Wren kitchens?
- Thread starter Mark M
- Start date
I haven’t either but then no one has any bad first hand experience, always a friend of a friend etc. Seems like people just like slagging them off.
I used to work for MFI who are now Howdens .. So i was pleasantly suprised on the quality.. 0 mistakes on the order and 0 damage and nothing missing !! Returning stuff was no problem and refund was in my bank the next day as was buying a few extras . Was it the cheapest ? maybe not but i cant really fault it . Was about 6k 12 cabinets + worktops and 2 appliances and all the little extras 
4 of those cabs are tall units with the proper roller drawers and we have the big bin and magic corner so we didnt scrimp on spec.. Very happy
4 of those cabs are tall units with the proper roller drawers and we have the big bin and magic corner so we didnt scrimp on spec.. Very happyHow did you know?
Couldn't agree more. Once cabinets have been fitted well and finished correctly (pelmets, etc.), then a 10k kitchen can look like a 50k kitchen.
Soldato
- Joined
- 4 Apr 2003
- Posts
- 7,977
The big advantages with Howdens are:
1) They have plenty of retail/trade units in their network, typically at least one in every main town/city. Locally to me there are 3 across 12 miles.
2) They carry a lot of stock for immediate or next day collection and delivery.
3) They have no problem with quick exchanges, returns or mid fit running modifications to design.
4) You can go in, get the design done/checked, agree the price and take the kitchen away all in the space of a couple of hours.
5) Units are pre assembled bases and you just add the doors and any specialist internals.
6) Quality is great overall.
Howdens will deal with normal retail customers but it is really structured to operate through the trade and via their fitter / builder network. You won't achieve great prices with them unless on trade terms.
Their outlets don't feel like a retail store and are little more than a trade counter for visitors.
If you have a trade acount then prices are very competitive and often well incentivised. If you find a good local fitter on their network who doesn't mark up too much from trade to retail, you can achieve a very competitive price.
Wren give the national retail showroom experience and offer heavily subsidised credit terms. Their kitchens are good quality and overall the fitting teams do a great job with any problems rectified once identified.
It's a numbers game for Wren, they supply a lot of kitchens and so will attract negative reviews. Like many large retail stores the majority of customers will be happy. Even John Lewis attracts a much higher degree of poor reviews these days, despite offering one of the best shopping experiences.
Using local fitters or independent kitchen showrooms (supplying from a national joinery like howdens) or a smaller local independent joinery is often the best way to secure the best prices as a retail customer. It's easy enough to get a bank loan to cover costs rather than relying on interest free credit but on inflated prices.
I have found Wickes/TP (benchmarx) vs Howdens on a trade basis offer similar prices & quality, with the advantage to Howdens due to their local depot infrastructure to me.
1) They have plenty of retail/trade units in their network, typically at least one in every main town/city. Locally to me there are 3 across 12 miles.
2) They carry a lot of stock for immediate or next day collection and delivery.
3) They have no problem with quick exchanges, returns or mid fit running modifications to design.
4) You can go in, get the design done/checked, agree the price and take the kitchen away all in the space of a couple of hours.
5) Units are pre assembled bases and you just add the doors and any specialist internals.
6) Quality is great overall.
Howdens will deal with normal retail customers but it is really structured to operate through the trade and via their fitter / builder network. You won't achieve great prices with them unless on trade terms.
Their outlets don't feel like a retail store and are little more than a trade counter for visitors.
If you have a trade acount then prices are very competitive and often well incentivised. If you find a good local fitter on their network who doesn't mark up too much from trade to retail, you can achieve a very competitive price.
Wren give the national retail showroom experience and offer heavily subsidised credit terms. Their kitchens are good quality and overall the fitting teams do a great job with any problems rectified once identified.
It's a numbers game for Wren, they supply a lot of kitchens and so will attract negative reviews. Like many large retail stores the majority of customers will be happy. Even John Lewis attracts a much higher degree of poor reviews these days, despite offering one of the best shopping experiences.
Using local fitters or independent kitchen showrooms (supplying from a national joinery like howdens) or a smaller local independent joinery is often the best way to secure the best prices as a retail customer. It's easy enough to get a bank loan to cover costs rather than relying on interest free credit but on inflated prices.
I have found Wickes/TP (benchmarx) vs Howdens on a trade basis offer similar prices & quality, with the advantage to Howdens due to their local depot infrastructure to me.
We had a howdens kitchen fitted a few years ago, after approx 12 months the veneer started to lift on 2 cabinets so went back to Howdens to get it sorted, start of a long process involving solicitor's etc, in the end finally got them replaced but I would not recommend them at all. We also tried Wicks, salesman wasn't interested at all in talking to us, kitchen was priced at £9000.00 approx, 2 weeks later got a letter from them with another price which was around £4500.00.
Soldato
Strange, because you must have missed a number of posts on this thread.
