Wren kitchens. Any good?

ashe

SJE89 said:

One of my colleagues has a Wren kitchen and said she is very happy with it. We're in the process of getting a new kitchen and have been to Wren. The guy has designed exactly what we wanted, and has even recommended to us that we get our own fitter to keep cost down. We're using the same fitter my colleague used. 
I've often found when someone says they have bad experiences with these companies, it's usually around the fitting stage that issues crop up.

The fb groups definitely aren't just fitting issues. Design issues due to how wren deal with some edges/sizes, delivery issues, missing parts, damaged parts, poor quality parts and poor aftercare / complaint resolution  

Our neighbours had a ween kitchen delivery to their back garden while they were away for the weekend, just sat there in the rain for 3 days. 

FreeBear

travis-powers said: Wren has really bad online reviews, I’ve just quoted to fit one, my first Wren and asked on some carpenters sites should I add a “Wren tax?”
 The general consensus was, quality was better than Howdens and Diy and 9 times out of 10 all is good however customer service is dire and they can be tardy with replacement parts.
 I may update this in September!

Will that be September 2024, or later ?

Alanp

We have a wren kitchen and are very pleased with it, the fitter that came around and did the survey was very knowledgeable and accommodated our needs, they sent a different fitter who, whilst he did the job, there were a few issues, we think he snapped the main drain from our sink to the stack , but the electrician we used knew a good plumber who fixed and altered the pipe work so it worked better, if I were doing it again I would still buy from wren but use my own fitter…

hollie.weimeraner

I have friends that chose Wren and have a garage full of replacement doors and cupboards. Service was dire. My son has just had a Magnet kitchen fitted which looks great but only due to him having a good fitter as the guy that did the planning messed up big time.  My personal experience is to try and find a local independent and go and look at some of their fitments which is what we did and never regretted it.

We have recently had replacement quartz worktops from Gemini worktops at York and cannot rate them highly enough.  If you live within striking distance they are definitely worth a visit https://www.geminiworktops.com/

swindiff

We fitted a Wren kitchen 6-7 years ago.  No complaints at all.  The quality of the units is excellent and if you do have any issues there is a 25 year guarantee (we had a hinge break which they replaced without issue).  There were a couple of minor issues with the delivery, e.g. wrong length worktop, which they resolved quickly.  In my opinion by far the most important thing when purchasing a kitchen is the fitter, if it is fitted poorly then even the best quality kitchen can end up as a nightmare.  We did not use Wren as the fitter, I did it myself along with a friend who is a chippy.

travis-powers

FreeBear said:

travis-powers said: Wren has really bad online reviews, I’ve just quoted to fit one, my first Wren and asked on some carpenters sites should I add a “Wren tax?”
 The general consensus was, quality was better than Howdens and Diy and 9 times out of 10 all is good however customer service is dire and they can be tardy with replacement parts.
 I may update this in September!

Will that be September 2024, or later ?

This September, I’ve already pushed it back once!
 The price to fit you will get from Wren will be on the high side and they use sub contractors however this will give you a guide when finding your own fitter.

GrubbyGirl_2

I have a friend who is a co owner of an independent kitchen company.  His partner does the sales and he does the fitting.  He also earns a lot of money putting right badly fitted Wren and ]Howdens kitchens, so much so that he is seriously considering closing the kitchen business and just doing that work.

martinm1

My experience from 3 years back is that they are pretty good, but they do over order, so if you know what you are doing you can remove some parts.  Their customer service is good and any missing/damaged parts they quickly replace.  Some of the doors recently the laminate began to bubble, they replaced doors no problem.

mi-key

I know a couple of people who used Wren. Both had problems with parts missing or wrong parts supplied, and it took months for Wren to get the correct bits out to them so they could finish the work ( one of these was where I was helping a friend fit new wall cabinets and 2 of the 4 supplied had the wrong side panels so the doors ended up with a 6 inch gap at the top ! ) 

I think they are one of these companies that supply overpriced very average kitchens, but wow people with the design service who see the fancy previews and don't bother to shop around to see if they can get better deals elsewhere.

Comparing the build quality of Wren to standard units available from any big DIY store, there really is no difference. 

Twinpeex

The fitter they sent us was not qualified took 21/2 months to put right now they won't pay reasonable compensation. Offered £380 ridiculous steer well clear.