New kitchen

FreeBear

Emmia said:

Kittieslovefood said:

I've just had a new kitchen and didn't have wall tiles put on at all. I was fed up of them falling off the wall and having to replace them. I had a wide splash back put all the way around instead and haven't regretted my decision. Also replace the existing floor tiles with tough waterproof laminate flooring. They were laid on top as the old floor had chipped tiles and the cost too prohibitive to dig up. I looked at Magnet, Wren and all those brands for my kitchen, but didn't like anything they had. In the end we went to a local kitchen firm who planned everything exactly as we wanted. We did pay a little more but it was worth every penny. Very happy with it. 

We have glass instead of tiles on the walls - more expensive but much nicer.

Did a polished Venetian plaster (very pale chrome yellow over a white base) on my kitchen walls. The ceiling got a base coat of light blue with a white top coat.

prettyandfluffy

Grinch6912 said:

I wouldn’t touch wren with a barge pole. Read the reviews on Trustpilot, although wren throw a lot of legal resources to have negative reviews removed. Promise the earth;you actually get a bag of soil. 

I have a howdens account and have fitted a number of their kitchens. Their solid built cabinets are excellent quality. However, the real draw for me is customer service. If you have any issues there’s always a store nearby. They quickly replace damaged items, not that there are many, and resolve any other issues quickly and efficiently.  If you don’t have an account, you’re somewhat at the mercy of your fitter/builder because howdens wont tell you the price. Your fitter is able to buy for 5k and fit it for 10. I’ve also fitted a number of ikea kitchens. Great value and easy to assemble. Biggest issue with them is the wait time to resolve problems…not so bad if you live near one, but I don’t 

Completely agree.  If you're still considering Wren, 1. Have a look at the Facebook Group "Wren kitchen disasters" - really shocking reading.  2. Ask them how their costs are built up; they won't tell you.

We went with Howdens and are very pleased with the kitchen and their customer service, they are very open to you tweaking things as you go - changing one type of cabinet for another and so on.

koalakoala

Another vote for Howdens

MysteryMe

MenInBlack said:

Hi all,

So I'm looking at getting a new kitchen fit. I had a utility room and the old kitchen now just one space. I've been to Howdens, magnet and wren. I had an independent fitter round, recommended by Howdens telling me about delamination. I've read some threads on here too about it. Has anyone had a kitchen from the above and how did it go? 

My issue is all three companies have given me different designs but I really like wrens. I opted for full tiling but the fitter mentioned he feels uncomfortable fitting a kitchen because the tiles could crack. 

Has anyone fitted a kitchen with full tiling done first?

Thanks

I had a new kitchen last year and didn't use any of the companies that you mention, not that I had anything against any of them but what I would say is that if you prefer Wren then buy from Wren. 

Wren get a bad rap, I've never bought one of their kitchens but all I will say is that they are one of the largest kitchen suppliers in the country and been trading for some time so they must have a large number of happy customers otherwise they would have gone bust by now. 

Getting a good kitchen fitter in, is key. 

FreeBear

MysteryMe said: Wren get a bad rap, I've never bought one of their kitchens but all I will say is that they are one of the largest kitchen suppliers in the country and been trading for some time so they must have a large number of happy customers otherwise they would have gone bust by now.

Wren was founded in 2009, so not that long ago.

For comparison, MFI (remember them ?) was founded in 1964. During the 1980s, expanded significantly, opening up stores across the country. At one point, they hit £854M in sales (2003) before going bust in 2008.

gzoom

MenInBlack said:

 I opted for full tiling but the fitter mentioned he feels uncomfortable fitting a kitchen because the tiles could crack. 

Has anyone fitted a kitchen with full tiling done first?

Tiles do crack but can be replaced by a good tiler post fitting (we know from experience ).
We love tiles in the kitchen but ours have UFH so in winter feels lovely to walk on. Do make sure you tile FIRST before the units go in, that way you can change out the whole kitchen in future without having to redo the flooring.



Someone mentioned a good fitted is key, we would totally agree. Don't unestimate how much stuff there is to install into a kitchen. Our fitter took over 4 weeks in total to get our kitchen fully installed, and came up with some on-the-job suggestions like running the worktop right up to the window edge instead of having a raised splash back. 

