Wren kitchens?

[Glitterball93]

My second post in as many days, although totally unrelated.

We have been on the hunt for a new kitchen and settled on a design with Wren. Our showroom experience , phone calls and emails following this have been brilliant, I have no complaints (so far).

We will be using our own joiner to install the kitchen, so is simply supply only from Wren including all units/cabinets and accessories aswell as integrated Neff and Beko appliances.

Since we’ve paid our deposit (still fully refundable) I’ve seen so many bad reviews online and I feel physically sick and I’m going out of my mind with worry that we’ve done the wrong thing.

Based on my own experience so far, I’m 100% happy with Wren and the service/support we’ve received - there was no hard sell and no pressure and our designer was fully supportive throughout the design process and accommodated many changes and showed us/sent updated visuals etc.

Amongst the bad reviews, there were some good ones, but is this just a case of, people are more likely to leave a bad review rather than a good one? Do people just complain, rather than praise?

Please tell me your real life, honest reviews about Wren, based on supply only and (hopefully!) put my mind at ease

I had a new kitchen installed last year with Wren, using their recommended fitter and I was very happy with his work. There were a couple of damaged or incorrect items delivered, but they were replaced quickly with no charge. Unfortunately, my fitter went off sick with a serious condition near the end of the installation and was unable to return. It was at that point that things went wrong. Wren should have appointed an alternative fitter, but they continually stalled and did not return my calls or e-mails. After two months of waiting, I finally paid £300 to another, local fitter to complete the job. Fortunately, I was able to recoup the money from my final payment to Wren.

In summary, I was and still am happy with the fixtures and fittings provided and with the work of the original installer and if you are having yours installed by a fitter you know, you should be fine. However, I would still not recommend the company, because their after sales service was so bad.

You also need to check how having your own fitter affects the guarantee.

Two family members both have Wren kitchens. The design of one wasn't great and it's quite impractical now it's installed and lived with but she was pretty naïve and just went with the designers suggestions. The other's design is much better (different branch) but they had a bit of a nightmare with missing cupboards so the install took much longer than expected. But overall I think both are happy with their kitchens.

I got a Wren kitchen fitted 2 years ago. I also read the bad reviews, but really most of them are on Wren fitters. We also used our own joiner.

I had one piece of kitchen missing, once my joiner noticed I ordered it through the app and it was quickly delivered. The kitchen is well made and I would happily recommend them.

I can't talk much about the designer and their ideas, as I had a fixed idea of how I wanted my kitchen to be, so the designer just built what I wanted..

We recently renovated and took advice from a relative who is a carpenter and kitchen fitter plus read alot of reviews. He said that Wren are overpriced for the quality (or lack there of) and to avoid. I think he wasn't keen on Howdens also. He recommended benchmarx and another brand I can't recall now.

If you are happy OP, that is really all that matters and hopefully the design works and it lasts well.

Can I ask though- didn't read any reviews before choosing Wren?

We recently had a kitchen supplied by Wren and the after sales care was atrocious. We too used our own fitter- the delivery was late causing extra costs, the designer had made multiple measurement mistakes which my fitter had to sort and the customer service team didn’t care at all. The in store team wash their hands of you after you have paid- you just need to check everything as soon as it comes and raise any issues straight away as it takes ages to sort.

my relative on the other hand had an amazing experience with them, so it does depend!

People are still complimenting our Wren kitchen two years on. It looks great. The design is perfect, but we had quite a lot of input into that. We used our own fitters. It was all delivered and installed to schedule. The fridge was damaged, but they refunded immediately and we chose another from a shop with next day delivery, as it was three days before Christmas.

I wouldn’t touch wren again with a 20 foot pole.

the after care is awful.

if it all goes smoothly - fab. Great.

any issues at all and you’re fucked.

Hey!

Kitchen designer here. I work for a little independent kitchen shop, but before that I worked with Howdens for over a decade.

