German kitchens

Gastines3

One of the most important aspects of a new kitchen is the layout and the installation. Seen plenty where even very basic errors on layout,like doors opening the wrong way to working circle etc.So factor the fitting element into your finished product design. Having fitted a Howdens kitchen into our latest house,middle of the range and serves us well,I found the Branch I dealt with most helpful but!!! the firm as a whole should get to grips with a more open pricing set-up. The days of Trade-only has long gone as at least Cash Customers pay,and cash flow is more important than extended credit terms to many firms these days. One major buiding firm I deal with discount on the size of the order,sounds quite reasonable to me but with everything nowadays,it does pay to shop around as most people,customer and supplier are looking for a deal. I usually ask "Best price first please", as the dropping of a quote after a refusal shows true colours and smells!!

Lungboy

I refused to even consider Howdens for my new kitchen due to the total opacity of the cost. Getting a different price if I buy it myself, or my chippy buys it, or another chippy buys it is terrible. I'd always be wondering if I paid too much.

TheMacFella

Hard to believe but I trust my mate. Sad that,eh?

cddc

Howdens pricing is crazy. Today, I quoted against two similar plans in the same Howdens door for two different customers. On one quote I was £1300 cheaper, on the other I was roughly the same price. Eh.?:doh:

Lungboy

TheMacFella wrote: »

Hard to believe but I trust my mate. Sad that,eh?

That's not the issue, the issue is that Howdens give different people different levels of discount, so you can never be sure the price you are getting is the best you could get. Different branches of Howdens even give different prices to the same person. It's nuts.

KECbythesea

Really interesting thread - thanks all.
I just got a Howden's salesman to come out and measure (we live in a tied house so have a trade account at place of work/living) and he's done s decent design. Waiting on quotation now.
Went to John Lewis with the plans from Howden's and got them to quote too, which was pricey!
Wondering where else to look - was liking the handless look in concrete or driftwood, in JL; Howden's, looking at the tewkesbury blue.

Kitchenbloke_Leeds

I suppose the nature of this forum ( Money Saving Expert) its going to attract more opinion about how to do things cheaply than how to do it properly but I,ve never in my life read as much balderdash, tosh and utter nonsense in one place…… who in their right mind would suggest that a top of the range Mercedes is exactly the same as a bottom end Kia because its only made out of a bit of Iron ore and plastic.
Germany , like the UK have hundreds if not thousands of kitchen manufacturers. some are excellent, some are average and some just make kitchens. To generalise like this is ridiculous. Yes a Kia and a Merc have similarities, 4 wheels and an engine. Both will get you to work on a morning but they are not the same. A Well built German kitchen like Rational, Sieimatic or Pogenpohl will outlast and out class an average run of the mill "English" kitchen- Fact.
I see 5 year old kitchens all the time that are literally falling to pieces, they have been manufactured to fail. Poor quality doors that delaminate and peel. Panels that sit directly on the floor where a £1.50 trim that are supplied as standard with a proper kitchen would have stopped the moisture getting in.
All this said though, often the money isn’t in the furniture, it’s in the worksurfaces and appliances and installation.
A Neff oven, Combination Microwave, Induction Hob, near silent Dishwasher, Fridge, Freezer, Coffee Machine, Boiling Water tap…… I could keep going 5 or £6,000 in appliances 3,4 £5,000 in stone worksurfaces 1000 /2000 in installation, flooring , tiling, Glass panels etc etc. By the time everything else is in place and accounted for you’ve spent 10/ 15000 and not bought a cabinet. Why would you consider potentially saving a small amount of money by putting in something that’s not up to scratch ?
Yes there will always be somebody who complains about a Mercedes as surely as somebody out there must still love the Austin Allegro.
Independents tend to live on reputation and thrive on recommendation the multiples tend to live on the smoke and mirrors of a never ending 80% sale bringing fresh meat through their doors and selling you into a finance package that by the time you’ve finished paying for it, its time to buy another.
German kitchen Manufacturers tend to be innovative, UK "manufacturers” tend to follow the pack.... Sophistication, finesse, ingenuity and build quality are just some of things you are paying for with a Mercedes. The bottom line is that in fact you do get what you pay for…

twohooter_2

Kitchenbloke_Leeds wrote: »

