New kitchen: Howdens or Wrens

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

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15th Jul 2018

wrens used to be mfi kitchens or at least some of the directors of mfi started wrens so i am lead to believe and mfi kitchens were crap.
Now 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.

12 Comments

15th Jul 2018

I would go diy-kitchens.com/

price will not be too much different but all units come premade by machines gluing in factory making them as strong as they can be - also means less time required to install said unit - if yourself a godsend if someone else means cheaper

good luck

15th Jul 2018

What about Ikea kitchens just to add to the mix. They measure & fit.

15th Jul 2018

The Howdens ones come prebuilt too, I don't know about Wren. The benefit of Howdens is that they have it all in stock so if there's something damaged or you want to add some bits on at the last minute they'll have it available for you.

15th Jul 2018

I'd say howdens, my friends are property developers and they swear by howdens

15th Jul 2018

16th Jul 2018

I used Howdens and would 100% recommend them, I shopped around for ages. Wren I would avoid, they’re a nightmare for not delivering everything ordered (my friend had a lot of issues with them) and I don’t like their sales tactics (50% off today & my manager said if you buy today we can give you and extra 15% as it’s a Sunday... who pays 100%?). As mentioned above Howdens have loads of stores and have daily deliveries so if there is an item missing, you can get it fast, unlike Wren and DIY. This is important as kitchen fitters aren’t cheap and are often busy. What I done was got Wren and Howdens to design the kitchen

, 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.

16th Jul 2018

Use Howdens.

Research Wren and draw your own conclusion as to the advisability of using them

16th Jul 2018

I’m a kitchen fitter and recommend that if your not going to use a local bespoke company then 100% go for Howdens.

16th Jul 2018

INDUSTRYHATER16/07/2018 12:54
I’m a kitchen fitter and recommend that if your not going to use a local b …I’m a kitchen fitter and recommend that if your not going to use a local bespoke company then 100% go for Howdens.

Any one else and also can you please elaborate on why you are so strongly recomending Howdens????

Thanks.

16th Jul 2018

rambobambo9 m ago
Any one else and also can you please elaborate on why you are so strongly …Any one else and also can you please elaborate on why you are so strongly recomending Howdens????Thanks.

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

16th Jul 2018

rambobambo16/07/2018 12:58
Any one else and also can you please elaborate on why you are so strongly …Any one else and also can you please elaborate on why you are so strongly recomending Howdens????Thanks.

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 by: "INDUSTRYHATER" 16th Jul 2018

16th Jul 2018

INDUSTRYHATER16th Jul 2018
As a fitter I notice things like how strong the rigid carcasses are, the …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.

That's very kind of you. Thanks

Where shall I look for worktops?