Kitchen price - they taking the mickey?

shays_mum

oh dear! can't wait 4-6 weeks.......ok got to haggle like mad now...! any tips anyone when dealing with these monkeys??!!

HarrowMarrow

I'm sure there are better negotiators than me and my wife. For what it's worth, the only concession Mrs H got was by telling homebase than wickes had matched their £5k quote, so they knocked 10% off.

shays_mum

Its amazing how when we go on about a companies 'dodgy' practices, there always seems to be some rep who comes on & reassures us all is well.....WELL, WHERE THE HELL ARE THE HOWDENS REPS!!

HarrowMarrow

...indeed, we can therefore only assume my theory "they're increasing profit margins due to recession" is true then!

shays_mum

True say HM , but at the same time there is a recession & surely they should be fighting over themselves to win any contracts!!

CKdesigner

No - its because don't forget MFI going bust, they sold more cheap kitchens in the UK than any other company so for this cheap £5k kitchen market there are now plenty of customers left for the DIY stores, so if you don't want a kitchen from them the next customer will!

shays_mum

£5k cheap?! for a poxy little titchy kitchen, nah! we have been conditioned to accept this as reasonable as part & parcel of 'rip off' Britain culture

HarrowMarrow

Correct SM, add on fitting and it's horrible. RRP (before 50% off) of a single curved cabinet in Homebase £1000 - don't make me laugh...i mean cry!

Canucklehead

jenner wrote: »

well I'll tell you the reason why, its not just a new kitchen we need, the kitchen was turned into a kitchen diner, i think the original size of the kitchenmust have been about 10 x 7 which sounds reasonable enough, however, at one end of the kitchen on the corner, is a door that leads thru to this utility room thing. now, i want to close off that door and move the door somewhere else in the house, OR extend the kitchen out into the utility room, putting another door halfway in the utitlity room so that its cut off from the 'kitchen'.
now problem is that there are electrics and or a drain in the way of proposed ideas and the floor to the utility room is a big drop from the floor in the kitchen so there would be a step half way in the kitchen if we extend into the utility room. we have tried discussing it ourselves with drawings but really dont have a clue about whats possible, what doors can go where etc etc. my plan was to have the door to it moved into the hallway, under the stairs, but this would mean a lower door than normal and a step down to the door in the hall, not ideal plus i would need to ahve the electric meter moved, i am reliably informed that southern electrics will charge me an arm and a leg for this....

Good morning: a Victorian or Edwardian property by any chance?... Familiar scenario;) Try to get the names of reputable, local builders/multi-tradespersons and have them round for a gander/brain picking session...perhaps your new neighbours could recommend someone (and you could check out the standard of work at the same time).
Apologies to the OP.

HTH

Canucklehead

CKdesigner

shays_mum wrote: »

£5k cheap?! for a poxy little titchy kitchen, nah! we have been conditioned to accept this as reasonable as part & parcel of 'rip off' Britain culture

Oh Yes - take it from me £5k for a kitchen is the lower end of the kitchen market. If someone asks me how much our kitchens are my stock answer is we can do anything from £7k to £70k it totally depends on the customer's specification, and you really do get what you pay for. Like all purchases in life there is low, mid and high end prducts.