Wren Kitchens

I'd second the individuality available by going to a local company. I have a really thin cupboard in a bit of dead space next to the cooker. It pulls out and holds all my oils, vinegars, soy sauce etc which is really handy.

Elless roughly where in the country are you living?
Someone may know a good local company.
I do.

I used a local firm in the end. They built in several individual options that weren’t available in the big firm ranges, like a very thin cupboard tucked in a useless space that holds my ironing board and iron. Brilliant!

Do you know anyone that could recommend local firms? I found mine on an industrial estate.

I am really struggling now, I have looked up the various companies mentioned but non seem to have the choice or options similar to what we picked at Wren. I have also priced checked and all the calculations are coming out at similar to Wren. I really appreciate all the feedback.

My son had a Wren kitchen about 4 years ago. It still looks good and hopefully will stay that way.

We had a Magnet kitchen and are very satisfied with it.

My friend had Howdens and she is very satisfied with it too.

It's all a bit of a lottery really.

I, also, could not abide the Wren advert, with some woman shouting at me. For that reason alone, I did not even look at their products! Because they had a discount last year, we went with Wickes. The kitchen looks good and the service and the fitters were absolutely fine.

I don't know if this information is correct but I was told by an independent tradesman that Howdens have two levels of quality. The higher standard is sold direct to the customer but the lower standard is used by builders, which is why there can be shoddy products in new builds. Worth checking out but do be aware.

A year ago, we updated our utility room, units on one side only. We went to Howdens and Wren. We found Wren less expensive. We ordered them, they arrived on the correct day and we employed a local fitter ourselves who did a great job in putting them in. We have no complaints about Wren ourselves. The units are good quality, definitely good enough to upgrade our utility room. We got the worktop delivered from Worktop Express and ordered new handles online. We were working to a budget. We are more than pleased with it.

We had a mid range Howdens kitchen installed in a rental property and I have to say it still looks really good over 10 years later - we’ve had very good tenants, though.

The only thing I didn’t like about Howdens is that their pricing is so non-transparent! You can only order through a tradesman, and what you pay will depend on what discount he’s entitled to.
At least, that was the case when we used them.

In a former property we had a Wickes kitchen which was also very good. We used our own fitter and every single thing was delivered on time, not so much as a screw damaged or missing.

My Howden kitchen is now 11 years old and still looks like new. Installed by a local small builder and still a delight.

My Magnet Shaker style kitchen still looks good, eighteen years on. Excellent enduring quality.
Some young friends feel that their Wren kitchen is not lasting well, just five years old

I hate that Wren advert,

The Wren advert is enough to put me off their kitchens. The awful black surfaces! I want a light, bright, "easy clean" kitchen, not something that looks like Dracula's lair and has surfaces that will look grubby almost as soon as they're wiped clean.

We have a wren kitchen - big mistake! They dont use their own fitters so its almost impossible to have any mistakes rectified. After our kitchen was fitted we had a problem with the door on the dishwasher washer. It took months before a chap came to sort it. He was not a happy man , said he had travelled 3 hours to get to us !!??
My advice stay clear of Wren.

I'm sorry, I thought you just wanted RSJ costs.
Our builder did a lot of work for us, not just taking the wall out so not sure about the cost of that but it was quite a straightforward job.

My son and DIL had a kitchen designed and fitted by Wren in their new home. Nothing but issues from start to finish. Even over a year later there are still niggly bits that haven't been rectified.

Oh dear, thank you everyone for the replies, that (sort of) makes my mind up. We have had a design done by them and have been given the layout and plans. I price checked everything and can't seem to find the same any cheaper but looking at their costings we would be paying a third of the full price for fitting?! We had a builder out who has quoted £4800 to knock down the wall which I thought was expensive.

I haven't used Wren but had a Howden kitchen in my last house. I found builders who then said they only deal with Howdens. They organised the salesman who was quite rude and patronising, and insisted I had to have his exact design which was not what I wanted.

My nephew had a Wren kitchen and is pleased with it. They were just replacing old units in the same positions.

I wanted a completely new layout with a door moved and Wren didn’t do moving plumbing or electrics or building. I would have to arrange those separately so it was a no for me.

I know of one friend who had a Wren kitchen fitted very much with a view to updating the existing kitchen to sell the property. That was during one of their sale/special offer periods, she seemed fairly satisfied with the outlay, she very much had an eye to updating on a budget. She didn't live with the kitchen for very long, as that measure shifted the house very quickly back when there was last an upsurge in the property market.

We went scouting for a new kitchen in our last house, visited a Wren showroom, we thought they were very expensive. Eventually used a small local firm who, were far superior imo and undercut Wren's prices. We were also interested in using Howdens as the feedback surrounding their kitchens is very positive. Two houses ago we had a Magnet and Southern kitchen fitted, but that was over 30 years ago, recently they again seem to have become rather more expensive.

Not us, but friends of ours had a Wren kitchen and they were so disappointed. All was well during the design stages, choice of cabinets, doors and drawers was great BUT installation was a total shambles and they were left without connected appliances for days on end.

We installed a new kitchen lasteekbought from IKEA ,ordered towards the end of Januaryand delivered a week later .
This is our third IKEA kitchen.We dismantled the outgoing kitchen and built the new one ourselves .My OH did the plumbing but we were he.d up by the plumber who had flu who we needed to move gas supply.
All in all it’s finished and in use and took just over a week …including the wait for the plumber
It’s good quality has everything the other makes have a dis a great price .

We,ve built a lot of kitchens over the years and I wouldn,t
hesitate to recommend this company .

We looked at Wren and eventually went with a local company that we’ve been very happy with. DD went with Howdens at around the same time, got very good service and are still delighted with their kitchen.

I went to Wren a couple of years ago and they were very expensive. Also they outsource their fitters to local people. I asked for time to consider alongside quotes from other companies and got a very hostile response. I appreciate the salesperson had spent a good 2 hours with me but did they really think I was going to commit to spending such a vast sum without thinking it through. I felt it was very high pressured and that I (single, retired female) was talked down to as though I couldn’t be expected to understand the differences in the specs of the various products. I was then phoned at least twice a day as the salesperson attempted to pressure me into buying.
That, as much as anything else, put me off.
A neighbour has subsequently gone with them and has had nothing but problems from delivery being dumped in the front garden, wrong items delivered, fitters not arriving when scheduled, poor build and damaged items.
Very glad I decided not to go ahead.

I wouldn’t buy Wren. They have countless adverts on tv atm. You might find it better and cheaper to go to a joinery company. We did and had a fantastic choice to our surprise.

Dd had an internal wall knocked down to make one large living area, which necessitated an RSJ. The cost depends on how long it is. Best to get a builder to give you a quote. The ceiling was jacked up whilst they waited for the beam to be manufactured.

Wrens have an appalling reputation for fitting