Kitchen change | Howdens, Wren, Wickes or something else

[coldiris]

Hi everyone,

Looking for a bit of advice and experience sharing on kitchen change. We have an old kitchen that we inherited from the previous owners. My neighbours tell me it was last changed a while before 2004, so it is over 20 years old now!

Has anyone had any experiences with Howdens, Wren or Wickes? Or perhaps would recommend someone else? I have so far been down to my local Howdens store and the local Wickes store. To be honest, I can't see any significant differences in quality although I remember some of colleagues telling me that Howdens were really amazing.

Do these suppliers significantly differ on price and quality? And is it very expensive to fit a typical kitchen these days? I appreciate it does depend on the size and the type you choose but I would still like to be able to get a sense of it as the last time I myself changed a kitchen was in our previous house and this was a while ago!

If anyone could share their experiences with kitchen installations, it would be much appreciated.

Thank you to all in advance.

The last two kitchens we ordered were from Homebase, very happy with them, no damaged items. I haven’t heard many positives about Wren tbh. Howdens seem good too. DIY Kitchens seem to have good reviews too. Good luck OP.

I wouldn't use wren again if you paid me. The customer service is absolutely shocking.

I'm happy with our kitchen now, but the amount of wrong bits sent to us and not taken back, well, we've practically got another kitchen in our garage.

We used our own fitter and ordered our worktop from a different company as it's quartz and was so much cheaper getting it elsewhere.

We got our last one from DIY kitchens, they weren’t the cheapest but the units came fully assembled rather than flat packed so the installation time was much shorter.
We’ve moved house now, and my current kitchen will need replacing in a few years. I’ll be looking at DIY kitchens again, I found their choice of unit types much wider than B&Q or Wickes which meant it was easier to design something that worked in some awkward spaces and have it function well instead of choosing a unit because it’s the only thing that would fit. They also had bin drawers which a lot of other suppliers didn’t really do then and I loved.

Stay away from Wren. They totally wrecked my neighbours kitchen and she's paid a local firm to refit. Howdens are great but you need to find a fitter.

I was also coming on to say diy kitchens. Not used them myself but have friends who have and been happy.

Check out some local independent companies. I worked for a while at one, they did high end but had more budget options and a better fitting service than the big companies.

Diy kitchens...love ours and proper wood unlike wren etc and cheaper....only downside it's diy so you responsible for design and measurements etc.

I got a Howdens one. I intended to get a DIY kitchen but I really needed the design service aspect to make the most of the awkward space. They recommended an amazing fitter and the whole thing was hassle free. I liked that if anything was damaged the fitter could just nip down and get a new one rather than waiting for delivery. They did price match DIY too.

Another vote for DIY Kitchens here - really happy with the quality and a decent price. (I also liked that we could design everything ourselves as I found the in-store designers we very limited in imagination when it came to awkward spaces (and inclined to push expensive options over good options!), although I realise that doing it yourself won’t be a plus for everyone!)

I do not reccomend Wren.
Awful quality.
we bought their top of the range kitchen 5 years ago (25 years quarantee), the vinyl is now lifting in the corners…lets see how complaint /quarantee system works.
It looked nice first few years but now already starts looking awful

Diy kitchens

Like my Howdens kitchen but please get a proper fitter. we let the builder who did our extension do just for ease of getting everything done asap but he ( or his apprentice) has really made a pigs ear of things. I think ultimately when we have some spare money I will need to get someone in to re-do some bits. The only problem with the actual units is that they are a very pale grey and so hard to keep clean, the dirt seems to get ingrained into the wood and you really have to scrub down the same way the grain runs to get it clean. Hard to explain but really not easy maintenance!

If you find a decent joiner with an account there I would recommend Howdens - had two kitchens from them, one cheap and one more high end and both looked great and have been very durable.

Would avoid Wren like the plague; they wouldn't even give us a quote unless we committed to putting down a 20% deposit...! Their customer service was appalling and I walked out of there very miffed with their attitude in general

We ended up using Magnet and really pleased with the result. We'd got quotes from Howdens too and it was similar (and similar spec). Our builder had suggested both.

I did buy a wren kitchen, the kinda barker range, which was their best quality range as far as I remember, and it still looks perfect. We went for granite worktops too, so no problems there.
Just moved house and wren no longer does LB so have gone to DIY kitchens.

We are in the middle of a renovation with an independent kitchen company.
From design, to fit to snagging they have been excellent. Project managed it all from day one, and I mean properly project managed as opposed to some who say they will and then don't really! Down to scheduling deliveries for when they are on site. Never had to sit in waiting for anything. All subs sorted and been used before by the company so proven workmen. Any problems sorted and we have flexed the design as we have gone along as needed.
They were recommended on FB.
The whole process has been amazing and v hassle free.

We got a Wickes one fitted 25 years ago, and have recently had the doors replaced, but only because they were dated. The cupboards are still going strong. We had to get our own fitter, but that may have changed in the quarter century since we bought it. It was definitely a good buy.

I got my kitchen from Homebase as they did 0% credit. I could also get Bosch appliances which you couldn’t get from Howdens. My fitter said there isn’t much difference in quality if they are in the same pay range. My neighbour used Wren and they were a nightmare - wrong items delivered and customer service was terrible - not interested once they’d got your money.

Our current kitchen is from Howdens and we're very happy with it. And, yes, get a good fitter.

The kitchen in our old house was a solid wood style from Magnet. Again, got a really good fitter and we were really happy with it. This was nearly 20 years ago: the house was recently up for sale (2 owners after us) and looks like the kitchen is still going strong!

Our homebase kitchen was way better quality than wickes but our favourite kitchen was the howdens one we had.

Did you get new doors from wickes can I ask or elsewhere? We're thinking of doing this. Thanks.

Don't go with Wren, had an absolute nightmare with them. Their communication is terrible, wrong stock sent several times, loads of snagging issues.

B&Q

Then got an independent to fit it.

I have heard my local Howdens will price match to quotes from DIY Kitchens - not sure if it’s all of them or not but worth checking!

I used to work on assembly line at wren. To be honest it all depends which assembly line your kitchen goes down. I know one line is very overly focused on numbers. The line I worked on had 1 very good quality checker (I took her with me to new job) but managers would push units and stop us being able to check properly. I now work for a different kitchen company but they are more contract based. I'd say major difference is wrens drilling for doors and panels is universal so you would have more cover caps. Bigger range/choice at wren.From wren I would personally go for shaker forest range, I saw the least reject doors from this. I cant comment on customer service as I never worked that department