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!

Our Wren kitchen has just been finished. We had to order a few replacement bits (one dented panel some missing legs and a broken rail), did it via the app, very straightforward and they arrived within 2 days. We bought the worktops elsewhere for half the price quoted by Wren. We didn’t used Wren fitters…our kitchen fitters said the Wren quality is on par with Howdens but they prefer Howdens as the installation instructions are clearer and any replacements are easier/quicker to get because they can drop into a local depot. All said and done though we are super happy with ours.

Had ours 5 years and still looks the same as the day it was fitted. Used our own fitters and sourced the quartz ourselves but otherwise couldn’t fault Wren. Also had 1 item damaged and was replaced within 2 days using a very easy app. Also know others who have Wren kitchens and they equally love them.

Ours is excellent, really pleased with it. We used our own fitter, who happens to be a previous Wren fitter so he knew the range well.

One piece arrived damaged, but our fitter knew to check all parts on day one. When he discovered it, we ordered the new one and it was a two week wait. Our fitter was able to come back and add that final bit for us once it arrived.

Really pleased we went with them.

We've just had our kitchen done and our fitter refuses to deal with them as the quality is poor and also very pushy sales techniques.

Know people that have worked there and I wouldn't have one due to the way the treat staff (unless they've improved recently).

Have you looked at DIY Kitchens? We didn't use them in the end but was impressed by them.

We have a wren kitchen, we didn’t use their fitters. It’s great quality, we are really pleased with it.

They didn’t deliver the oven or the extractor fan on time due to stock issues. It wasn’t massive deal as they had arrived before the kitchen was completed so it did not delay work- but it was irritating.

I would definitely use them again.

Avoid like the plague. I've just had work done and they said that they'd fit any kitchen except a wren kitchen as the quality is so poor they wouldn't want to be associated with it.

My friend bought a wren kitchen a year ago £27000 and they've had nothing but bother.

I wouldn't go near them.

I used kitchen depot and they manufacture their own units. I'd had quotes from wren, wicks, b&q and they all came in more expensive.

The budget ones like wren, wicks etc come from Spain apparently and are all of a similar poor standard.

Kitchen was good but used our own fitter. Customer service was awful with the one small problem we had. They were at fault but dug their heels in and wouldnt provide something our fitter needed to rectify it at our expense (costing less than £100) I wouldn't have wanted to face a big problem with them. They were really argumentative at every level and refused to apologise or find a solution. Theres a facebook page where you can read other people's experiences of their famous customer service...

Wren are definitely UK made

I haven't used them for a kitchen but regularly drive through Howden (home to Howdens the other big name kitchen supplier) and all the big floral display roundabouts are sponsored by Wren, so their trolling game is strong at least.

Same

Are you aware Wren Kitchens is owned by a major donor to the Conservative Party? Over £2m has been made in donations. In addition, they have been criticised for unethical government funding claims during covid.

The Independent wrote: ‘Many companies which claimed furlough money during the pandemic either stopped doing so when they endured the crisis better than expected, or paid funds back. Instead of handing furlough money back to the taxpayer, Wren Kitchens continued to claim from the public purse in 2021, receiving more than £3m in furlough payments, according to an analysis of HMRC data by The Independent.’

I’m in the market for a new kitchen. So far have had quotes from Howdens, Wren, Benchmarx and DIY. I loved the Wren service, excellent planning software that gave price straight away and easy to sit and try different things, great showroom. Howdene service is clunky but I think their product is ok. Benchmarx has been good, very open and honest with price breakdown (unlike Wren who only gave this to me when I pushed and was told they don’t normally do it).

What you need to look out for is the actual construction. Wren were quoting on a melamine faced chipboard which is the very cheapest in kitchens and can blow. Just make sure you are comparing like for like in door construction. There is a reason they don’t price match DIY kitchens who think offer best value for money, just not a slick sales process (although showrooms are amazing).

Hello, thank you everyone for so many detailed reviews. I always do exhaustive reading of reviews online, but the difference here is it feels like I can ask questions if needed! It’s also really interesting to hear everybody’s opinions, and firsthand what peoples experiences have been like.

A couple of things, we are happy with the quality based on the range we are going for, versus the range at the other suppliers we have considered. We are very much in the mid range bracket.

We also, as I mentioned before using our own fitter. We have had several people in to quote for the Work, and all of them have said they are happy to fit wren kitchens, a couple of them have them in their house. So never had an issue with somebody saying they wouldn’t fit a wren kitchen due to quality, I wonder if that does depend on the range.

We have enjoyed the design process at wren. The design process was awfully painful at magnet. At Howden’s it was fine, but we now have a separate appointment booked in to talk about price, and they loosely quoted £20,000, which is wild considering the other quote is 10,000, including good appliances and work surfaces. It’s not a huge kitchen by the way! Very much a medium!

I do find the howdens pricing confusing, we wouldn’t rule out any other kitchen supplier, but that’s just where we are at the moment.

The lack of sales focus in the design process, the transparency with the pricing, and the speed in which the designer understood our space, or all factors which makers prefer wren.

I have a Wickes kitchen and it's 11 years old and still perfect. The independent fitter we chose told me he prefers fitting Wickes kitchens as if any parts are missing or damaged they replace immediately with no quibble. He said he has had issues with Wren refusing to replace a missing or damaged part and customers having to buy another part to get one.

This sounds quite similar to the main comment about Howdens, if there is a missing part it’s so much easier to get it.

What comes from Spain? Units are made in the warehouse in Barton. A lot of products like hinges, drawer parts are bought in from Germany. Im not sure where they buy the mfc/mdf in from but doors and panels are produced there

We had one fitted in December, it’s absolutely beautiful. We also had our own fitter but they did the quartz, that was the only hiccup as they shunted some cupboards when they put it in but it was remedied the same day x

It's interesting to see that even many/most people who are delighted with their Wren kitchen here, all still had broken/damaged/missing pieces that needed extra time and faff to resolve, with a real "luck of the draw" customer service department.

Would totally agree with this. The fitter we had was great. Other people have different experiences.

Depends, is the the kitchen cupboards wrapped or painted? Our is wrapped from wrens, I accidentally hit a pot lid on one of the doors and it bloody took the wrapping off! I’ve had the kitchen for 4 years now, but within the first year already had edges that have been worn due to small objects (like cutlery)hitting it, on one area I have no idea how. But honestly it’s such a faff, wrens know this happens which is why they give you a coloured chalk thing to fill it up with, but ours was dried out so it didn’t help.

Not all. The entire process was faultless for us.

Appreciate all this feedback!! Thanks for all the comments!

Had ours four years, absolutely great service and love the kitchen. Had a problem with the panels peeling when my husband had a pizza making era with the oven on full blast for hours. They replaced the panels no problem.

We are very pleased with our kitchen. We heard bad reports about the aftercare with the fitters so we employed our own fitter