Wouldn't touch Howdens again. Shocking "own brand" appliances too and general cabinet/door quality was poor. Not Wren either for that matter. Benchmarx are the best of that bunch until you start looking more premium like Symphony
Soldato
- Joined
- 30 Sep 2005
- Posts
- 16,546
Jesus, if they are worse than Symphony they really are crap. We have a symphony kitchen (trade), and my granddad bought one retail. Awful quality.
Associate
I have just had a Wren kitchen done, very pleased with it so far, but then it was overseen by an independent project Manager for another large firm, so they wouldn't want to muck it up.
that said, I was also told the kitchens are good, it is all about the fitters, who are often freelance.
that said, I was also told the kitchens are good, it is all about the fitters, who are often freelance.
Symphony.... you are joking right? They are bottom of the pile.
Horses for courses really. It seems, much like anything, some people have good and bad reviews of any of the above. Considering the likes of Symphony use exactly the same carcass and foil wrapped door tech on all but their most basic ranges, it's hard to really have issue with any of them. A lot of it comes down to fitting too. I've seen a Howdens kitchen fitted by an amateur, and it massively showed. I've seen a Howdens kitchen fitted by a professional and it was infinitely better (neater), still let down by woeful "Lamona" appliances.
Soldato
I bought a Wren kitchen and the quality is good I think. They made one mistake with the order which they tried to fix but then sent the same wrong unit again. My problem was a poor choice of fitting company who were also asked to do a new ceiling, floor, utility and toilet. Awful experience.
I bought a wood worktop from Wren but then heard somewhere about Osmo oil which brought it to life and it's still good eight years later.
I bought a wood worktop from Wren but then heard somewhere about Osmo oil which brought it to life and it's still good eight years later.
Man of Honour
We had a Wren kitchen fitted February 2019 and as stated before. The unit quality is great, it's the fitters that are a lottery.
Our fitters initially didn't start on the day they were supposed to. They came a day later, when then it was an average start time of 10am and finished at 3-4pm with an hour for lunch.
Long story short, they didn't install the base units on one side level and as a consequence the draws didn't close properly. Plus there were a load of other niggles with the finish that meant I wouldn't sign the job off. In the end they disappeared and I ended up escalating to the top customer service manager. He got things sorted within a week and we were happy in the end. But there were many many phone calls to get it sorted.
My advice would be fit yourself, which I would have done if I had time and my wife didn't work from home.
Otherwise get your own fitters.
Our fitters initially didn't start on the day they were supposed to. They came a day later, when then it was an average start time of 10am and finished at 3-4pm with an hour for lunch.
Long story short, they didn't install the base units on one side level and as a consequence the draws didn't close properly. Plus there were a load of other niggles with the finish that meant I wouldn't sign the job off. In the end they disappeared and I ended up escalating to the top customer service manager. He got things sorted within a week and we were happy in the end. But there were many many phone calls to get it sorted.
My advice would be fit yourself, which I would have done if I had time and my wife didn't work from home.
Otherwise get your own fitters.
Soldato
Another here who has had a Wren kitchen, we did the fitting ourselves (paid elsewhere for worktop).
Plus:
- Units arrived pre-assembled
- Design paperwork fairly easy to follow (although we designed it ourselves really)
- I got them to price match a place where I could get the appliances cheaper (12.5% discount at JL)
- Easy to talk to staff, had no issues, no pushy tactics, no bs basically.
Bad points:
- Not many really, they over ordered plinth by 3X the amount. They tried to fob it off as my problem and no refund, however when I made it clear we were using their measurements - they quickly refunded and I got to keep it (lucky me, sat in my garage still now).
Plus:
- Units arrived pre-assembled
- Design paperwork fairly easy to follow (although we designed it ourselves really)
- I got them to price match a place where I could get the appliances cheaper (12.5% discount at JL)
- Easy to talk to staff, had no issues, no pushy tactics, no bs basically.
Bad points:
- Not many really, they over ordered plinth by 3X the amount. They tried to fob it off as my problem and no refund, however when I made it clear we were using their measurements - they quickly refunded and I got to keep it (lucky me, sat in my garage still now).
Ok Howdens kitchens are kitchens builders recommend
Builders!
Not joiners or Kitchen fitters
Builders
One of the main reasons are very high RRP. Which your builder will get discounted between 40-70% even as high as 90% on some items
I've renovated 10+ houses and for the money DIY Kitchens are fantastic. So much I've fitted one of theirs in my own kitchen. Comparative quotes were in excess of 24k. DIY kitchens £9.5k And i do mean comparative. That was without fitting or appliances.
What howdens are quite good for is not being able to get your last piece that you really need or for the initial design. Unless its a complicated design
Builders!
Not joiners or Kitchen fitters
Builders
One of the main reasons are very high RRP. Which your builder will get discounted between 40-70% even as high as 90% on some items
I've renovated 10+ houses and for the money DIY Kitchens are fantastic. So much I've fitted one of theirs in my own kitchen. Comparative quotes were in excess of 24k. DIY kitchens £9.5k And i do mean comparative. That was without fitting or appliances.
What howdens are quite good for is not being able to get your last piece that you really need or for the initial design. Unless its a complicated design