With an open-plan living / dining and cooking area, we wanted a kitchen that would be the focus of the house. Having previously installed low-end B&Q units, we chose a Wren kitchen this time because it was higher quality and we could install it ourselves.
The design and planning process was excellent. There was no hard-sell at the Wren showroom in Norwich; in fact, we were offered a range of options to control the overall cost. Our kitchen consultant was highly competent and very patient as our ideas evolved - we ended up buying units from the top end Infinity Plus range. The CAD fly through of our design was also superb.
Wren delivered an enormous stack of pre-constructed cabinets and other components - quite a task to keep it all organised during installation.
The installation was straightforward once we had found the collection of videos on YouTube - only very brief written instructions were included with the units.
The quality of the fittings e.g. door hinges is excellent.
Our island has cupboards on both sides, providing useful storage for open-plan living.
The marble tops were cut to our bespoke design and delivered / installed later by specialist fitters.
We have a Bosch electric oven and a Bosch combination oven (microwave, grill and hot-air) alongside it. The latter is not as tall as the oven, so we bought a Bosch warming drawer to maintain the symmetry. Very pleased with the look of this.
Our fridge and freezer are in the wall units on the right.
Some things we have learned:
Although Wren offered good prices on appliances, were we still able to find ours cheaper online
Mixing different colours for the units works really well - we have "Italian concrete" with a textured finish for the large wall units and "Cloud satin" for the island units
The lighter ("Arctic Starburst") marble top on the island is easier to keep clean than the darker ("Graphite Ice") marble top at the coffee making station.
Our induction hob is rated at 13A and plugs into a socket. We can only use 2 of the 4 heating points concurrently and should have installed a larger circuit for the hob
The handle-less doors give the kitchen very clean lines but it is quite difficult to open the fridge against its seal
Some views of the finished kitchen:
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