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?
Shiny86 schrieb:
What can you actually say according to the book?
@Alessandro
For me, the kitchen is not a never-ending story. I’ve had pretty clear ideas for a long time. But they became more defined over the course of four visits. Of course, you have to spend a lot of time on this topic. The open kitchen will be the heart of the house. And if I hadn’t insisted on a flush-mounted cooktop and an undermount sink, no one would have suggested those to me. Also, a base cabinet with a waste system—that is, the trash bin under the countertop—would never have been planned by itself.
And when I’m at a restaurant, I don’t think about the pricing. But there, I might pay 1- or 2-digit amounts too much... I can live with that. With a kitchen, I feel like people are often overcharged by a few thousand euros.
I can understand very well why @pagoni2020 prefers to buy from Ikea. It always depends on how much value someone places on it, or how important the effort to get something "better"—especially in terms of price—is to you compared to other buyers.
Anyone who invests time and effort into it (similar to building a house) will ultimately be rewarded, definitely. The question is whether you want to do that or not. It doesn’t have to be just about price. It’s also about knowing what you want, for example. I also think it’s important to inform yourself independently from consultants—for instance, with a book like this, which is really well suited for this area. Only then do you gain perspective and can assess whether what you have in mind is actually worthwhile and really fits you. The salesperson will always agree with you… after all, they want to sell, and naturally at the highest price.
Telling you exactly what you can say according to the book is very difficult. The book has 300 pages... Just look at the general description, and you might already realize how diverse everything is. It contains things you might never have thought about in advance. Selling tricks that you, as a buyer without background knowledge, wouldn’t even notice. I can only recommend it!
Crossy schrieb:
During the showroom visit, when they started talking about asking the manager for a discount, I just stood up and said I didn’t like the attitude.I think that’s great! I would have handled it the same way. One salesperson was gone for at least 15-20 minutes to ask their manager, and the second time it took 10 minutes to check again. Then they expected me to sign the contract the same day to get that price. I was really frustrated with how they wasted my valuable time. Planning a kitchen already takes a minimum of 1.5 hours (or longer if you’re still undecided), and the show just artificially dragged it out even more. On top of that, the salesperson was very unfriendly and unpleasant. I have a 2-year-old and a baby at home. I would have much preferred spending my time with my family instead of sitting around waiting for the “great deal.”
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pagoni20207 Aug 2020 11:47Shiny86 schrieb:
What does the book say about it?
@Alessandro
For me, the kitchen is not a never-ending story. I’ve had quite clear ideas for a long time. But they have become more defined through the four visits. Also, you naturally have to invest a lot of time in the subject. The open kitchen will be the heart of the house. And if I hadn’t insisted that the cooktop should be flush-mounted and that I wanted an undermount sink, no one would have suggested that to me. Also, a base cabinet with a waste system—meaning the trash bin under the countertop—no one would have planned that on their own either.
And I don’t think about pricing in restaurants. But there I only pay a small amount extra, usually one to two digits more… I can live with that. With kitchens, I have the feeling that people tend to be charged several thousand euros too much.
I can well understand why @pagoni2020 prefers to buy at Ikea in that case. This is not the ultimate truth, but simply MY current attitude towards this topic.
If you have certain fixed requirements, many manufacturers will be excluded anyway in terms of dimensions, functions, etc.
And yes, in the end I want to feel good about my purchase, that the advice, service, and quality all fit—no matter what I buy.
For that reason, for example, I would never build my house with someone I don’t feel comfortable with, just because they might be cheaper. Right now, I am deliberately paying significantly more so that THIS PERSON handles the project for me; often I don’t even ask about the price but just let it be done because I know it will be handled fairly and well.
As long as you stay somewhere in the mid-range, in my opinion you won’t get a bad kitchen nowadays. I see it more like buying a car—you can have great fun with a Renault and only trouble with an Audi. Really bad options are quite rare now, even at places like OBI you can get reasonably good kitchens these days. Don’t let yourself be pushed into anything—do what fits you and what you like.
pagoni2020 schrieb:
This isn’t necessarily the ultimate truth, just MY current stance on this topic.
If you have certain fixed requirements, some manufacturers are automatically out of the running due to dimensions, features, etc.
