Our Kitchen Design with Wren Kitchens

When we bought this house back in November 2012 it was completely stuck in the 1960’s, it still had the original kitchen units and no worktops, just the top of the cupboards.

We quickly installed an Ikea kitchen ourselves in the space we had so that we could have somewhere to cook. However, we can only ever have one person preparing food in the kitchen at a time, as there is only one small section of worktop. So far, we have made it work, but now is the time to make some changes and install a new kitchen.

We are planning to knock down the dividing wall between the dining room and kitchen (you can just see the wall on the left of the picture above), close the back door in the kitchen, and remove a side window. This will give us the space to create a U-shaped kitchen, fill a wall with units, and provide the much-needed worktop and cupboard space.

What a minefield it is out there! There are so many kitchen companies, high street stores offering kitchens and big brands to choose from that I was already confused before I had even made an appointment to see anyone!

Thank goodness Wren Kitchens got in contact with me and invited me along to have my new kitchen personally designed!

I am not sure if you have heard of Wren Kitchens before because I hadn’t, the Wren brand is a new brand but the family behind Wren has been around for over 35 years. Back in 1979, it was called Hygena, according to my Mum, this was ‘the kitchen brand’ to have!

Design process

First off I had a browse on Wren Kitchens website, they have a great range of ideas, designs and options to view. This gave me a little thought about what design I wanted; however, hubby and I still had to decide on one we both liked!

I was easily able to contact Wren and get a home visit arranged, you can do this online and they will contact you to arrange a time and date.

Home visit

Paul, our Wren Kitchens designer, was invaluable. He called us before he was going to visit to check it was still OK, and when I said I would need to leave for the school run after an hour, he said he would try to get to us as soon as possible after his previous appointment.

When Paul arrived, he was very pleasant, very helpful, and put up with me and hubby not knowing 100% what style we would like! We hadn’t been in the store before, so I was unsure about the styles they offered and what they looked like in the flesh. I would recommend you visit the store before this home visit, so you have a little more idea of what you want.

However this didn’t stop Paul from being able to design our kitchen, part of this service is you visit the store a few days later to see the design that the Wren designer has come up with. Here you can change the unit colours, worktops, appliances and accessories.

We chose a style we thought we would like: gloss-white handleless doors with a wood-effect laminate. Something like this style…

Paul chatted about the types of kitchens they offer, our budget, colour schemes, and the kind of kitchen we were looking for. He asked us questions about how we will use our kitchen, which appliances we would be looking for, and any special requirements we may need. He was building his picture of how we would use our kitchen, ready for his design.

Our primary requirement was lots of storage; we currently don’t have much at all!

Paul quickly took all the measurements he needed and left with all the ideas he needed to start our kitchen design. I was really excited to see what he would come up with.

Shop visit to see design

We went into the Wren Kitchens shop in Southampton, Hampshire, about one week later to view our design. We were all offered a drink, and the children could sit in the little kids’ area. Wren has this in all their stores, it had a TV, a games console, bean bags and was given a squash to drink. They sat there happily whilst we looked at our design, phew! You don’t even need to worry about leaving your pet at home for too long, as you can bring them to every single store, as they’re all pet-friendly.

The first thing Paul showed us was the quality of Wren Kitchens’ manufacturing. They are UK-based, and the majority of their kitchen components are manufactured at their factory in North Lincolnshire. The really big positive for us is that the kitchen units are entirely built on delivery. We are planning on installing the kitchen ourselves, so the fact that they are already built for us would be amazing.

Wren Kitchens also offers a warranty on all kitchens, ranging from 2 years to a lifetime warranty, depending on the level of kitchen you purchase.

Wren Kitchens uses a fantastic computer-generated 3D plan to show you your kitchen design. It is entirely interactive, so you can see how the units will open and work within your space.

Paul had done a great job on our design; he had given us the storage we needed, put all the appliances in the right places, and made use of all the corners by installing great pull-out corner storage systems. All units are soft-closing, which is a must to protect them from wear and tear. All units are extra deep, and we were shown that you can fit a full-sized dinner plate on the shelves. You can also purchase extra-high units to make the most of the space.

We decided to go for gloss white handleless units with a wood effect laminate worktop, the worktop was laminate but it was a slightly different style worktop and from their Wren Kitchen luxury bespoke range which they manufacture themselves. They offer an extensive range of styles and colours to choose from. I was really impressed by this.

The one we chose was coco bolo,

As well as laminate Wren Kitchens offer you an extensive range of different materials to suit your budget, from more smaller to larger budgets.

Paul suggested we put in a large breakfast bar section of worktop where the old wall was, this meant we had one vast piece of worktop to prepare food on but it also meant we could put in storage on the dining room side of the units.

What was great about going into the Wren Kitchens store was that I was able to make changes to Paul’s design, removing or adding any options we did or didn’t like. You were able to see the designs in the flesh and compare different options.

We were quoted just over £5000 for the following quantity of items; this does not include installation, and a special offer was running at the time.

• 12x Cabinets
• 13x Decor Panels
• 1x Small hidden extractor fan
• x1 Ceramic Sink
• x1 Tap
• x2 Worktops
• 4x Decor Accessories
• 13x Other items
• Delivery

Payments and delivery

Wren Kitchens offer a great range of payment options to choose from, you must pay 10% deposit to hold your order, then delivery date can be made way in advance for when your ready to have it delivered. You can also make any changes to your order up to 28 days before the delivery date.

You have the option of Buy Now Pay Later, settle it within 12 months, otherwise it goes onto a high-interest rate.

Or you can choose Pay Monthly Finance and pay it off over 4 years. Or, of course, paying outright for it!

Delivery is usually within 4 weeks of your order date. You will be given a week commencing delivery date when placing your order. You will be contacted 7 days before delivery to confirm the exact delivery date of the kitchen. On the day of delivery, you will be called with a 1-hour time slot. I think this is a really efficient delivery service, but I haven’t used it myself yet.

You can also pay an extra fee to have your new kitchen removed and installed for you.

Overall

We were really impressed by Wren Kitchens, Paul, our kitchen designer, was very friendly, gave us the time we needed and came up with a great design that would work really well for us. If you are looking at having a new kitchen, then I would suggest you visit Wren Kitchens and see what they come up with. I don’t think you will be disappointed.