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?
A
Alessandro8 Sep 2020 10:18I know how my posts come across, but based on the behavior of some dishonest dealers and sellers, I see that the reputable ones in the industry are barely able to survive because many customers order online.
When it comes to installing and connecting electrical appliances from a dealer versus ordering appliances online (which, according to the original poster, are not available in the desired specification) and installing them yourself, the price difference is certainly not that big!
If all the reliable dealers go bankrupt, the only option left will be to turn to the dishonest big furniture chains, which, as you rightly mention, mislead customers.
Back then, I received a quotation from my local kitchen dealer where everything was priced clearly, and thanks to the honest and thorough consultation, I knew exactly what I was buying. THAT is fair to me, even though they were not the cheapest. If something didn’t work properly or I was not satisfied afterwards, they came to my place within a few days. You can forget that happening at IKEA or other large furniture stores.
What I don’t understand about this thread is that many people complain about the opaque pricing of kitchen dealers, while many industries operate in a completely non-transparent way.
For example, I wanted to buy a car at a BMW dealership at one point. The maximum discount was 15%.
At the same dealership, the company I work for received a 47% discount on the same car!
If you feel cheated somewhere, simply don’t buy there! However, you shouldn’t complain about prices, pricing structures, or dishonest advice! Everyone has the right to set their prices freely.
For example, I constantly get annoyed that higher earners are excluded from all subsidies.
While others save tens of thousands of euros through things like child construction grants, I get nothing. Why is that?
Complaining about this constantly is just as pointless as complaining about some dealers’ pricing.
Life is simply more relaxed that way.
When it comes to installing and connecting electrical appliances from a dealer versus ordering appliances online (which, according to the original poster, are not available in the desired specification) and installing them yourself, the price difference is certainly not that big!
If all the reliable dealers go bankrupt, the only option left will be to turn to the dishonest big furniture chains, which, as you rightly mention, mislead customers.
Back then, I received a quotation from my local kitchen dealer where everything was priced clearly, and thanks to the honest and thorough consultation, I knew exactly what I was buying. THAT is fair to me, even though they were not the cheapest. If something didn’t work properly or I was not satisfied afterwards, they came to my place within a few days. You can forget that happening at IKEA or other large furniture stores.
What I don’t understand about this thread is that many people complain about the opaque pricing of kitchen dealers, while many industries operate in a completely non-transparent way.
For example, I wanted to buy a car at a BMW dealership at one point. The maximum discount was 15%.
At the same dealership, the company I work for received a 47% discount on the same car!
If you feel cheated somewhere, simply don’t buy there! However, you shouldn’t complain about prices, pricing structures, or dishonest advice! Everyone has the right to set their prices freely.
For example, I constantly get annoyed that higher earners are excluded from all subsidies.
While others save tens of thousands of euros through things like child construction grants, I get nothing. Why is that?
Complaining about this constantly is just as pointless as complaining about some dealers’ pricing.
Life is simply more relaxed that way.
Our kitchen supplier (Küchen Aktuell in Northern Germany) has a good radio advertisement.
They distance themselves from exaggerated 80% discount claims, last-price guarantees, including a dishwasher, and finally even offering the cook as part of the deal... I don’t know if the radio ad can be accessed anywhere.
They distance themselves from exaggerated 80% discount claims, last-price guarantees, including a dishwasher, and finally even offering the cook as part of the deal... I don’t know if the radio ad can be accessed anywhere.
Isn't it worth considering moving away from conventional kitchen design toward a truly customized plan?
- So, design and a personalized quote for the furniture and the countertop (if a wood look is desired) from the carpenter
- Electrical appliances from an electrical specialist store including installation
- So, design and a personalized quote for the furniture and the countertop (if a wood look is desired) from the carpenter
- Electrical appliances from an electrical specialist store including installation
P
pffreestyler8 Sep 2020 13:47@Alessandro there are always exceptions, fortunately. But even small local dealers are not always reliable. One tried to push an exhibition kitchen on us and didn’t even consider a custom design, claiming our budget was too low.
@ypg I can’t agree with you: my example of reducing the price from 22k to 8.9k was with Küchen Aktuell, just to highlight some distance from their silly promises. But I’m not saying they aren’t good. We got our kitchen from there and are mostly satisfied apart from a few minor issues.
A small anecdote: back then Küchen Aktuell offered a cookware set worth 1,500 € as a gift when buying a kitchen. I said I didn’t need the set and asked them to deduct that amount directly from the purchase price. They did, but of course not the full 1,500 € was deducted. On the final invoice, there were three different discounts listed without showing amounts.
Due to an incorrect installation of the sink, where replacement wouldn’t have been reasonable and we wouldn’t have even noticed it without the installer’s hint, we received a store voucher from them. When we redeemed it, the 1,500 € cookware set was available in the shop for just under 600 € (of course promoted as a great offer). Just saying.
