To use Wren kitchens…

[TheBeaTgoeson1]

The price is right, the designer is great, about to pay deposit! Anyone used them who has advice or experiences much appreciated, good or bad? Thank you!

Have you checked the reviews?

Ours is a Wren. Had it six years and it looks as gorgeous as the day it went in. Absolutely no issues.

It all comes down to the fitter, though. Ours was even more ‘attention to detail’ than me and he pointed out and corrected things I might not have noticed.

We had one fitted about a year ago, would highly recommend.

The negative stories I’ve heard haven’t been about the actual kitchen. It was more about parts arriving damage and then months for a replacement, and fitters not doing a very good job.

Yes, happy with ours. Agree with @SoScarletItWas : the fitter makes a big difference.

Ours is 14 years old and going strong. Definitely get a decent fitter and check everything as it’s delivered

I used them. I got an independent fitter as I’d had one recommended, but very happy with my kitchen. Only issue I had was the sockets were moved and not replaced, it didn’t occur to me to check until it was too late. But my fitter found a solution that works well.

Would never have another one. My husband fitted ours and all the bits he did are fine. Wren insisted on fitting the granite themselves for the warranty and all the joins are coming apart.

They also designed and I paid for something their fitters were incapable of doing. They wouldn’t allow me to get someone else to do it because of the warranty and they weren’t interested in speaking to me. I had to use my detective skills to escalate it to the MD and although I got a gesture of goodwill, I did not get what I wanted and it bugs me everytime I go in the kitchen.

They also put the order, that I paid for, in my husband’s name and then refused to speak to me.

Their customer service is worse than terrible. Once they have your money they are not interested!

I've never had a new kitchen fitted and even I know Wren have a diabolical reputation when it comes to that part of the job.

Make of that what you will.

We recently did an entire house renovated (derelict property). Both the builder we had and a relative who is carpenter/kitchen fitter both strongly advised against Wren. I'm unsure of the exact issues, but I too would be checking reviews from multiple websites.

Thanks all! We have our our fabulous fitter so don’t worry about that! The parts not coming worries me, but we’re pleased with the experience so far! Interesting that it can come down to fitters!

We had a nightmare with their fitter which they refused to deal with until I protested loudly in the shop. They were then suddenly able to sort the issue out having ignored us for 2 weeks.

Have had an issue with the door on sliding unit and the freezer and fridge from there are crap. Going to get them removed.

Thanks All! This is v helpful!

Our kitchen is great, no issues. Had our own trusted fitter. I was really wary after reading reviews but our experience was seamless. We bought quartz worktop cheaper elsewhere.

Thanks that’s helpful! Thinking of getting worktop elsewhere!

We had a wren kitchen fitted by our own fitters and everything is perfect 7 years down the road.
we did have our quartz worktop sourced and fitted from a local company as was cheaper and massive island could be done in one piece when Wren wanted an infill, but that was it,
we had the top range for our island and chose the mid range for rest of the units as we wanted island to have different features and look.
my parents are having a wren kitchen fitted by them.
they are removing the old one, sorting all plumbing and electrics for a fabulous price and stress free for my 80yr old parents.
they are thrilled.
their next door neighbour used Wickes and their old kitchen is in front garden and half of new one from Wickes gone missing and they don’t know where it has gone.
don’t believe all the negativity. Nobody is perfect, but if any issues, they have a quick and responsive customer service team to help.

I love ours. We had ours fitted by our builders. They'd done several Wren kitchens and said they never had any problems, in fact they like their schemes of work and instructions more than some other brands. We had one or two bits that had a little ding, which Wren replaced very quickly. When looking at the reviews I could see that the installation appears to be key.

I used to work on the assembly line, I now work in a different company doing the same thing.

Unless anything has changed since I left... the units are very similar baring wrens panels are universal so there is more holes on the inside end panels. handleless doors are also universal so are capped. I think wren actually do a better job at edging the laminated doors than my current place. i also think painted is better at wren (We have a lot more reworks for less units where I work now). I have seen a lot of reviews about foil doors delaminating after a short time, obviously i only saw them at time of assemble. Quality wise I think it just depends on which assembly line its built on, some senior line staff are more bothered about numbers where as others do want Quality.

I think a lot of bad reviews are to do with after service and fitters. If you have an experienced fitting I think you'd be good.

I'd avoid, cause me six months of hell as their fitters never turned up on three occasions causing me wasted annual leave. They mis sold me a sink that didn't fit and a breakfast bar - refused a refund. You can't get through to customer service, they have to contact you. I would never recommend them.

We had one last year- the kitchen itself is fine, the measurer messed up and my own fitter corrected it. Because our fitter didn’t carry out a ‘pre fit’ check to pick up on their errors we had to wait ages for replacement parts to come which cost us money for wasted labour.

aftersales care is terrible if you don’t use their fitter

We bought a house with a 3 year old Wren kitchen in.
The kitchen itself is in pretty good shape but we wanted to make a few changes (turn one floor and one wall cupboard into a full length unit with the oven in the middle and add a set of drawers in the gap where a cooker had been).
They were beyond unhelpful. Wouldn’t help us make sure we got matching doors etc as their contract wasn’t with us (obviously, as it was the old house owners). Tried to charge a fortune for things ‘because you’re not buying a whole kitchen’ and were rude every time we tried to talk to them - especially me, they were marginally better with DH.

If I’m honest, I’d never use them because despite the actual kitchen being pretty good, the idea of having to talk to them is more stress than it’s worth.

We’re buying a new kitchen now and are going with Wren. Yes, we read some terrible reviews but we also read them about every single kitchen company around. Including the newer and smaller companies that a lot of people rave about (fewer bad reviews obviously, but still similar proportion given their smaller customer base).

We went with them as the price is right, the 0% finance makes a huge difference in affordability and we’re not having to rely on our own measurements like with other brands (fitter will obviously check as well). Our kitchen fitter says he has a Wren kitchen himself and he has no real complaint about the ones he’s fitted as a professional either.

Thank you!! This is all really helpful!!

We bought a gloss white kitchen 6 years ago from Wren and it has turned a yellow cream that I now can't unsee. Very unhappy with it and the small print says that if your units go yellow they won't do a thing about it.
Hopefully yours is not gloss white!