Anyone had an Infinity Plus Milano kitchen fitted from Wren?

[Daphnesmate]

Considering purchasing the above kitchen from Wren but having it installed independently.

Anyone purchase this kitchen recently - handless, slab fronts with the opening sort of on the inside - or purchased this type of kitchen from elsewhere? They do seem a bit more expensive than the other types but Wren currently have a sale on, so I am very tempted. Most of the negative reviews seem to be related to installation issues but we think we have this covered via a private (and much cheaper installer).
Anyone?

Is this their handle less range?

Yes, it's one in the handle less range that sort of opens from the top/side without the ridge on the outside, goldpendant.

Can you find similar from another manufacturer? Wren kitchens are far more expensive than other kitchens of a similar quality. We had a look in their showroom and laughed at the price before walking out.

We bougtht a Lochanna kitchen after much research.

Their PURO kitchen is very similar to the Wren one.
www.lochannakitchens.co.uk/profile-matt/

Thanks Chocolate. I must admit at the moment they do look expensive. I have just made an appointment with Benchmarx as they look as though they do something similar. I will look at the link you sent me, thanks for that.

Anyone else?

Chocolate just taken a look at the link, it looks as if they have recently stocked the sort of kitchen we are looking for - seamless type, so many thanks, did you visit many showrooms and if so, did this one come out as best value? We will also need to purchase appliances, so need to factor this in as well.

DSIL and DBIL have not had a good experience with their Wren kitchen. Main problems were regarding installation (so probably not relevant to you) but are still at arbitration stage several months on because the curved and straight units are manufactured in different factories and the door colours don't match.

Hi Cortex, yes we have read many negative reviews about installation, hence we plan to arrange it ourselves if we go with Wrens. Chocolate did you compare prices when they had a sale on? I know they always seem to have some sort of deal but at the moment they advertise the cabinets as being half price (the starting price seems over-inflated for what it is though) and I think we definitely need some more quotes. We went to Magnets too but I wasn't too impressed and I don't think they have provided a like for like quote so have gone back to them to look at their quote again. Wrens are saying they sell their appliances cheaper...just got to watch out, we aren't paying more for the kitchen units (hidden costs). It's a bit of a minefield isn't it?

Thanks for all your feedback so far. We need to purchase a kitchen in the next couple of weeks really.

We didn't see any examples of a Lochanna kitchen, but we decided to go with a highly recommended kitchen company who supplied and fitted it. It came in much cheaper for the actual kitchen than Wren had quotedl, about 30% cheaper I think. We also had quotes from Howdens and Ikea which were similar, but the fitting costs were greater and Howdens charge extra for things like soft-close doors which we got as standard. We had a lovely Lochanna kitchen fitted two years ago and we haven't had any problems.

I have the benchmarx one.....

It looks lovely and is a proper handleless kitchen.... albeit on the top drawer units only. Lower drawers use a 'touch' to open mechanism which so far I'm really unimpressed with.

My builder was Bowden's/benchmarx registered but the kitchen is a new line so I'm not confident it's been installed properly.

In theory it should be good and I'm happy with all other aspects of it, just not those push open drawers.....

My advice (from a friend, we didn't go with Wren) is to ensure that you check every single item on the list as it comes off the van - many of the problems are because they don't deliver everything and this then causes the installation problems - which are even harder if you use your own installer as you will be the one responsible for chasing the missing parts, which can and often does delay the installation for weeks.
Don't be swayed by their sale and the fact it ends soon - within a couple of weeks they start another one and it is always the same kind of offer. They basically never sell kitchens full price and rely on their sale periods to make the majority of their annual revenue.

We've actually visited a third kitchen provider today and Wrens have come out as the most competitive or at least on par.

I did like the look of the Benchmarx one but the difficulty lies with the trim - they don't do a matching one and have less choice, which put me off a bit. Thanks for your advice Paz, I will definitely do that as it looks as if we might be going ahead with Wren. The type of kitchen I am looking for as only just arrived at Benchmarx and Howdens don't stock it but having compared prices, I am feeling more comfortable with going with Wren. Also, when we visited Wren, there was no hard sell which is apparently unusual, in fact the gentleman at Wren who helped me with kitchen design actually went out of his way to recommend places to source worktops etc. more cheaply, have absolutely no complaints so far.

Have you checked whether DIY Kitchens have the look you're after? They're vg quality and have a big range.

@chocolatedeficitdisorder thanks for the info about Lochanna, I'm researching kitchens myself and have spoken to them today as a result of reading your post. One thing I'm not clear about, did the pricing come in around the same as Howdens? We've had a design and quote from Howdens but it's a lot more than we want to pay.

I paid £7.5K for my kitchen to be supplied and fitted which was stripping back the tiles, plastering the walls, adding lighting, building a stud wall and supplying new doors in the utility room.

For the same job, Howdens were going to charge £9k.

*Actually, not Howdens, but the fitter recommended by them to supply and fit their kitchen.

Thank you.