Fitted Kitchen Recommendations

[NickK]

My sister got one recently from Wren Kitchens and the quality was very good. They fitted it themselves though. This page lists the other major brands for kitchen suites.

With Wren - ensure you go through the design completely (including checking all the colours and doors match) BEFORE signing on the dotted line. It took three reviews before our doors matched colours and we had all the right units. Don't get pressured or let them off the hook when you're getting the design and bill of materials. Wren don't provide after sales support. Wren have a reputation for being butts for "this is what you've ordered as contracted".

Also check all your delivered doors and components inside the 24 hour delivery period. You will get all the components for the higher ranges prebuilt without the doors on. We had a couple of bruised door corners. You will get the entire kitchen in one delivery and it will be assembled (if it's the higher ranges) - that takes space.. so plan the logistics

The kitchen is decent quality. I'm happy with the functionality and the look. Although we have a couple of marks on the doors over it's lifetime so far, the paint you will NOT be able to get. Also replacement doors are almost impossible to get (we have an additional door for a high traffic area just in case).

We took the entire work top as the thick breakfast bar style to raise it up (I'm 6'4 and the wide isn't too short) as I find normal worktops and the position of the sink makes my back ache (tall person accessibility!).

We had our own fitter. That was an experience as the fitter was a bit of a bodge-it merchant. So get an experienced independent person with experience of Wren fitting. The wren fitter refused some of the modifications we had planned (we have a back of one of the cupboards modified to accommodate a pipe).

So I have a love/hate relationship with Wren. Good design, decent quality but the organisation and attitudes sucks money nuts.

My parents have a German brand (I can't remember the brand name) - it's better quality than wren and the connected fitters (local to them) did a top quality installation.

Also have a think about what you need in the kitchen before you go into the design.. Wren were happy to start with double ovens etc, inbuilt x/y etc however for us we went for a Bosch series 8 oven but then had standalone spaces for our appliances (which so happen to all be Bosch already! Not that I'm a Bosch fanboy :/).

 

[gailjon]

Side note- I got shouted down last time I mentioned it (I don’t care) but be aware the owner of Wren is one of the biggest Conservative party donors and quite an active backer of them.

Why do you bring up this irrelevant point again? There are many, many different companies all connected to areas of society that people may not be happy with.

 

[TheCSSDoctor]

When we had our extension done a couple of years ago, we used the local Howdens

We looked at a few different places and spoke to a number of people before making the decision, and then once the building work started, we found out that our builder had a good working relationship with the local Howdens and the designer gave us the builders discount as well, so we saved a few more pounds

 

[Scam]

Why do you bring up this irrelevant point again? There are many, many different companies all connected to areas of society that people may not be happy with.

Because in this day and age a company’s social/moral/political compass is always relevant. As you say, there are aspects of companies that people might not be happy with, therefore where’s the harm in educating people about a certain company.

Anyway, the OP clearly found it relevant so that’s that discussion over.

 

[bobuk]

We had a howdens kitchen fitted about 8 years ago, inside 12 months the vineer started to lift on the end cuboards, due to the way they fit the kitchens ( Howdens do not sell to you they sell to the kitchen fitter) the warrenty is with the fitter, it took nearly 12 months to get replacement panals numours vists to the branch to get this rectifyied. Now most of the panals the vineer is lifting again.

 

[khrall]

I used Better Kitchens for mine, really good pre and post sales, would 100% recommend. The reason we chose them over DIY Kitcehns was they offered a True Handleless kitchen style. No, I don't work for them.

My other recommendation is to start looking at and ordering your appliances soon, we're still awaiting one item and we ordered our appliances at the beginning of September (from another company)

 

[Scam]

the warrenty is with the fitter, it took nearly 12 months to get replacement panals numours vists to the branch to get this rectifyied

Ah that was the other thing with Howdens I now recall. Lots of complaints that after fitting they fob you off to the fitter etc. and make you go round the houses to get anything fixed. Good point.

My other recommendation is to start looking at and ordering your appliances soon, we're still awaiting one item and we ordered our appliances at the beginning of September (from another company)

Oh definitely this. We wanted an integrated slimline dishwasher with an upper cutlery tray (rather than a basket). There only seemed to be a few models namely Bosch, Siemens and Neff (which are all the same company anyway right?). Long story short we've had our dishwasher sitting in our lounge for nearly 6 months now and the kitchen fitters haven't even measured yet Our kitchen company definitely warned us about appliance delays.

 

[Marakith]

This thread (and the insights from those of you who have gone through it) have been SUPER useful, thanks!

Can anyone recommend a site with "What to do/ not to do"? I'm also looking for sample project plans if anyone has one or can recommend one.

Thanks!

 

[khrall]

This thread (and the insights from those of you who have gone through it) have been SUPER useful, thanks!

Can anyone recommend a site with "What to do/ not to do"? I'm also looking for sample project plans if anyone has one or can recommend one.

Thanks!

I can't really help with a site with "What to do/ not to do", but loads of information on forums like Screwfix, DIYnot, etc. You just need to dig through to what is relevant to you.

When we started looking at our project, I started off with https://www.kitchenplanner.net/ to get an idea of what I wanted.

Think about the space you have, the layout, and how practical things will be. There are also the concepts of "The Kitchen Triangle" and "Kitchen Zones", have a read up.

Once you have a rough idea, look at using one of the planners from your chosen vendor - both online and in-person.

We initially started with Wren (wouldn't release plans without paying), then went to Howdens via our builder - their internal kitchen designer was pretty good and introduced some additional ideas to us. Howdens did their usual "here's the expensive price", I asked for the best and final offer and came back a little cheaper.

Then sent that plan to a couple more places to get priced up, one local place and the reseller I mentioned earlier. Got a really good price back, with some improvements, and placed an order.

(Subsequently, after purchasing the kitchen, Howdens called back a few months later and told us "We hadn't put all the discounts on". Be prepared to have to go to the competition or fight for the price, there is a lot of margin in kitchen units, that they don't want to let go of.)