Wren Kitchens Quartz Worktop Brand

RubyBish

Anyone know which manufacturer of Quartz worktops Wren Kitchens use?

Furts

The answer is to ask them. If the answer is then Silestone, I would be wary of the worktops.

Joanthebone

May I ask why you would be wary of Silestone?

Furts

Joanthebone wrote: »

May I ask why you would be wary of Silestone?

Their ruthless pursuit of profit allowing anyone to become an Approved Contractor. You could be a fishmonger but if you approach Silestone they will acredit you as a fitter with no questions asked.

With Silestone the standards accreditation, training, monitoring and customer support are woeful. The construction industry knows this, the consumers do not.

If the end user then experiences a problem it is corporate policy for Silestone to support their Approved installers. This means Silestone defend poor installations, and I have attended meetings where this behaviour is unbelievable.

Silestone managers are ignorant of their products, head office does not respond to enquiries, international HQ in Spain replies, sometimes.

All this means there are risks associated with dealing with Silestone.

Joanthebone

Thanks for the explanation, I thought you meant that the worktops are not good quality!

ryder72

I am sorry but thats a load of nonsense. No quartz worktop manufacturer is free of problems and this includes Silestone.

We have supplied Silestone. Ceasarstone, Compaq, Quartzforms, Arenastone and Cimstone and have experienced problems will all products. On balance Silestone has been the best to deal with. They have accepted supply problems with the product when that has been the case and fixed problems.

There are an awful lot of bad fabricators and installers out there and no manufacturer will accept responsibility for bad fabrication and installation. There is no such thing is a Silestone approved fitter. They sell material (like EVERY OTHER) manufacturer to a fabricator who is also in the business of being as profitable a possible.

To an end consumer, the fitted woktop is the end product and the material is only a part of it. The quality of template, fabrication and installation is provided by the fabricator for which no manufacturer can accept liability.

What you may have experience is a one off case and you cant form an opinion on a sample size of 1.

Having installed several hundred worktops I can genuinely say that on balance the service from Silestone has been satisfactory. Part of the reason is that SIlestone is one of only 2-3 manufacturer that manufactures and distributes the product. Most others are imported and distributed through a third party and good luck trying to get anywhere with them.

cddc

Would agree that at least with Silestone you have a manufacturer to deal with. With most quartz you have no idea who actually makes it, so if there is a product flaw, you are in the hands of a distributor who is unlikely to care.

There are rafts of very average fabricators out there.. but at least of there is a product flaw you have a chance if you can actually deal with the manufacturer or their representatives. Most Quartz is Chinese and trust me you have no chance there!

Furts

ryder72 wrote: »

There is no such thing is a Silestone approved fitter.

Silestone do not want people buying cheap Chinese quartz - they have an understandable requirement to maintain their profit margins. Hence they operate the "Silestone Approved Fabricator " scheme. In theory, this scheme trains the fabricators to cut, polish and install the worktops. However, Silestone do not monitor this scheme. Hence, the membership exists as as a marketing tool to hoodwink customers to buy their products,

Silestone are in a position to raise standards of design, fabrication and installation, but they choose not to. If an Approved Fabricator undertakes unsatisfactory work it will have the blessing and approval of Silestone. These double standards are used to mutually protect both parties, but work against the interests of the consumer.

The upshot is all consumers should question why their money should be spent on the Silestone brand, and not on a competitor, or a cheaper Chinese source.