We looked at Wren kitchens, to my suprise their prices weren't much cheaper than the local independent company we ended up using, and I'm pretty certain their fitters would have rushed job, refused any last minute changes (which we had quite a few). So if you haven't already, try some local independent kitchen installers.

Emmia

prettyandfluffy said:

Grinch6912 said:

I wouldn’t touch wren with a barge pole. Read the reviews on Trustpilot, although wren throw a lot of legal resources to have negative reviews removed. Promise the earth;you actually get a bag of soil. 

I have a howdens account and have fitted a number of their kitchens. Their solid built cabinets are excellent quality. However, the real draw for me is customer service. If you have any issues there’s always a store nearby. They quickly replace damaged items, not that there are many, and resolve any other issues quickly and efficiently.  If you don’t have an account, you’re somewhat at the mercy of your fitter/builder because howdens wont tell you the price. Your fitter is able to buy for 5k and fit it for 10. I’ve also fitted a number of ikea kitchens. Great value and easy to assemble. Biggest issue with them is the wait time to resolve problems…not so bad if you live near one, but I don’t 

Completely agree.  If you're still considering Wren, 1. Have a look at the Facebook Group "Wren kitchen disasters" - really shocking reading.  2. Ask them how their costs are built up; they won't tell you.

We went with Howdens and are very pleased with the kitchen and their customer service, they are very open to you tweaking things as you go - changing one type of cabinet for another and so on.

The Facebook group mentioned is of course a self selecting sample. I'm pretty sure that there are "company X is rubbish" groups on Facebook for most companies..

I also know a few people who are happy with their Wren kitchens.

Personally I wouldn't have ceramic floor tiles again in a kitchen, LVT all the way - feels warmer underfoot (without UFH) doesn't chip or crack....

Rosa_Damascena

@gzoom - double storey looks amazing!!

MysteryMe

FreeBear said:

MysteryMe said: Wren get a bad rap, I've never bought one of their kitchens but all I will say is that they are one of the largest kitchen suppliers in the country and been trading for some time so they must have a large number of happy customers otherwise they would have gone bust by now.

Wren was founded in 2009, so not that long ago.

For comparison, MFI (remember them ?) was founded in 1964. During the 1980s, expanded significantly, opening up stores across the country. At one point, they hit £854M in sales (2003) before going bust in 2008.

It is my subjective opinion that trading 16 years is "some time" which you can disagree with. It matters not to me.

MFI folding would only be remotely relevant if the issues behind them folding were directly applicable to how Wren operate. Companies do not fail for the exact same reasons.

MysteryMe

Emmia said:

prettyandfluffy said:

Grinch6912 said:

I wouldn’t touch wren with a barge pole. Read the reviews on Trustpilot, although wren throw a lot of legal resources to have negative reviews removed. Promise the earth;you actually get a bag of soil. 

I have a howdens account and have fitted a number of their kitchens. Their solid built cabinets are excellent quality. However, the real draw for me is customer service. If you have any issues there’s always a store nearby. They quickly replace damaged items, not that there are many, and resolve any other issues quickly and efficiently.  If you don’t have an account, you’re somewhat at the mercy of your fitter/builder because howdens wont tell you the price. Your fitter is able to buy for 5k and fit it for 10. I’ve also fitted a number of ikea kitchens. Great value and easy to assemble. Biggest issue with them is the wait time to resolve problems…not so bad if you live near one, but I don’t 

Completely agree.  If you're still considering Wren, 1. Have a look at the Facebook Group "Wren kitchen disasters" - really shocking reading.  2. Ask them how their costs are built up; they won't tell you.

We went with Howdens and are very pleased with the kitchen and their customer service, they are very open to you tweaking things as you go - changing one type of cabinet for another and so on.

The Facebook group mentioned is of course a self selecting sample. I'm pretty sure that there are "company X is rubbish" groups on Facebook for most companies..

Indeed https://www.facebook.com/groups/501482740705022 is a Howdens Kitchen complaints group with approximately 21800 members.