ᐅ Planning kitchen appliances: How to approach it. The market is overwhelming.
Created on: 11 Sep 2017 12:34
G
G-Star1988
Hello everyone,
I have an appointment at the kitchen studio next Saturday and I’m preparing for it. Specifically, I’m looking for the appliances I want to have later in the kitchen. I’ve been researching a lot from brands like Neff / Siemens, Miele, Bora, etc., but I’m not making much progress.
For example, the current selection at Siemens looks like this:
Dishwasher IQ300 SN636X03MD
Oven IQ700 HB634GBS1
Microwave IQ500 HF15M264
Cooktop with integrated downdraft extractor EX801LX34E
or
2 x Cooktop IQ700 EX375FXB1E with extractor IQ700 LF16VA570
(The cooktop with integrated downdraft is the only fixed requirement, unfortunately I don’t have any influence on that ^^)
I actually value quality, energy efficiency, and a balanced price-performance ratio. But how can I find out if what you pick is really good? Or if there are possibly cheaper but equally high-quality products from other manufacturers. For example, the cooktop with integrated downdraft extractor from Miele—according to the catalog, it’s cheaper but just as good or even better?
How do you approach this?
I have an appointment at the kitchen studio next Saturday and I’m preparing for it. Specifically, I’m looking for the appliances I want to have later in the kitchen. I’ve been researching a lot from brands like Neff / Siemens, Miele, Bora, etc., but I’m not making much progress.
For example, the current selection at Siemens looks like this:
Dishwasher IQ300 SN636X03MD
Oven IQ700 HB634GBS1
Microwave IQ500 HF15M264
Cooktop with integrated downdraft extractor EX801LX34E
or
2 x Cooktop IQ700 EX375FXB1E with extractor IQ700 LF16VA570
(The cooktop with integrated downdraft is the only fixed requirement, unfortunately I don’t have any influence on that ^^)
I actually value quality, energy efficiency, and a balanced price-performance ratio. But how can I find out if what you pick is really good? Or if there are possibly cheaper but equally high-quality products from other manufacturers. For example, the cooktop with integrated downdraft extractor from Miele—according to the catalog, it’s cheaper but just as good or even better?
How do you approach this?
Regarding the durability of the electrical appliances, I would be completely relaxed. Doesn't IKEA even offer a 5-year warranty? For those without special requirements regarding appearance and functionality, IKEA is definitely a good option. If it were a closed kitchen, I would have absolutely no problem buying an IKEA kitchen again, but integrated into an open-plan living/dining area, we simply wanted something more.
K
Knallkörper15 Sep 2017 20:27Tego12 schrieb:
People with Ikea kitchens always have to convince themselves that they bought top quality at a low price.Maybe you should read my post again.
What’s wrong with the hinge attachment? It looks like it’s built to last 50 years with the plastic dowels. Compared to that, Nobilia is rubbish. And how can you lump all Ikea fronts together? That’s not serious, because the price and quality range of Ikea fronts is huge. The most expensive fronts cost 900% more than the cheapest ones. I only liked the most expensive fronts (Torhamn), but for something better in real wood, I would have had to go to Team 7.
What part of the Ikea system wouldn’t work for the final fine adjustments? I mean, a lot can be “DIY built.” The 20cm (8 inches) grid is very annoying; I agree on that.
To be honest... yes, we really wore out the individual kitchen showrooms (NOT furniture chain stores)! We had the exact same kitchen designed in six different kitchen studios, including one carpenter, although it was more of an implementation since we had already planned the kitchen ourselves in detail. Of course, we also planned the same kitchen (as far as possible) at Ikea. What can I say, we ended up paying $22,000 for our kitchen; with $18,000, I could have gotten it at Ikea but with a worse layout, lower quality, and nowhere near as good fronts. I don’t even want to start on the appliances—if we had to buy those ourselves, the Ikea kitchen would have actually been more expensive than the kitchen studio. Instead, we now have our dream kitchen with frosted glass fronts, flush wall cabinets continuously 2.70 m (8 ft 10 in) tall with extended fronts down to the floor, all handleless, brushed Nero Assoluto stone countertops, three undermounted sinks, fantastic faucets, a huge kitchen island measuring 1.20 m by 2.40 m (4 ft by 8 ft) with an integrated old planer bench, top-tier appliances from Bosch Series 8, a Neff downdraft extractor, a Miele dishwasher, and a side-by-side refrigerator. The countertop on the window side is 85 cm (33 inches) deep, and so on... you just don’t get something like that at Ikea.
