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Original poster

Decent value non-Wren kitchen

22 replies

SunshineMuffin · 03/04/2019 16:55

Hi.
Had new kitchen in old house. Was a Wren kitchen. No problems. Loved it.

Since then have seen hellish stories about Wren kitchens.

I found the step up in price (to B&Q, Magnet etc) massive last time I did a kitchen. Friend has just had Ikea and had a nightmare.

Where do you recommend? Is B&Q worth difference. Anyone else had good Wren experience?

Thanks

OP posts:
dirtystinkyrats · 03/04/2019 17:31

Have you got a fitter? We looked at Wren and Howden's but went with the fitter's recommendation and got a much better kitchen for similar price to Wren's. It was one of the companies that buy in doors and then build their own carcasses and supply to trade, rather than the sales/design type service to customers so it depends what you want.

crosstalk · 03/04/2019 18:42

What are you trying to do? build a new kitchen in another house?

You're not clear. Have you thought of going free standing? How DIY are you and how much time do you have? Have friends who are buying wooden furniture from auction, sinking in sinks, etc etc, and doing a kitchen to die from for half the price of anything. Looks wonderful.

Original poster
SunshineMuffin · 04/04/2019 17:41

@crosstalk I want to replace the kitchen in my new house for a more modern kitchen. We are not DIY savvy so need someone to design, supply and fit. Can't get in touch with old fitter (who was brilliant), just wanted reviews of value for money from the rest of the market (B&Q, Howdens, Magnet, Wickes, kitchens online, Ikea and wren). Thanks @Dirtystinkyrats someone recommended Howdens last time so will go and ask some questions. I was just confused about the whole Trade element. I would need someone else to check the design and measurements to have peace of mind.

OP posts:
greenpop21 · 04/04/2019 17:43

Ikea comes out very high in Which surveys-for value and quality. Maybe your friend was unlucky. We just had Howdens and very happy with quality though we had a large discount.

greenpop21 · 04/04/2019 17:45

Bear in mind there are problems with most kitchen refits that include delays etc

greenpop21 · 04/04/2019 17:47

With Howdens, find a good joiner that specialises in kitchens. They will take you through Howdens design process. A good fitter can make all the difference with a cheaper kitchen.

SallyOMalley · 04/04/2019 18:22

We're having a Howdens kitchen fitted at the moment. Our joiner said that he really likes working with their stuff ... And hates Wren!

I agree with a pp - find a good joiner who can install. If they have a Howdens account then you can order through them. Our builder (our kitchen is part of a bigger job) isn't adding anything to the invoice by way of 'commission' - the kitchen has gone on their account and we'll just clear it further down the line.

Btw, our joiner said he rated Magnet too and we had a magnet kitchen in the past that we loved. Also take a look at DIY kitchens - lots of threads on here about them and v positive stories. We're quite close to their showroom (I think they only have one) and were pretty impressed.

Missnearlyvintage · 04/04/2019 19:45

We have looked at a budget new kitchen and are going to get one from DIY kitchens probably, and get it fitted by a recommended fitter.

We looked at Howdens, Wren, Magnet, Ikea and BnQ and thought that the carcasses and doors from DIY kitchens represented the best value for money.

Howdens was the only place where we didn't see a show kitchen, but we saw all of the others in person.

We thought the quality of the Ikea kitchens was poor in comparison to most of the other kitchens we saw, so we really wouldn't recommend them unfortunately. The Ikea kitchen quote was more expensive than our DIY kitchens quote, and the same price as our Howdens quote, so it's not as though it was super cheap either to make up for the poor quality (in our opinion).

We will probably buy a kitchen style with painted solid wooden kitchen doors, and the only thing I thought I'd mention is that in the DIY showroom there were chips in some of the painted doors. I have seen this on other painted wood kitchen doors from other brands as well though so I think it is a risk with a painted wood door inherently. We decided to still go ahead though as even with replacement doors, or professional repainting costs added in after 5 or 10 years time, the kitchen is still very good value in our eyes.

