Kitchen companies , my experience and advice needed :) Update post 87 01/03

[3disneykids]

Originally Posted by act1980

We currently have cream gloss and a dark granite counter (came with the house) I think I would like a shaker style as it will age well, I’m not into super modern to be honest. I think a light/medium grey cabinet colour with a white/light grey quartz counter.

Are you any closer to deciding?

The Wren we visited was in Reading and they weren’t pushy at all which was good. Which one did you visit?

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I visited one near Leeds...They weren't very helpful and 'tricked me into a design appointment that I asked if I could book at a later date. I said I would book a measurement appointment which I could attend alone. She got a guy to come over I booked a day time appointment then realised this was a design appointment... She didn't listen to the fact that it was insurance and kept badgering me with the 0%. I think a nice sales person is so much more productive for a company than a forceful one.

I am edging towards shaker I like the charcoal with paler cabinets up top ( a light blue) caught my eye but I think I am going to go for a white or cream to keep the overall colour scheme more versatile.
If you do get a quote from wren ask for a list of costs. If you send that to DIY kitchen they will be able to give you a comparable cost and you will be able to decide if it is worth visiting for you.
It wasn't too far away in the scheme of things for me but definitely think they are worth taking into consideration. They also have an online 3D tour if you want to take a look at what they have to offer.
Another tip I have is to look at buying your appliances elsewhere as they usually work out cheaper from my research.
I can't wait to see what yours looks like

[DollyDimples]

We bought a new (to us) house 3 years ago. We had a very short time period from offer accepted to entry (3.5 weeks) and we had a period of 6 weeks overlap between collecting our house keys and the end of the lease on the house we were renting.

The kitchen in our house was wrecked and we needed to replace it, ideally before moving in.

We visited a huge number of kitchen suppliers including homebase, b&q, magnet, ikea, howdens and wren.

For one reason or another, mainly choice of range, choice of cabinet sizes and whether the units come constructed or not we narrowed the choice down to howdens or wren.

We knew exactly what we wanted and priced up buying our appliances separately or from the kitchen supplier.

Howdens could not beat Wren on price. When Wren know that they likely have a sale they will start throwing big discounts at you, or they did when we bought 3 years ago.

We bought all out units, worksurface, kickboards, corniceing etc., gas hob, double electric oven, integrated dishwasher, integrated washing machine, integrated fridge freezer, extractor fan, sink and taps from wren. Can't remeber exactly how much we paid though but as I say it was cheaper than Howdens.

We had our own kitchen fitter who at the time charged £180 a day and did all the work we needed (with few additional trades people who he engaged) which included removing a stud partition wall, new sockets, tv arial point, cieling lighting, ceiling plaster skim, tiling, plumbing, laying the floor, new skirting boards and new internal door. We payed somewhere in the region of 2/2.5k for labour.

When the kitchen was delivered (units constructed the same as howdens do) we found one cupboard dorr had been supplied in the wrong colour. It was replaced the next day.

Other than that we had two other problems. Firstly, the sales person had miscalculated the length of cornicing required for the top of the cupboards so we had to order an extra length. The second was with the delivery date. We ordered the kitchen in store and were told that delivery would be between a certain date range and that we would be contacted by the warehouse to confirm. When they called they provided a date which was two weeks later and not suitable for having the work completed before we moved into the house. I threatened to cancel the sale and they moved the delivery to a date which was acceptable to us.

I think from our experience I would say that you will get a better deal once you know exactly what you want and companies will in most instances be prepared to undercut each other.

Our joiner hadn't fitted a wren kitchen before ours and had mainly worked with howdens ones. He said that they were much of a muchness quality wise and for ease of fitting.

[3disneykids]

Originally Posted by DollyDimples

We bought a new (to us) house 3 years ago. We had a very short time period from offer accepted to entry (3.5 weeks) and we had a period of 6 weeks overlap between collecting our house keys and the end of the lease on the house we were renting.

The kitchen in our house was wrecked and we needed to replace it, ideally before moving in.

We visited a huge number of kitchen suppliers including homebase, b&q, magnet, ikea, howdens and wren.

For one reason or another, mainly choice of range, choice of cabinet sizes and whether the units come constructed or not we narrowed the choice down to howdens or wren.

We knew exactly what we wanted and priced up buying our appliances separately or from the kitchen supplier.

Howdens could not beat Wren on price. When Wren know that they likely have a sale they will start throwing big discounts at you, or they did when we bought 3 years ago.

We bought all out units, worksurface, kickboards, corniceing etc., gas hob, double electric oven, integrated dishwasher, integrated washing machine, integrated fridge freezer, extractor fan, sink and taps from wren. Can't remeber exactly how much we paid though but as I say it was cheaper than Howdens.

We had our own kitchen fitter who at the time charged £180 a day and did all the work we needed (with few additional trades people who he engaged) which included removing a stud partition wall, new sockets, tv arial point, cieling lighting, ceiling plaster skim, tiling, plumbing, laying the floor, new skirting boards and new internal door. We payed somewhere in the region of 2/2.5k for labour.

When the kitchen was delivered (units constructed the same as howdens do) we found one cupboard dorr had been supplied in the wrong colour. It was replaced the next day.

Other than that we had two other problems. Firstly, the sales person had miscalculated the length of cornicing required for the top of the cupboards so we had to order an extra length. The second was with the delivery date. We ordered the kitchen in store and were told that delivery would be between a certain date range and that we would be contacted by the warehouse to confirm. When they called they provided a date which was two weeks later and not suitable for having the work completed before we moved into the house. I threatened to cancel the sale and they moved the delivery to a date which was acceptable to us.

