ᐅ Strategy for Buying a Kitchen / How to Negotiate Effectively?
Created on: 6 Aug 2020 16:47
S
Shiny86
I’ve started planning my kitchen and feel completely overwhelmed. It feels like being at a bazaar. Exactly what you see on TV shows happened to me. So far, I’ve visited 4 kitchen showrooms. I’m still waiting on the design and price from 2 of them. These are smaller studios, so I’m curious to see what they come up with.
But with the other two, it went exactly as expected. Twice I asked the manager for a discount, and it turned into a kind of show. The comments were laughable: “We can do it for price X, but then we won’t make any profit on you. The manager will probably want to talk to me about this.” Even after the second discount, I still felt like I was paying too much. Both salespeople set deadlines for me. One even said I had to sign the contract that same day.
I also don’t know how to negotiate smartly or what the right tactics are. I don’t really know the actual value of my kitchen. When does negotiating become unreasonable? How do you know for sure when there’s no more room to negotiate? Are there actually people who don’t negotiate at all and just accept the first offered discount? I’ve wondered about that too. It’s a shame I don’t know any kitchen salesperson personally to get insider tips.
Since I have a lot of expensive requests, I feel almost ridiculous setting my budget too low. The problem is that I can’t compare apples to apples because my kitchen concept has changed with every planning appointment. In my small town, I’ve now visited all the studios except for Roller. There are still studios in neighboring towns, but I already feel like I won’t have a kitchen even after visiting 5 more showrooms.
Nearly all plans are for a Nobilia kitchen, coming to around 20,000 euros (about $22,000), or even more if I include my latest wishes. I’ve asked if I should buy the appliances myself to save money, but I was advised against it. They said they wouldn’t install them due to warranty reasons.
What price would you set if you were in my position? And please share how you got your kitchen and how you negotiated.
My requirements are:
- A tall cabinet row with 6 cabinets, each 60cm (24 inches) wide, boxed in drywall. Two of these should be pantry cabinets with pull-out shelves, and the other 4 will house appliances.
- A kitchen peninsula about 1.2m (4 feet) wide and approximately 3.10m (10 feet) long, with drawers on both sides only.
- I want quite high-end appliances, probably Bosch Series 8 black Carbon Accent line, likely including an oven with microwave, a combi-steam oven, and a built-in coffee machine.
- Cooktop with an integrated downdraft vent, recirculating air, flush-mounted (Bosch Series 8 has been planned so far, but I don’t know how good the cooktop is).
- Very quiet dishwasher, brand doesn’t matter (Bosch and Neff have been suggested so far).
- Refrigerator inside a tall cabinet with 2 bio-fresh drawers, brand doesn’t matter (Liebherr and Bosch have been suggested).
- Ceramic countertop
- Undermount ceramic sink
I don’t want to spend more than necessary. But I realize I probably won’t get everything for 15,000 euros (about $16,500).
How should I proceed?
But with the other two, it went exactly as expected. Twice I asked the manager for a discount, and it turned into a kind of show. The comments were laughable: “We can do it for price X, but then we won’t make any profit on you. The manager will probably want to talk to me about this.” Even after the second discount, I still felt like I was paying too much. Both salespeople set deadlines for me. One even said I had to sign the contract that same day.
I also don’t know how to negotiate smartly or what the right tactics are. I don’t really know the actual value of my kitchen. When does negotiating become unreasonable? How do you know for sure when there’s no more room to negotiate? Are there actually people who don’t negotiate at all and just accept the first offered discount? I’ve wondered about that too. It’s a shame I don’t know any kitchen salesperson personally to get insider tips.
Since I have a lot of expensive requests, I feel almost ridiculous setting my budget too low. The problem is that I can’t compare apples to apples because my kitchen concept has changed with every planning appointment. In my small town, I’ve now visited all the studios except for Roller. There are still studios in neighboring towns, but I already feel like I won’t have a kitchen even after visiting 5 more showrooms.
Nearly all plans are for a Nobilia kitchen, coming to around 20,000 euros (about $22,000), or even more if I include my latest wishes. I’ve asked if I should buy the appliances myself to save money, but I was advised against it. They said they wouldn’t install them due to warranty reasons.
What price would you set if you were in my position? And please share how you got your kitchen and how you negotiated.
My requirements are:
- A tall cabinet row with 6 cabinets, each 60cm (24 inches) wide, boxed in drywall. Two of these should be pantry cabinets with pull-out shelves, and the other 4 will house appliances.
- A kitchen peninsula about 1.2m (4 feet) wide and approximately 3.10m (10 feet) long, with drawers on both sides only.
- I want quite high-end appliances, probably Bosch Series 8 black Carbon Accent line, likely including an oven with microwave, a combi-steam oven, and a built-in coffee machine.