Mummyshark2018 · 05/04/2019 17:18

We got a really good deal with a Wickes kitchen. The key is to try and get a deal. My dh is good at negotiating so we got lots of extras. It was the end of the month so they were very keen to close the deal to bump up monthly sales figures. We got another quotes from Howdens but it was coming in 3k more and there were less units and extras.

wibbleee · 05/04/2019 18:56

benchmarx. its the "other" name for wickes but cheaper!

EmmaBead · 05/04/2019 19:07

Ikea and Wren and all the big companies are dearer in my opinion from the quotes the gave me. They're big companies yes but add in the added cost for showroom staff wages, rent, electricity and other bills and their already popular name and the cost rises. You're best off buying the Units/Worktop/Handles individually and then paying for a fitter to fit it. We used crowndiyhalifax.co.uk and ended up with the Buckingham white ash range from them. Their designer amended our design until we were entirely happy and once the cabinets were delivered we got a local fitter to do the hard work. Not only did we save about £1300 this way but we got a lovely kitchen, fair to say we're extremely happy with how it ended up! Attached some pictures so you can see my pride and joy.

Kitchen pictures: imgur.com/a/GHtmGEZ

sleepingdragon · 05/04/2019 19:19

I had a kitchen from DIY kitchens recently and it is awful. They now fit the doors in the factory and they dont line up with the doors on the units next to them, even at the limit of their adjustment. I had endless problems with the order, so much so that in the end I agreed to live with some problems (like badly touched up paint on a unit door) as I couldn't cope with dealing with them any longer. I had to chase multiple times for my refund for items I sent back. The customer service is atrocious, from unhelpful staff down to only getting 1/4 of the shelf brackets you need. I was swayed into buying my kitchen from them because I had only ever seen positive reviews. But I've ended up spending £10k on a kitchen and utility that both look really shoddy.

Missnearlyvintage · 05/04/2019 22:43

@sleepingdragon - that's really interesting re. doors not lining up and you having other issues as well with DIY kitchens. It's making me have second thoughts about them! thanks for sharing that!

Mummyh2016 · 05/04/2019 22:51

We've had our kitchen from magnet, it was the only one I liked. I found b+q and ikea looked cheap in comparison.

LazyLizzy · 05/04/2019 23:07

Watching with interest.

Emma your kitchen is gorgeous.

EmmaBead · 05/04/2019 23:30

Thank you. Appreicate it :)

marmitedoughnut · 06/04/2019 04:50

I can second the remarks about the DIY kitchens doors being a bit gappy and not lining up but mostly that can be adjusted out. The tall units are the worst, one pair of doors on a tall unit had a 10mm gap between upper and lower door despite being at the limit of adjustment, they replaced that door and quickly too so found customer service to be good. Super quality and price pretty decent but didn't actually get the quality of finish I was expecting even using a pro fitter who is very experienced.

I know of somebody else with the same issues.

Missnearlyvintage · 06/04/2019 10:40

@marmitedoughnut - Do you know of any companies that might be better than DIY given you now know how the final product is from there? Thank you!

MarieG10 · 06/04/2019 10:47

Sleeping dragon

I had a DIY kitchen recent. It is stunning quality and the fitter said it was the best quality he had fitted recently and as a result he has advised other clients to buy

The only thing we found was that two doors were missing which they told me about as quality control had picked up a problem. New doors arrived within three days and before the fitting had finished.

I also found them incredibly helpful. They also won the Which Best Buy award so says something to me

Have a look

SchnitzelVonKrumm · 06/04/2019 10:50

We used classic kitchens direct, they were fantastic.

Original poster
SunshineMuffin · 07/04/2019 10:34

Thank you. I love your kitchen @emmabead. With an online kitchen supplier, do they send someone to check what works? I know last time I had ideas about a U shape but when this was planned, I was advised to go for L because of space and movement in the kitchen. In my new kitchen, I would like an island or peninsula/breakfast bar which we don't currently have and there is a possibility of some dead space without the right vision. Any advice on this? Or just map it out yourself and hope for the best Wink

OP posts:
pablothetrucker · 30/03/2020 07:06

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