Posted 15th Jul 2018
Hi
We are building a new kitchen. We have liked both wrens & howden & there pricing is very similar as well. What would you suggest based on your/your friend’s/relatives experience?
Would you prefer: Howdens or Wrens?
Thanks alot in advance
We are building a new kitchen. We have liked both wrens & howden & there pricing is very similar as well. What would you suggest based on your/your friend’s/relatives experience?
Would you prefer: Howdens or Wrens?
Thanks alot in advance
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sorted byNow i want to tell you my experience of wrens and howdens kitchens as i am in the building trade.
both will have missing parts or scratches to doors draws ect but with howdens you just pop back to the shop/warehouse and they exchange strait away. Wrens is a complete nightmare and they wont exchange over the phone first they want the fitters to fit the whole lot then Talley up any scratches dents ect at the end of the job, impossible because sometimes you need end panels ect to carry on with the job if it scratched you cant fit it because its screwed and the fitters would have to come back at a later date to sort it. The last wrens kitchen we fitted over 60% of the doors and draws were scratched dented or miss sprayed by the manufacture this for a fitter is a pain for the customer its heart breaking and then having to wait days for couriers to deliver the items held the job up. The last howdens kitchen we fitted some doors draws were scratched but as they have stock in most showrooms as a fitter we just swapped and collected not holding the job up for more than an hour or so. Somebody above mentioned about diy-kitchens now we have only done one of these but i was very impressed these do come pre built which is great including doors fitted or at least the kitchen i did was they were the best wrapped kitchen iv ever seen delivered and we never had one problem with doors or draws the only problem was a broken sink unit which they refunded the customer strait away and as it was almost the exact same look as a howdens one we used one of theirs instead.
Summery, howdens are very good and speedy if you need to replace something, Wrens if i never have to fit one again id be happy with that, diy-kitchens iv only ever done one and enjoyed it but i dont fully know what would happen if something needs replacing and how long it would take because nothing needed replacing they were very well wrapped.
I understand this is a long reply and its only my experience of fitting these kitchens and its entirely up to you how you feel about my experience.
As a fitter I notice things like how strong the rigid carcasses are, the quality of fixings used, the quality of the runners, what quality the MFC used on the carcasses is, what the quality of the vinyl on the frontage is and who manufactured the worktops.
You would be surprised the difference in quality worktops and panels can make when scribing and jointing them.
Ikea kitchens are decent but they use some strange systems and most units don’t allow for pipes etc
A lot of self employed kitchen fitters tend push magnet kitchens as we get mega discounts on them, they are ok, nothing special. (edited)
, once I was happy with what I wanted (or she wanted!) I then built it online at DIY-Kitchens then got Howdens to match/beat the price. My best advice would be to figure out what design of kitchen you want and ensure you have a budget in mind, remember they need you and this % off rubbish is just a sales tactic, THEY NEED YOU! A picture of my kitchen from Howdens is attached.
Research Wren and draw your own conclusion as to the advisability of using them
Unless you have a big budget, time to wait and want to get something bespoke, hand crafted/painted then you can’t go wrong with Howdens. My old house I had magnets, wouldn’t use them again, just not as good as Howdens and more money for a smaller kitchen. Hope this helps
Any one else and also can you please elaborate on why you are so strongly recomending Howdens????
Thanks.
That's very kind of you. Thanks
Where shall I look for worktops?