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Original poster

Wren kitchens

33 replies

pigeonpies · 15/07/2021 18:58

Does anyone have recent experience of buying a Wren kitchen including their installation. Just looking at options!

I want a quartz worktop or granite but their choice doesn't seem that wide. Maybe a different supplier for the worktop?

I know there's an ancient thread about Wren but it's 2013 and companies can improve/ decline a lot in 8 years!

Any recent experiences much appreciated!

OP posts:
Thread gallery
6
Dinosauraddict · 15/07/2021 21:06

Bloody awful would be my summary. Problem after problem resulting in an unusable kitchen for 6 months and a large compensation claim. Avoid if you have any sense!

Imicola · 15/07/2021 21:25

We have a wren kitchen, but used our own fitters and bought a quartz worktop elsewhere which saved us a few k! Kitchen is fine, not as good quality as the magnet kitchen in our previous house, although that one was probably about 20 years old. No real issues with the kitchen units or anything, but maybe not quite as good quality as i had expected.

Imicola · 15/07/2021 21:27

Also if you do go for wren, there is a lot of room for negotiation on the price...

cancancan · 15/07/2021 21:37

Yeah their quartz are really pricey!
We got £2k knocked of wrens price.

Dinosauraddict · 15/07/2021 22:19

True re negotiation - we got £9k off headline price. Still wouldn't touch them with a barge pole!

Original poster
pigeonpies · 16/07/2021 08:18

9k off? Was the total cost really high to start with then? That's a huge discount

OP posts:
EverythingDelegated · 16/07/2021 08:25

We have got a Wren kitchen on order but using our own fitters, buying our own appliances and getting the quartz worktop somewhere else. The design service was excellent, far better than Wickes, Magnet or Howdens.

CatkinToadflax · 16/07/2021 08:27

We ordered our Wren kitchen in April. Haven't got it yet as our building work is ongoing. We're using our own builder to fit it, as most of the horror stories seem to involve horrendous fitting. We've also found much cheaper - and stunning - granite at a local stone supplier and bought directly from them.

Re the price, our Wren sales guy added in all of their standard discounts - as they seem to have permanent special offers Hmm - but told us that they've made recent changes to how they do things and they no longer let customers haggle down further than the 'special offer' price. He may have been having us on, of course!

EverythingDelegated · 16/07/2021 09:57

They do seem to have a permanent sale on but it varies - we ordered when it was on units as we were mainly buying our own appliances but sometimes the deal is more on appliances. Our sale price was half the standard price, we didn't haggle.

MsBubbles85 · 16/07/2021 11:07

We have just our Wren kitchen fitted and everything has been fine. We have used theis fitter, their worktops and also bought the extractor hood from them. They had offers on the units, quartz worktop, installation and appliances so at the end it was a good price for us (we have a small kitchen). We asked if we could negotiate the price but were told that no.
The fitter has poor time management skills but he works really well and it is really knowledgeable.
We are now waiting for the worktop to be fitted, but so far so good!

Original poster
pigeonpies · 16/07/2021 11:47

Thank you all. If you have any photos that would also be great! Deciding on colours/worktops is going to take a lot of time

OP posts:
MsBubbles85 · 16/07/2021 12:26

@pigeonpies
This is my kitchen at the moment, the temporary work, sink and tap was provided by them whic has proved to be really useful!
The cabinets are from the infinity range and the colour is fossil grey. The worktop we have chosen is the Capri quartz.
I will post some other photos once the worktop is in.

Wren kitchens
Wren kitchens
Original poster
pigeonpies · 16/07/2021 12:43

@MsBubbles85 thanks so much, that's actually the colour scheme and style I was looking for! It looks great. I would love to see it with the worktop on

OP posts:
Dinosauraddict · 16/07/2021 13:19

@pigeonpies it was £26k headline price and we got it down to £17k. That inc fitting, some appliances and 2 tier quartz island (btw - they fit the top tier back to front so it was unusable and then left 300kg of quartz dangerously stuck together with tape in the middle of our kitchen, and that was the least of our problems).