@ypg I can’t agree with you: my example of reducing the price from 22k to 8.9k was with Küchen Aktuell, just to highlight some distance from their silly promises. But I’m not saying they aren’t good. We got our kitchen from there and are mostly satisfied apart from a few minor issues.
A small anecdote: back then Küchen Aktuell offered a cookware set worth 1,500 € as a gift when buying a kitchen. I said I didn’t need the set and asked them to deduct that amount directly from the purchase price. They did, but of course not the full 1,500 € was deducted. On the final invoice, there were three different discounts listed without showing amounts.
Due to an incorrect installation of the sink, where replacement wouldn’t have been reasonable and we wouldn’t have even noticed it without the installer’s hint, we received a store voucher from them. When we redeemed it, the 1,500 € cookware set was available in the shop for just under 600 € (of course promoted as a great offer). Just saying.
A
Alessandro8 Sep 2020 14:45As with any shopping and consultation experience, it comes down to gut feeling.
Anyone who tries to lure me with something I don’t need when I’m about to spend tens of thousands of euros is already out of the running with me.
At Allkauf Haus, there was once a “free controlled ventilation system” day in the model park if you signed up on the spot. And we’re talking about hundreds of thousands of euros!
Apparently, there are still people who get drawn in by this or fall for such a business model; otherwise, the company wouldn’t still be around...
Speaking of prefabricated houses, THAT to me is the epitome of a lack of transparency and hiding prices or costs!
Anyone who tries to lure me with something I don’t need when I’m about to spend tens of thousands of euros is already out of the running with me.
At Allkauf Haus, there was once a “free controlled ventilation system” day in the model park if you signed up on the spot. And we’re talking about hundreds of thousands of euros!
Apparently, there are still people who get drawn in by this or fall for such a business model; otherwise, the company wouldn’t still be around...
Speaking of prefabricated houses, THAT to me is the epitome of a lack of transparency and hiding prices or costs!
At the beginning of the planning phase, we experimented a lot with the IKEA kitchen planner but eventually realized that IKEA neither suited us perfectly nor are we naturally skilled kitchen planners. We then sought advice at several kitchen studios. Some of them had the typical "hard-sell" approach. However, one kitchen studio matched our taste because they respected our request to avoid percentage discounts and instead talk only about final prices from the start. We were advised, not pressured. The staff there first designed a kitchen for us that we genuinely liked.
The price was significantly above our initial budget, but it was our kitchen and it had to be that one, no other.
We then gathered a few comparison quotes. No one could significantly undercut that price. Therefore, we purchased directly from the kitchen studio that designed our kitchen, without negotiating.
The income limit for the child construction subsidy is actually quite high, around 90,000 euros. As far as I know, this is not gross income but what is reported as household income on the tax return.
If you exceed this limit, the argument usually is about social fairness, meaning not subsidizing those who are already better off. This overlooks the fact that this better financial position has generally not come by chance but was earned through hard work.
The same applies, to some extent, with long-term unemployment benefit recipients. We also support them collectively, and one might ask, "Why?" But the sad truth is that in a merit-based society, a certain degree of luck is needed to grow up with the values required to succeed in the system. If a child has never been on a vacation, has never seen their parents working, and their role models were never ideal examples, that child faces a natural disadvantage in society. This does not mean they cannot be successful, but the path to success is more difficult.
Everyone is the architect of their own fortune, but everyone starts at a different position in this race, and those starting points are not always fair. I believe this is where the social welfare system steps in and tries to regulate.
Personally, I find the situation we have here reasonably acceptable, even though I sometimes “work for others” as well. I much prefer this to the alternative demonstrated by the USA.
The price was significantly above our initial budget, but it was our kitchen and it had to be that one, no other.
We then gathered a few comparison quotes. No one could significantly undercut that price. Therefore, we purchased directly from the kitchen studio that designed our kitchen, without negotiating.
Alessandro schrieb:
I, for example, constantly get annoyed that higher earners are excluded from all subsidies.
While others save tens of thousands of euros with the child construction subsidy, I get nothing. Why is that?
The income limit for the child construction subsidy is actually quite high, around 90,000 euros. As far as I know, this is not gross income but what is reported as household income on the tax return.
If you exceed this limit, the argument usually is about social fairness, meaning not subsidizing those who are already better off. This overlooks the fact that this better financial position has generally not come by chance but was earned through hard work.
The same applies, to some extent, with long-term unemployment benefit recipients. We also support them collectively, and one might ask, "Why?" But the sad truth is that in a merit-based society, a certain degree of luck is needed to grow up with the values required to succeed in the system. If a child has never been on a vacation, has never seen their parents working, and their role models were never ideal examples, that child faces a natural disadvantage in society. This does not mean they cannot be successful, but the path to success is more difficult.
Everyone is the architect of their own fortune, but everyone starts at a different position in this race, and those starting points are not always fair. I believe this is where the social welfare system steps in and tries to regulate.
Personally, I find the situation we have here reasonably acceptable, even though I sometimes “work for others” as well. I much prefer this to the alternative demonstrated by the USA.
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