I think from our experience I would say that you will get a better deal once you know exactly what you want and companies will in most instances be prepared to undercut each other.

Our joiner hadn't fitted a wren kitchen before ours and had mainly worked with howdens ones. He said that they were much of a muchness quality wise and for ease of fitting.

See more...

Thank you for this info...We haven't got to the 'game' part yet but are trying to work out our best options. If they can undercut I might take another look depending on what price I am given... I have a feeling this is a good time of year to do it

[act1980]

Originally Posted by 3disneykids

I visited one near Leeds...They weren't very helpful and 'tricked me into a design appointment that I asked if I could book at a later date. I said I would book a measurement appointment which I could attend alone. She got a guy to come over I booked a day time appointment then realised this was a design appointment... She didn't listen to the fact that it was insurance and kept badgering me with the 0%. I think a nice sales person is so much more productive for a company than a forceful one.

I am edging towards shaker I like the charcoal with paler cabinets up top ( a light blue) caught my eye but I think I am going to go for a white or cream to keep the overall colour scheme more versatile.
If you do get a quote from wren ask for a list of costs. If you send that to DIY kitchen they will be able to give you a comparable cost and you will be able to decide if it is worth visiting for you.
It wasn't too far away in the scheme of things for me but definitely think they are worth taking into consideration. They also have an online 3D tour if you want to take a look at what they have to offer.
Another tip I have is to look at buying your appliances elsewhere as they usually work out cheaper from my research.
I can't wait to see what yours looks like

See more...

It sounds like we could end up with the same kitchen! What counter are you going for? I'm gonna have quartz as I don't get on with granite.

Thanks for the tip re DIY Kitchen, not heard of them before so I'll check them out

[3disneykids]

Originally Posted by act1980

It sounds like we could end up with the same kitchen! What counter are you going for? I'm gonna have quartz as I don't get on with granite.

Thanks for the tip re DIY Kitchen, not heard of them before so I'll check them out

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I hadn't heard of them until I started this thread either lol
Just going for some cheap laminate lol can't afford anything nicer at the minute thinking of going for either Walnut or Oak colour but will see what happens. I have already re - designed which is seeming to push the price up massively the cost difference between integrated and freestanding including additional cost of the cabinets.

[novocastrian]

we had a howdens kitchen fitted a few years back cant fault the quality to be honest, although their own brand american fridge didnt last too long...

my mate is a fitter and we got all the units at trade price & paid him & his son to fit it. we also recently had all internal doors replaced under the same arrangement

so if you know a bloke who knows a bloke you can get a good deal

[3disneykids]

Originally Posted by novocastrian

we had a howdens kitchen fitted a few years back cant fault the quality to be honest, although their own brand american fridge didnt last too long...

my mate is a fitter and we got all the units at trade price & paid him & his son to fit it. we also recently had all internal doors replaced under the same arrangement

so if you know a bloke who knows a bloke you can get a good deal

See more...

Tbh I don't think they have quoted a bad price (it is through a project manager ) and for insurance purposes seems a little 'tight' as it isn't giving me the flexibility of looking elsewhere. I am going to see if there i any negotiation though as we do want to 'upgrade' slightly but we shall see

When I get the quote through I am going to say ho comparable it is to the DIY kitchens quote as I don't think there is much difference.

[act1980]

Originally Posted by 3disneykids

I hadn't heard of them until I started this thread either lol
Just going for some cheap laminate lol can't afford anything nicer at the minute thinking of going for either Walnut or Oak colour but will see what happens. I have already re - designed which is seeming to push the price up massively the cost difference between integrated and freestanding including additional cost of the cabinets.

See more...

That will look nice, you'll have to post some pictures when it's finished

[NikNak]

It's interesting to read of your experiences with Wren kitchens! We'd never heard of them before but came across their store when we were in Aberdeen last weekend and went in for a look. They were very keen for us to sit down with a designer but we made our excuses when they said it would take around 2 hours. We made an appointment for a couple of days later however we had to cancel it at very short notice due to my husband being held up at work and the store being a 2 hour drive away. Since then they have been bombarding us both with phone calls, text messages, voicemails and emails trying to get us to rearrange and their pushiness has completely put us off now! We've had a quote from Ikea too but think we'll likely go with a local company now. That's if our extension ever gets built... really struggling to even get quotes from tradesman for carrying out the work but that's another story!

[3disneykids]

Originally Posted by NikNak

It's interesting to read of your experiences with Wren kitchens! We'd never heard of them before but came across their store when we were in Aberdeen last weekend and went in for a look. They were very keen for us to sit down with a designer but we made our excuses when they said it would take around 2 hours. We made an appointment for a couple of days later however we had to cancel it at very short notice due to my husband being held up at work and the store being a 2 hour drive away. Since then they have been bombarding us both with phone calls, text messages, voicemails and emails trying to get us to rearrange and their pushiness has completely put us off now! We've had a quote from Ikea too but think we'll likely go with a local company now. That's if our extension ever gets built... really struggling to even get quotes from tradesman for carrying out the work but that's another story!

See more...

My DH called them to cancel ours he said we didn't require them any more they asked why and he didn't give a reason so they haven't called back.
This is so complex just choosing which company to go with. I have the fear f 'getting it wrong ' as irrational as this is lol.