- Cooktop with an integrated downdraft vent, recirculating air, flush-mounted (Bosch Series 8 has been planned so far, but I don’t know how good the cooktop is).
- Very quiet dishwasher, brand doesn’t matter (Bosch and Neff have been suggested so far).
- Refrigerator inside a tall cabinet with 2 bio-fresh drawers, brand doesn’t matter (Liebherr and Bosch have been suggested).
- Ceramic countertop
- Undermount ceramic sink
I don’t want to spend more than necessary. But I realize I probably won’t get everything for 15,000 euros (about $16,500).
How should I proceed?
hausnrplus256 Aug 2020 20:55We visited three kitchen studios. We are still waiting for the quote from one of them.
At the first kitchen studio, the consultant took a lot of time and truly acted as a consultant, not just a salesperson. He made great efforts and showed creativity to incorporate all our wishes and ideas. He didn’t push anything on us or apply any pressure to buy. We have already spent two sessions with him—one lasting two hours and another five hours—without him earning a single cent from us or being sure that he will in the future.
At the second studio, everything was rushed. Whenever we expressed uncertainty, saying, for example, “we’re not sure whether A or B,” he responded with comments like, “both have advantages and disadvantages—you have to decide what you want.” In the end, the price was similar, but there was no rapport or sympathy. That studio was therefore ruled out for us.
With the consultant from the third studio, we also experienced some communication issues, with about half of the conversation going somewhat past each other. We are still waiting for their quote. However, if it is not significantly lower than the first, we will consider the matter settled.
Aside from that, it is always possible to take a competing offer to your preferred studio and say, “We want to buy here, but how close can you come to their price?” Of course, this only works if the kitchens are of equivalent quality.
We also always request the price of the kitchen without appliances. That is where we see the most potential for savings or decision-making on our part. We do not want to sacrifice a cabinet or settle for an L shape instead of a U shape. But whether the dishwasher is from Siemens or Neff, that is something we can discuss later when we calculate the kitchen or total budget. However, if you don’t know the basic cost of all the cabinets you want, you can’t make this decision. For example, we tend to prefer shaker-style fronts but have also been given the price difference for simpler fronts. This allows us to decide whether the upgrade is worth it or not, without fundamentally changing the kitchen design.
To make comparisons easier, you can always revisit a previous kitchen studio and adjust your design. It’s quite normal to think things over after an appointment and come up with additional ideas.
We want to reward patience, creativity, a personalized approach, and customer friendliness! In the end, this is more important to us than possibly saving 1,000€ (about 1,100 USD). Of course, if the difference is several thousand euros, then further negotiation or presenting the competing offer makes sense.
At the first kitchen studio, the consultant took a lot of time and truly acted as a consultant, not just a salesperson. He made great efforts and showed creativity to incorporate all our wishes and ideas. He didn’t push anything on us or apply any pressure to buy. We have already spent two sessions with him—one lasting two hours and another five hours—without him earning a single cent from us or being sure that he will in the future.
At the second studio, everything was rushed. Whenever we expressed uncertainty, saying, for example, “we’re not sure whether A or B,” he responded with comments like, “both have advantages and disadvantages—you have to decide what you want.” In the end, the price was similar, but there was no rapport or sympathy. That studio was therefore ruled out for us.
With the consultant from the third studio, we also experienced some communication issues, with about half of the conversation going somewhat past each other. We are still waiting for their quote. However, if it is not significantly lower than the first, we will consider the matter settled.
Aside from that, it is always possible to take a competing offer to your preferred studio and say, “We want to buy here, but how close can you come to their price?” Of course, this only works if the kitchens are of equivalent quality.
We also always request the price of the kitchen without appliances. That is where we see the most potential for savings or decision-making on our part. We do not want to sacrifice a cabinet or settle for an L shape instead of a U shape. But whether the dishwasher is from Siemens or Neff, that is something we can discuss later when we calculate the kitchen or total budget. However, if you don’t know the basic cost of all the cabinets you want, you can’t make this decision. For example, we tend to prefer shaker-style fronts but have also been given the price difference for simpler fronts. This allows us to decide whether the upgrade is worth it or not, without fundamentally changing the kitchen design.
To make comparisons easier, you can always revisit a previous kitchen studio and adjust your design. It’s quite normal to think things over after an appointment and come up with additional ideas.
We want to reward patience, creativity, a personalized approach, and customer friendliness! In the end, this is more important to us than possibly saving 1,000€ (about 1,100 USD). Of course, if the difference is several thousand euros, then further negotiation or presenting the competing offer makes sense.
hausnrplus25 schrieb:
We visited three kitchen showrooms. We are still waiting for a quote from one of them.
At the first kitchen showroom, they took a lot of time, and the consultant was exactly that—a consultant, not just a salesperson. He made a real effort and was creative in implementing all of our wishes and ideas. He didn’t pressure us or try to push anything on us. We've already spent two hours and five hours with him on separate occasions, without him earning a cent from us yet or being sure that he eventually will.