My experience from the inside has been that, big corporations don't need to care about you as much as little independent businesses do. They will take your money, and once they do they don't need to give you their best customer service. The kitchen quality will be ok, although it will always last you less than something a bit better. And an independent kitchen shop depends on your happiness and satisfaction to survive: they will bend over backwards to help you if anything goes wrong with your renovation. Go with a business that provides their own fitter and trusts their work.

Wren aren't particularly the best quality, so it depends what your purpose is:

-Are you selling up in the next few years? go with Wren. It won't matter the longevity as long as it looks really good when you sell up.
-Are you changing the kitchen in your forever home? buy a german kitchen from an independent retailer.

These are my two cents as someone "from the inside". I hope it helps you!

The only criticism I have is that they told me that they had waterfall islands and included this within their design, which we all signed off, only to install a regular island and deny all knowledge of selling the waterfall design until we produced the design as proof.

Once this was done, we were offered £900 as compensation. I was annoyed at the time, still am if I think about it too much, but no other complaints.

We used their fitters and, if something didn't align, they came out and fixed it without a problem. If something was chipped, mismatched, issues with closures or anything, they came out without delay.

A month ago, my DD dinged one of our drawers. We rang them for a replacement and they provided one and fitted it - FREE OF CHARGE.

We bought our kitchen over 5 years ago, so the fact they did this, was great.

The design process was fun. There were some tricky things about what I wanted versus what could be fitted e.g. size of island and placement of dishwasher but all were navigated seamlessly.

I don't know if this type of service varies by location but I would recommend based on our experience.

Hope you end up with the kitchen of your dreams! I remember it being exciting and nerve inducing at the same time!

We used our own fitters for a Wren kitchen 4 years ago. The design service was streets ahead from those we also tried with Howdens, Magnet and Wickes. Delivery was on time, one damaged item was replaced by next day courier no quibble at all, we are still really happy with the layout and design having lived with it for several years and the units are as good as new. We sourced our own worktop, cooker and sink, the only appliances we bought from them were a Bosch dishwasher and an extractor fan, we kept our existing fridge freezer.

We've had one for 5 years; designed in store then fitted by their fitters. Still very happy with purchase. The only issues we encountered was additional cabinets turning up ( now installed in garage!) & the fitter not gas certified so we had to source our own at late notice.

All in all would recommend

I had a wren kitchen fitted in May, it’s been fine, we had no problems we hired our own kitchen fitter just like you. We got most of our appliances from wren it was fine. No complaints at all.

We had a nightmare with their fitters and the company they used for the worktops. Wren refused to deal with the issue until I went to the shop and advised customers not to buy wren kitchens. The manager appeared pretty hastily and it was sorted in a day.

They advised us badly about some existing flooring and - our own fault completely - we brought a square tap which is v impractical for cleaning; I curse it regularly.

Sorry to derail this a bit, but we have a Wren kitchen (fitted we believe around 5 years ago by the house’s previous owners). The kitchen has a built in Bosch washing machine but the bottom trim of the kitchen unit covers the drain pump and drain hose, rather than there being a kick panel there, which is becoming a bit of an issue, as the machine has stopped spinning properly (clothes often coming out still soaking) and I wonder if the hose is clogged… Anyone else had a similar issue? Any mileage in us trying to contact them?

A friend had a wren kitchen installed a few years ago. The doors started to fall off after just couple of years. It really was a right mess. Wouldn't touch them with a barge pole.

We used Wren 4 years ago for our kitchen and also used their fitters. Everything went smoothly and the only complaint would be that the fitter wasn't very good at time keeping and wouldn't turn up at 9 am when he had said so but the experience with Wren itself has been great. We had an issue with the tap last year and they came to fix it for free.

I had a bad experience with Wren - drove 70 miles to showroom for appointment then had to wait 30 minutes, guy was very patronising - asked OH's name so he could put it on the form when it's my house and I was paying for it. Then they wanted a 10% deposit just for the guy to come round and measure up. We didn't go any further with them.

My daughter had a better experience. They got the units from Wren but got a local guy to install them - all worked fine. Wren's installation charge was extortionate in comparison,