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?
Kuhlmann is the manufacturer.
Loss of storage space is acceptable.
What worries me more is the wear on the tracks caused by scratches. My husband looked at a handleless kitchen in a kitchen showroom yesterday and was shocked by the scratches on the tracks. But the kitchen is located near the entrance. Who knows how many people have already tried handling it there...
Loss of storage space is acceptable.
What worries me more is the wear on the tracks caused by scratches. My husband looked at a handleless kitchen in a kitchen showroom yesterday and was shocked by the scratches on the tracks. But the kitchen is located near the entrance. Who knows how many people have already tried handling it there...
Oh, look, from Löhne. There is quite a variety of kitchen manufacturers in OWL. I don’t know Kuhlmann at all, even though they are from that area. Just judging by the furniture price, it seems relatively reasonable. Ceramic countertops can quickly become expensive, especially if they wrap around corners or extend into window recesses. That’s why we plan to buy a standard countertop first, which we might replace with a ceramic one in 15 years, assuming the children we still plan to have develop the motor skills not to break everything.
The various design and equipment lines and distribution channels are unfortunately a common issue that fits right into the overall lack of transparency in the kitchen market. Bosch, Siemens, AEG, and Miele are all pretty much the same in this regard. The really attractive appliances are only available through specialist kitchen retailers, but then the pricing becomes opaque again due to bundled invoicing.
The various design and equipment lines and distribution channels are unfortunately a common issue that fits right into the overall lack of transparency in the kitchen market. Bosch, Siemens, AEG, and Miele are all pretty much the same in this regard. The really attractive appliances are only available through specialist kitchen retailers, but then the pricing becomes opaque again due to bundled invoicing.
OWLer schrieb:
That’s why we’ll first buy a countertop that we might replace with ceramic in about 15 years, once the children we’re still going to have have developed the motor skills to no longer break everything. I’ve heard that teenagers are pretty much capable of breaking just about EVERYTHING.
pagoni2020 schrieb:
The average, time-pressed customer walks in and bamwell, the same customer spends hours on the computer or in a showroom when buying a new smartphone of a certain brand every two years, which costs just a fraction of a kitchen. They make the time for that, and the old one ends up in the trash. The kitchen will last 30 years.It’s the same with these Thermomix devices. People don’t hesitate to spend €1200+ (over $1200) on something that can also be done in the oven, on the cooktop, or with a cheap all-in-one pressure cooker and rice cooker, yet they expect the kitchen to cost nothing in return.