GingerHQ · 17/07/2021 17:41

Here's the reality of Wren kitchens :

Wren delivered my new kitchen and utility room on 5 July.
The fitter made great progress removing my old kitchen. He managed to smash one of my wall tiles which I don't want to replace. But then he found that all the changes to the plan that he had agreed with me (24 May) had not been implemented despite Wren's email (1 June) saying they had been. The result : a load of units that do not fit my kitchen. I was told the Wren Manager in Shrewsbury would return my call within 30 minutes. No call ever came. No reply to any of the emails to the Manager and Head Office. I've forwarded my complaint emails to the Ombudsman and posted.
The fitter informed Wren by 1pm on day 1 that he could not continue with the project because nothing fits.
After contacting the Managing Director, a second delivery of Wren cupboards arrived on day 5 (Friday 9 July). This was the date that the project had to be finished - Wren had said no problem. Their own fitter said it was a 2 day job. But day 5 the second delivery came and these cupboards were also the wrong size. Again the fitter left without actually fitting anything.
Delivery 3 came on Friday 16 July. Managing Director's office promised a "team of fitters" would complete the installation on Saturday and Sunday July 17/18.
0815 Saturday a fitter called Andy N rang saying he would be at my house in an hour. He was 30 miles away. Claimed his team were the best fitters around.
No one turned up.
I have emailed the Managing Director's office again and await a reply.
I am again left with a kitchen that has been ripped out but nothing put back in. Wren have caused nothing but distress. As a person with disabilities, Wren's shoddy performance has been a nightmare.

MsBubbles85 · 26/07/2021 00:09

@pigeonpies this is the end result!
The fitter was very knowledgeable but his time keeping was very poor...other than that everything has been good so far!

Wren kitchens
Wren kitchens
Original poster
pigeonpies · 26/07/2021 06:45

@MsBubbles85 thank you! Looks lovely! I have ordered the same colours/style. Fingers crossed all will go smoothly!

OP posts:
daphnedoo12 · 26/07/2021 07:19

Following the thread as I need to research kitchens for future move Smile

Workingmum34 · 26/07/2021 07:58

We had a wren kitchen fitted - we went for their best quality one they had and it wasn’t cheap. We had a couple of issues during the delivery (bits missing / wrong fridge etc) that were eventually rectified but the issues have been since then. It’s about 6 years old - the handles fall off (flipping nightmare on the dishwasher) the kick boards and soft close fall off all the time, shelves collapse and the carcasses have degraded really quickly and look naff now. The tap is really poor quality and has peeled off the silver in places. We are now having it taken out and another one put in. We used our own fitter who is brilliant so the issues have been with the actual quality.

Original poster
pigeonpies · 26/07/2021 10:02

@Workingmum34 do they they all come with 20 guarantee? What did they say when you contacted them about the degradation?

OP posts:
Workingmum34 · 26/07/2021 10:37

The guarantee seems to be on the doors not the carcasses. They said it was wear and tear!

To be honest we have had enough with it - the quality of the doors is ok it’s the carcasses, handles and accessories that let it down.

Shadowboy · 26/07/2021 12:08

We had a wren kitchen fitted 2016. It was fitted by our own carpenter. Very easy, all on time and all correct and excellent- I genuinely can’t fault the process. Price was good too. We had 12 units, oak worktops, a breakfast bar and integrated dishwasher. £5k then £1k for our fitting - still looks amazing 5 years on.

Original poster
pigeonpies · 26/07/2021 12:56

Wow reviews really do vary!

OP posts:
Panickingpavlova · 26/07/2021 14:33

OP do be careful, I had two fitters in back to back, one said Wren are the best the other said they are MFI rebranded do not touch them with a barge pole!
I have not heard good things about them at all, and another guy our plumber said he was quoted aout 20 grand and he knocked them down to under 10 grand!

I would urge anyone to do a price comparison with DIY kitchen as a yard stick ...

Bubbles your kitchen looks wonderful though!!

Walkacrossthesand · 26/07/2021 14:48

Not had a Wren kitchen, but read the small print of any 'warranty' offer very closely - the Magnet headline was '15 year guarantee' but that didn't include any moving parts (hinges, drawer runners, carousel components, etc etc) ie anything that might actually fail. All those parts had (from memory) a 2 year guarantee.

Essentially the 15 year 'guarantee' covers the carcass, and perhaps the doors - not a lot can go wrong with either of those, and of course accidental damage/water ingress won't be covered. I wouldn't buy Magnet again, and reading what I've read above, I'll be avoiding Wren too next time!!

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