And yes, in the end I also want to feel good about my purchase—that the advice, service, and quality all fit, no matter what I buy.
For example, I would never build my house with someone I don’t get along with, just because they might be cheaper. Right now, I am consciously paying significantly more so that THIS EXACT PERSON manages the project for me; often I don’t even ask about the price, I just let it happen because I know they will handle it well and fairly.
As long as you stay somewhere in the mid-range, in my opinion you won’t get a bad kitchen anymore. I see it more like buying a car—you can have a great experience with a Renault and only trouble with an Audi. Truly bad products are rarer nowadays, even at stores like OBI you can now get decent kitchens. Don’t let yourself be pushed around; do what suits you and what you like. I basically agree with this. I also find it very difficult to accept being "ripped off," which unfortunately is quite common in this industry. That’s exactly why some background knowledge helps—you can push back and impress with insight, which often puts you in a stronger negotiating position, just like when buying a house!
I feel the same as you! Trust is absolutely crucial. However, if a salesperson faces a customer who just agrees to everything and doesn’t have solid knowledge of the subject, they will simply sell overpriced items or things the customer doesn’t really need.
Unfortunately, this is how it is nowadays (and I think it was like that in the past as well). You just mustn’t be naïve and believe the other party always wants what’s best and cheapest for the customer—that definitely is NEVER the case anywhere.
A
Alessandro7 Aug 2020 12:01pagoni2020 schrieb:
Maybe yes—but that’s not really the point here.What else should it be about if not the lowest price? That’s why I don’t understand the advice you’re giving. It almost reads as if entering a kitchen showroom is like opening Pandora’s box, or that the salesperson is trying to trick you, so you absolutely have to read a 300-page book to avoid falling into that trap. When I read what @Shiny86 listed as their requirements and that offers are all around $20,000, I don’t see what else you could expect. But I’m sure you can explain that to me.
Interesting thread, especially to read about the experiences of others.
My personal experience:
We believe we were quite successful in deciding on a kitchen manufacturer relatively early. Otherwise, it would have become even more confusing. After that, it was actually easier to compare options. The same design was quoted by a local kitchen studio, a local furniture store, and a very large furniture retailer offering a limited-time summer super-discount.
We were transparent that we were getting two other offers for the same kitchen. (Well, one salesperson didn’t give up and really wanted to know what the competitor offered, so I simply deducted 1–2 thousand euros from the competing offer.)
All prices were in a similar range, more or less.
Modular kitchen, island, back wall with upper cabinets, three tall cabinets, two of them fitted with appliances,
Schüller kitchen, partly glass fronts, Siemens appliances, Bora X-Pure, Neolith countertop
25,000 euros (about 27,000 US dollars).
More than we initially allowed ourselves, but we spend most of our time in the kitchen area. It was important to us, so a large part of the VAT savings from the house went into kitchen upgrades.
P.S.: I would not choose an undermount sink with a ceramic countertop. As durable and resilient as the surfaces are, their hardness is a weak point at the edges. I personally know two cases in which the edges chipped near the sink. That’s why we decided on a flush-mounted solution.
My personal experience:
We believe we were quite successful in deciding on a kitchen manufacturer relatively early. Otherwise, it would have become even more confusing. After that, it was actually easier to compare options. The same design was quoted by a local kitchen studio, a local furniture store, and a very large furniture retailer offering a limited-time summer super-discount.
We were transparent that we were getting two other offers for the same kitchen. (Well, one salesperson didn’t give up and really wanted to know what the competitor offered, so I simply deducted 1–2 thousand euros from the competing offer.)
All prices were in a similar range, more or less.
Modular kitchen, island, back wall with upper cabinets, three tall cabinets, two of them fitted with appliances,
Schüller kitchen, partly glass fronts, Siemens appliances, Bora X-Pure, Neolith countertop
25,000 euros (about 27,000 US dollars).
More than we initially allowed ourselves, but we spend most of our time in the kitchen area. It was important to us, so a large part of the VAT savings from the house went into kitchen upgrades.
P.S.: I would not choose an undermount sink with a ceramic countertop. As durable and resilient as the surfaces are, their hardness is a weak point at the edges. I personally know two cases in which the edges chipped near the sink. That’s why we decided on a flush-mounted solution.
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