At the second showroom, things were rushed. Whenever we expressed uncertainty, like “we’re not sure whether A or B,” his response was something like, “Both have pros and cons—YOU need to decide what you want.” In the end, the price was similar, but there was no chemistry at all. That showroom was ruled out for us.
With the consultant from the third showroom, we somehow talked past each other for about half of the conversation. We’re still waiting for the price. But if it’s not significantly lower than the first one’s, it’s a done deal for us.
Aside from that, you can always take an external offer to your favorite showroom and say: We want to buy HERE, but how close can you get to their price? Of course, this only works if the kitchens are of equal quality.
We always ask for the price of the kitchen itself without appliances. Because that’s where we see the most potential to save or make decisions. We don’t want one less cabinet or change from a U-shape to an L-shape. But whether it’s a Siemens or Neff dishwasher, we think that can be discussed once we have the entire kitchen and overall budget finalized. However, if you don’t know the basic cost of all the cabinets you want, you can’t make that decision. For example, we’re leaning towards shaker-style fronts, but we also asked for the additional cost compared to plain fronts. Then we can decide whether it’s worth it without fundamentally changing the kitchen design.
To keep things comparable, you can always visit a previous showroom again and adjust your plan. It’s not unusual to have ideas after an appointment or to want to add something.
We want to reward patience, creativity, personalized advice, and customer-friendliness! Ultimately, this matters to us more than saving maybe $1,000. But if the difference is several thousand dollars, of course, you need to negotiate again or present the other offer... This completely matches our experience.
The managing director of the first kitchen showroom even openly told us about our ideas: “That’s crap.”
That’s extremely valuable.
Although, just for the record: Whether it’s Neff or Siemens (or Bosch) doesn’t matter. They are exactly the same.
P
pagoni20206 Aug 2020 22:32Scout schrieb:
Book recommendation from a former furniture salesman:
"Smart Kitchen Buying: Perfect Planning, Recognizing and Comparing Quality, Getting the Best Price" by Heinz Günther Buy and read this exact book. After that, you’ll at least have a general idea of what’s going on when they start talking about block billing, etc.
For example, in a large furniture store, I was expected to name my budget first—without it, they wouldn’t even start. My design sketch alone wasn’t enough for them.
At the kitchen showroom, I was well advanced in the process, and we planned to finalize everything the next day when the “boss” came in and told us we could get that price only if we signed that evening—otherwise, it wouldn’t be available the next day. So we got up and left. The other showroom then didn’t want to sell us just the cabinets without appliances after all... In the end, we went to Ikea and have felt comfortable there ever since, although I rarely buy other furniture there.
What I like there is that I can immediately see the price of each tall cabinet, and everything is a simple plus/minus calculation with all prices clearly listed individually.
We choose appliances, sinks, and so on from elsewhere according to our preferences.
Shiny86 schrieb:
I’m not really sure what my kitchen is actually worth. At what point does negotiating, for example, become unreasonable? Well, it’s obvious if you add up the appliance values and only get about €50 (roughly $55) per cabinet for the furniture, and then start negotiating...
Shiny86 schrieb:
I want
- A tall cabinet row with 6 cabinets, each 60cm (24 inches) wide, enclosed in drywall, with 2 pantry cabinets featuring pull-out shelves, and the other 4 tall cabinets housing appliances
- A kitchen island about 1.2m (47 inches) wide and approximately 3.10m (10 feet 2 inches) long, with drawers on both sides only. Shiny86 schrieb:
Sides.
- I want quite expensive appliances: Bosch Series 8 Black Carbon Accent line, probably from the range with oven plus microwave, combi-steam oven, and fully automatic coffee machine. Full package... sounds to me like over €20,000 (roughly $22,000), more like €25,000 (about $27,500) if you include the countertop and such.
Shiny86 schrieb:
I don’t want to spend more than necessary. But I know I probably won’t get it for €15,000 (about $16,500). When you wrote that number, were you sober?
Shiny86 schrieb:
Almost everyone is planning a Nobilia kitchen for me, and it ends up around €20,000 (about $22,000), or even more if the kitchen is planned with the latest requests. Yes, that’s how it is. You don’t get a fully equipped SUV for the price of a basic hatchback.
Try to think realistically. A fully equipped kitchen just costs what it costs. I can’t comment on the prices in your region. Here in northern Germany, one supplier doesn’t bother with all that fuss.
My problem is the lack of transparency in the industry. My target price is 20,000, with a maximum of 25,000. Nobilia is also acceptable. I mention the 15,000 only because I don’t know how much profit they make from me, and you often read that you shouldn’t reveal your real budget because it will be exploited. I’m afraid of not being able to negotiate properly. I want to complete this with a good feeling.
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