A kitchen topic: After just two consultations, I’m already completely fed up with those annoying kitchen salespeople.
I feel totally ripped off. You look at a kitchen, ask for the price—which of course isn’t displayed—and then you faint... €20,000 (about $21,600).
After the initial shock, the salesperson offers the first discounts... after two hours, you’re down to €12,000 (about $13,000) but still feel like you’re being taken for a ride.
If you then want to compare kitchens from the same brand, you can’t, because nobody gives you the itemized lists.
Everyone knows that dealers do this on purpose to be able to offer those huge discounts. I’m done with it.
How do you negotiate your kitchen, or how do you compare prices?
I feel totally ripped off. You look at a kitchen, ask for the price—which of course isn’t displayed—and then you faint... €20,000 (about $21,600).
After the initial shock, the salesperson offers the first discounts... after two hours, you’re down to €12,000 (about $13,000) but still feel like you’re being taken for a ride.
If you then want to compare kitchens from the same brand, you can’t, because nobody gives you the itemized lists.
Everyone knows that dealers do this on purpose to be able to offer those huge discounts. I’m done with it.
How do you negotiate your kitchen, or how do you compare prices?
During the house construction, we also visited what felt like 100 kitchen stores and eventually decided to go with the probably somewhat more expensive option of having a kitchen custom-made by a cabinetmaker. I would definitely choose this again, as we had no problems with him; we already knew him from a few other tasks he had done in the house and therefore knew he was reliable. Additionally, the kitchen is now exactly as we wanted it.
Here is some feedback on the kitchen purchase. We have now completed the process.
We chose Bosch appliances and researched prices online. We found a similar price at a local Bosch premium dealer: the total cost for everything was just under €5500 (cooktop, oven, microwave, dishwasher, refrigerator, recirculation hood).
Furniture from Ikea would cost about €3000 plus €1000 for delivery and assembly. That set the minimum price. Nearly €10,000 sounds like a lot at first, but a kitchen is very important to us and will be used intensively. The appliance costs could probably be reduced to around €3000 by choosing no-name products, opting for a ceramic cooktop instead, or leaving out the hood, for example.
Then came the offer from the carpenter: He does not cut the boards himself (that would be too expensive given his hourly rate) and sent our design to a large company where he gets good prices. The end result: nearly €9000 just for the wood, panels, hinges, and countertop. Ouch... He also wants to make a profit, so the total came to around €15,000 *ouch*.
After that, we tried several kitchen studios. We tried to keep the layout the same and the materials comparable. The first prices were always shocking, ranging from €20,000 to €28,000. Wow... After one or two intense negotiations, we consistently got prices around €15,000. So until then, the carpenter was still ahead.
Finally, we contacted a kitchen studio (a solid four hours of planning) that cooperates with our house builder. During the process, we even received a voucher for lunch at a nearby pancake restaurant *yum*, and after filling our stomachs, we got to the final bill. A dream kitchen was planned with appliances worth almost €6000 included, and then the price came. I wanted to run away because I was afraid: after all, they had even treated us to lunch.
The price on the paper was €19,000. But then we got a so-called builder’s discount of €6000 and also had an additional €2000 voucher from them for signing the contract. The final price after negotiations was a flat €10,000. That’s how I like to buy a kitchen.
We chose Bosch appliances and researched prices online. We found a similar price at a local Bosch premium dealer: the total cost for everything was just under €5500 (cooktop, oven, microwave, dishwasher, refrigerator, recirculation hood).
Furniture from Ikea would cost about €3000 plus €1000 for delivery and assembly. That set the minimum price. Nearly €10,000 sounds like a lot at first, but a kitchen is very important to us and will be used intensively. The appliance costs could probably be reduced to around €3000 by choosing no-name products, opting for a ceramic cooktop instead, or leaving out the hood, for example.
Then came the offer from the carpenter: He does not cut the boards himself (that would be too expensive given his hourly rate) and sent our design to a large company where he gets good prices. The end result: nearly €9000 just for the wood, panels, hinges, and countertop. Ouch... He also wants to make a profit, so the total came to around €15,000 *ouch*.
After that, we tried several kitchen studios. We tried to keep the layout the same and the materials comparable. The first prices were always shocking, ranging from €20,000 to €28,000. Wow... After one or two intense negotiations, we consistently got prices around €15,000. So until then, the carpenter was still ahead.
Finally, we contacted a kitchen studio (a solid four hours of planning) that cooperates with our house builder. During the process, we even received a voucher for lunch at a nearby pancake restaurant *yum*, and after filling our stomachs, we got to the final bill. A dream kitchen was planned with appliances worth almost €6000 included, and then the price came. I wanted to run away because I was afraid: after all, they had even treated us to lunch.
The price on the paper was €19,000. But then we got a so-called builder’s discount of €6000 and also had an additional €2000 voucher from them for signing the contract. The final price after negotiations was a flat €10,000. That’s how I like to buy a kitchen.
G
gissilala9 Jan 2013 18:24Habibi schrieb:
During the house construction, we visited what felt like 100 kitchen stores and ultimately decided to go for the probably slightly more expensive option of having a kitchen custom-made by a carpenter. I would definitely do it again because we had no issues with him; we already knew him from other work he had done in the house and trusted that he is reliable. Besides, the kitchen is now exactly how we wanted it.This is probably the best way to be 100 percent satisfied. Everyone should do it, also to help preserve the carpentry profession. It hardly gets any more customized than this. And in the end, you probably overlook the price... *I hope*
@marokko:
I’ll be direct about what I think. In my opinion, your link doesn’t lead to anything useful; I could just as well look on eBay.
Saving money on a kitchen requires careful planning.
Electrical and plumbing connections are, for example, crucial factors.
I’d also point out that items like the sink, tall cabinets, wall cabinets (partly due to door hinges), kickboards, and countertops simply won’t fit properly if they are “used.”
On top of that, there are costs for transportation and installation.
Is it really worth it?
I’ll be direct about what I think. In my opinion, your link doesn’t lead to anything useful; I could just as well look on eBay.
Saving money on a kitchen requires careful planning.
Electrical and plumbing connections are, for example, crucial factors.
I’d also point out that items like the sink, tall cabinets, wall cabinets (partly due to door hinges), kickboards, and countertops simply won’t fit properly if they are “used.”
On top of that, there are costs for transportation and installation.
Is it really worth it?
When buying a kitchen, it’s worth considering furniture stores that you might not normally visit for furniture shopping. This may sound unusual at first, but many of them also have kitchen departments. Ultimately, they sell the same kitchen brands as other furniture stores and kitchen studios.
However, the prices can often be significantly lower. This suggests—confirmed by the huge price markups in kitchen studios mentioned earlier—that these specialized stores tend to be very expensive at first, and only those who ask receive a somewhat lower price.
Since we didn’t want to play these games, we ended up at RO..ER. As it turns out, they also offer kitchens from well-known brands. The price was reasonable, and the installation service was good as well. We chose the built-in appliances separately because we had specific preferences. Here, too, the additional cost compared to budget-friendly stores was moderate.
However, the prices can often be significantly lower. This suggests—confirmed by the huge price markups in kitchen studios mentioned earlier—that these specialized stores tend to be very expensive at first, and only those who ask receive a somewhat lower price.
Since we didn’t want to play these games, we ended up at RO..ER. As it turns out, they also offer kitchens from well-known brands. The price was reasonable, and the installation service was good as well. We chose the built-in appliances separately because we had specific preferences. Here, too, the additional cost compared to budget-friendly stores was moderate.
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