lovely. £££
I'm fitting a Howdens kitchen at the mo for a client. You can haggle for price too

[Djtemeka]

Also, have a chat with one of their staff. They frequently have sales on. The last sale had every appliance for £1 each.

Oven £1
Hob £1
Extractor £1
Wine cooler £1

I kid you not!

[Yazar]

Djtemeka said:

Also, have a chat with one of their staff. They frequently have sales on. The last sale had every appliance for £1 each.

Oven £1
Hob £1
Extractor £1
Wine cooler £1

I kid you not!

Could you buy these £1 appliances on their own?

Edited by Yazar on Friday 30th January 07:57

[Djtemeka]

Yazar said:

Could you buy these £1 appliances on their own?

Edited by Yazar on Friday 30th January 07:57

Yes, if you spend £4k on a kitchen first :P

[CheesyFootballs]

I'll be undertaking a new extension and kitchen refit this year, so had a wander around b&q today.
First cupboard I opened, on the carcassing and shelves I could see the bumpy chipboard underneath the white melamine coating.

Pretty cheap stuff I guess.

[clockworks]

I had a quote for just under £5k for a B&Q kitchen and all appliances. This was their basic range in fake oak. Quote for their lower Cooke and Lewis range was a couple of grand more.
On personal recommendations, I went to an independent tile/kitchen seller. Got a Crown Imperial gloss kitchen for pretty much the same money.

[Condi]

Djtemeka said:

I'm fitting a Howdens kitchen at the mo for a client. You can haggle for price too

You can haggle quite hard, a mate fitted his at around 80% discount off public list.

[m4ckg]

[quote=clockworks]I had a quote for just under £5k for a B&Q kitchen and all appliances. This was their basic range in fake oak. Quote for their lower Cooke and Lewis range was a couple of grand more.
On personal recommendations, I went to an independent tile/kitchen seller. Got a Crown Imperial gloss kitchen for pretty much the same money.[/quote


That's good advice for anyone wanting to buy a kitchen, some people just do think to try the local independent

[Rick101]

Anybody used Kitchenhaus?

http://www.kutchenhaus.co.uk/quality/germanenginee...

Also found a local place that looks to be doing a special offer circa same money.

http://www.kitchenyork.co.uk/what-you-get-for-5995...

[Neil - YVM]

Kuchenhaus supply German Nobilia kitchens which have a pretty good reputation.

[andy43]

clockworks said:

I had a quote for just under £5k for a B&Q kitchen and all appliances. This was their basic range in fake oak. Quote for their lower Cooke and Lewis range was a couple of grand more.
On personal recommendations, I went to an independent tile/kitchen seller. Got a Crown Imperial gloss kitchen for pretty much the same money.

Same here - Crown kitchen, at a similar price to the sheds, handleless very high quality gloss doors with thick 2mm edged carcasses, Siematic-type continuous ally trims, Blum everything, no contest in terms of value and quality.
Cooke and Lewis is decent quality but it's not great value. The IQ stuff is basically crap, but is cheap on a trade card, plus you can walk in and collect it off the shelf, sorting through the dropped/damaged/pre-opened boxes to get bits that haven't been through the B&Q Delivery Experience.
The displays are funny - bet you can't visit a B&Q and find a fully intact and operational set of kitchen displays where everything opens and closes without catching, scraping, or coming off in your hand. Our local stores displays are knackered.

[CheesyFootballs]

Agree with the above.
I've just been to see my local independant kitchen shop - nice German stuff, and every display works - from Qooker hot taps to fridges, hob etc.

I installed a Crown Imperial in my last house back in 1998 and the quality was incredibly good for the price.