And yes, I was bold enough to play the game and gradually played the kitchen studios against each other. Why not? It’s my right! In the end, we didn’t just choose the cheapest kitchen studio but paid $2,000 more to buy where we were treated well and honestly from the start. If, after getting six offers for the same kitchen, you end up with roughly the same price everywhere and then really start negotiating, you’re on the right track...
What I actually want to say is that, of course, most want to charge customers a lot at first, but that’s only because most customers allow it! If you don’t want to play along, you just have to invest a bit more time and effort, and you’ll see it can be done at a much higher level without suddenly costing $50,000...
And yes, I was bold enough to play the game and gradually played the kitchen studios against each other. Why not? It’s my right! In the end, we didn’t just choose the cheapest kitchen studio but paid $2,000 more to buy where we were treated well and honestly from the start. If, after getting six offers for the same kitchen, you end up with roughly the same price everywhere and then really start negotiating, you’re on the right track...
What I actually want to say is that, of course, most want to charge customers a lot at first, but that’s only because most customers allow it! If you don’t want to play along, you just have to invest a bit more time and effort, and you’ll see it can be done at a much higher level without suddenly costing $50,000...
Knallkörper schrieb:
Maybe you should read my post again.
What is wrong with the hinge mounting? It seems to be designed for 50 years with the plastic dowels. Compared to that, Nobilia is junk. And how can you lump all Ikea fronts together? That’s misleading because the price and quality range of Ikea fronts is huge. The most expensive fronts are 900% more expensive than the cheapest ones. I only liked the most expensive fronts (Torhamn), but for something better in real wood, I would have had to go to Team 7.
What couldn’t be achieved with the Ikea system in terms of final finishing? I mean, a lot can be “self-built.” The 20cm (8 inches) grid is very annoying—I agree with that.Compare Ikea hinges to those from market leader Blum... they are worlds apart! And what good is the most expensive Ikea front if it doesn’t fit the overall design?
K
Knallkörper15 Sep 2017 21:48KingSong schrieb:
Compare the IKEA hinges with those from the market leader Blum..... there’s no comparison!But the IKEA hinges are from Blum, right? I thought the hinges were good, but that they are THE BEST... wow!
KingSong schrieb:
And what good is the most expensive IKEA cabinet front if it doesn’t fit the overall concept?Nothing, then. That’s why I wrote on the last page that you can be happy with IKEA if you find a front that works. Your kitchen sounds interesting. How big / long is it?
Regarding countertops, IKEA is quite flexible nowadays. In our kitchen, we have three depths between 63 and 125 cm (25 and 49 inches).
Discussing it further won’t help. IKEA is simply middle of the road when it comes to all furniture. A friend once described it well as “budget hülsta.”
Good design, satisfactory to good quality, affordable, but nothing really special. Those looking for something unique usually don’t go there—the atmosphere and environment just don’t fit.
And it’s good that the market is much broader than just the blue-and-yellow stores.
However, if you have a tighter home budget, need to calculate more precisely, or don’t want to bother with negotiating discounts, IKEA is a reasonable choice. I don’t know of any alternatives here in the north. Roller and Skonto are not options, Karsten.
Good design, satisfactory to good quality, affordable, but nothing really special. Those looking for something unique usually don’t go there—the atmosphere and environment just don’t fit.
And it’s good that the market is much broader than just the blue-and-yellow stores.
However, if you have a tighter home budget, need to calculate more precisely, or don’t want to bother with negotiating discounts, IKEA is a reasonable choice. I don’t know of any alternatives here in the north. Roller and Skonto are not options, Karsten.
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