Wren Kitchens – use their store installers or not?

[Headinthecl0uds]

I'm having a Wren Kitchen installed. Noticed that their own installer costs quite a bit more than if I were to employ independent ones. It seems that their package include a management service (designer + coordinator) and I'd be paying for peace of mind - in theory anyway. Though a read of threads on Mumsnet reveals that a lot of people do go independent. I'm assuming that the Wren units don't need any specialist knowledge to set up. What are the pros and cons, can anyone advise + share their experience?

Our Wren kitchens goes in shortly! We went for independent via our builder, partly because it's a lot cheaper (even the Wren rep told us this) but also our new kitchen is part of an extension so there's more flexibility this way - rather than being tied to a date booked with Wren fitters only to discover the build runs late and isn't ready.

my experience of wren was fab in the showroom. And I adore the kitchen we bought. But the delivery had bits missing, extras etc - all fabulously sorted I might add, but I got the feeling they were not surprised at the mix up and it happens a lot. We got our builder to fit and I would suggest the same to be honest. Don't regret it at all

Thanks ligersaremyfavouriteanimal and supadupapupascupa. The difference between their install quote and an independent fitter is a good few thousand pounds. I reckon that even if I need to re-order a few units (and let's hope I won't have to) – it would still not come to that amount. The Wren fitter did impress me, and my 'own' fitter is actually just a specialist firm I found via Google. So either party is an unknown quantity. At the moment I'm appraising things purely on cost.

We had a kitchen designer at Wren basically tell us to get our own fitters in because theirs were expensive.

What we are now actually doing is using the Wren design and buying our kitchen from diy kitchens (who sell online at trade prices) and having our builder do the installation.

Saved thousands.

We are in the starting to look at kitchens.
I've decided against Wren but I'm not sure.

We have a tame fitter waiting in the wings.

We are having a Wren kitchen, with Wren installers fitted in three weeks. It is more expensive, but not massively more. I like that they are doing everything and there is one point of contact from start to finish. I don't have the spare time or patience to be having one person for each job.

I can't begin to tell you the problems my mum had with Wren fitters.
From start to completion it took 4 months

Having worked for kitchen retailers for years I can tell you the fitter is only getting a small portion of the price you pay for fitting at any retailer. Yes it might be a good idea getting a private individual fitter to do the work.

If you are opting for a laminate worktop might be a good idea to ask if they can do the Masons Mitre joint? Also will they be adding biscuit joints to the cut?

Also prudent to ask what they do around a cut out for a sink (They should be using a yacht varnish to seal it up) This will prevent water getting in and effectively causing the worktop to swell up.

There are loads of things you can ask that will gie you a clue you are dealing with someone competent or not or someone who has just decided to pick up a few tools..

We used our own fitters - the builders who were doing our extension. Loads cheaper and much more flexible. We also got our quartz worktop separately and saved more money . Having said that we are really pleased with the wren kitchen and after service when a door needed to be replaced

I believe you. I made a huge mistake of opting for the Wren installer. I thought having a coordinator, designer and one builder doing all the work would ease my mind and the process would be drama-free. How wrong was I- the builder turns up 4 days late (without notice) and tells me he cannot do any supplementary work because he's behind with the wren schedule. Wren's coordinator basically told me that Wren will not get involved because the supplementary work is not part of the contract :-(

We’re in the process of buying a Wren kitchen. Initially we were going to go with their installer but we have an independent fitter coming around tomorrow to take a look at the job. I think if it was literally remove old kitchen and put in new then the wren people would be ok but we need electrics moving, plastering, etc.

I think if you know a fitter you can use, better to use them as will usually be cheaper than the Wren one and if you know they are good, that's one less thing to worry about.

We used a Wren fitter because we didn't know any fitters or have any recommendations and they were actually really good, so was the Wren electrician. The whole team was impressive. So much so that we kept their details to use again for other jobs.

But I think it's pot luck and some people have bad experiences with Wren fitters so it depends who you get.

Avoid like the plague anything from Wren kitchen, if you want to keep your insanity, savings, or not getting into debt, £10000 kitchen deal spiralling into £20000 to repairs to property, cowboy fitters Wren wash their hands of any responsibility, especially make sure supplements are covered, or seriously you'll be without a kitchen and life will get out of control, and make sure electrics are covered in your wren work, anything because installer causes damage, you Electrocution and you are left to fix your own property, all without wrens help, if not in your policy and plans, only thing wren will eventually do is assign you another possible cowboy installer, and waiting more weeks to install. Picture example ripped out in 2 hrs, three weeks no kitchen installed and damages to all electrical sockets.