I suppose the nature of this forum ( Money Saving Expert) its going to attract more opinion about how to do things cheaply than how to do it properly but I,ve never in my life read as much balderdash, tosh and utter nonsense in one place…… who in their right mind would suggest that a top of the range Mercedes is exactly the same as a bottom end Kia because its only made out of a bit of Iron ore and plastic.
Germany , like the UK have hundreds if not thousands of kitchen manufacturers. some are excellent, some are average and some just make kitchens. To generalise like this is ridiculous. Yes a Kia and a Merc have similarities, 4 wheels and an engine. Both will get you to work on a morning but they are not the same. A Well built German kitchen like Rational, Sieimatic or Pogenpohl will outlast and out class an average run of the mill "English" kitchen- Fact.
I see 5 year old kitchens all the time that are literally falling to pieces, they have been manufactured to fail. Poor quality doors that delaminate and peel. Panels that sit directly on the floor where a £1.50 trim that are supplied as standard with a proper kitchen would have stopped the moisture getting in.
All this said though, often the money isn’t in the furniture, it’s in the worksurfaces and appliances and installation.
A Neff oven, Combination Microwave, Induction Hob, near silent Dishwasher, Fridge, Freezer, Coffee Machine, Boiling Water tap…… I could keep going 5 or £6,000 in appliances 3,4 £5,000 in stone worksurfaces 1000 /2000 in installation, flooring , tiling, Glass panels etc etc. By the time everything else is in place and accounted for you’ve spent 10/ 15000 and not bought a cabinet. Why would you consider potentially saving a small amount of money by putting in something that’s not up to scratch ?
Yes there will always be somebody who complains about a Mercedes as surely as somebody out there must still love the Austin Allegro.
Independents tend to live on reputation and thrive on recommendation the multiples tend to live on the smoke and mirrors of a never ending 80% sale bringing fresh meat through their doors and selling you into a finance package that by the time you’ve finished paying for it, its time to buy another.
German kitchen Manufacturers tend to be innovative, UK "manufacturers” tend to follow the pack.... Sophistication, finesse, ingenuity and build quality are just some of things you are paying for with a Mercedes. The bottom line is that in fact you do get what you pay for…

As a homeowner with a Rational kitchen I could not agree more with the above comments. My kitchen replaced the original house builder kitchen which started to fall apart after 4/5 years. I stretched my budget, bought Rational and have never regretted my decision. My kitchen still looks as good as new after 14 years and because I chose a simple modern design rather than something cutting edge it doesn't look dated. The build quality is superb. Conversely, I had my large utility room fitted out at the same time with similar style units from B & Q as that is all my budget would allow. Those units are hardly used but started falling apart years ago. I doubt I will ever 'need' to replace my kitchen rather I will eventually choose to when I fancy a change - but my first port of call will be Rational or similar. In my case I did get what I paid for and some.....

Furts

twohooter wrote: »

As a homeowner with a Rational kitchen I could not agree more with the above comments. My kitchen replaced the original house builder kitchen which started to fall apart after 4/5 years. I stretched my budget, bought Rational and have never regretted my decision. My kitchen still looks as good as new after 14 years and because I chose a simple modern design rather than something cutting edge it doesn't look dated. The build quality is superb. Conversely, I had my large utility room fitted out at the same time with similar style units from B & Q as that is all my budget would allow. Those units are hardly used but started falling apart years ago. I doubt I will ever 'need' to replace my kitchen rather I will eventually choose to when I fancy a change - but my first port of call will be Rational or similar. In my case I did get what I paid for and some.....

I purchased my home as a new build in 1988. It had a cheap contract kitchen made in the UK by Cumbria Furniture. Excellent quality and after 25 years the worktops and doors were fine. Judging by the wear and tear, and standard of build, I judged the kitchen good for at least another 25 years, but 100 years would be likely. None of the hinges had failed, none of the drawer runners had any apparent wear, all the handles were still there, and there was just minimal wear on one small area of the worktop - the pattern was slightly faded if one looked very closely.

The original UK made oven was still working, and likewise the UK made fridge, freezer, and cooker hood. Even the UK made sink was OK - though there was some crazing around the wastes.

This kitchen had family use for a few decades and was almost as good as new. Consumers are welcome to buy German kitchens but they are fools if they believe a cheap UK kitchen cannot last.

Why has Kitchenbloke Leeds surfaced after all this time? Why has an old thread beeen revived? I am guessing Brexit has dented the enormous profits in German kitchens, sales forecasts look bleak, so time to try and drum up some naive punters to boost business.

Kitchenbloke_Leeds

Why has Kitchenbloke Leeds surfaced after all this time? Why has an old thread beeen revived? I am guessing Brexit has dented the enormous profits in German kitchens, sales forecasts look bleak, so time to try and drum up some naive punters to boost business.

Surfaced..... ? My apologies Furts. I should have paid much more attention to your opinion and perhaps accepted it as gospel. Brexit in fact has not as yet affected us in any way, turnover wise yet although I accept you will vehemently disaggree I believe it will not. People who see the logic in buying quality will still buy it. Those who have the the financial ability to purchase the real thing, rather than a mass produced copy will still want it and those who have aspiration will still aspire. Choice, quality and build quality ..... you cant beat it. All said, you nailed it in your last post. You are nothing more than a bigot and a wannabe bully. I guess its my way or the highway in your house.... I, like most of the posters here am no fool, I hold my belief, you hold yours. Its a forum not the Bible according to Furts. Live long and prosper......