Magnet sales

moneyistooshorttomention

Oh well - question answered anyway and Magnet ruled out for sure.

I've now had their quote - and with all the discount for this and discount for that - it's a "How Much!!!!" one. They gotta be kidding.

Over £10,000 for the units

and

over £10,000 for the worktops.

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::eek::eek::eek::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

As you can imagine - I've not rung them up delighted at how low the cost is:rotfl:.

I basically find that unbelievable.

All sorts of googling around later and I would say a fairly standard level kitchen for a medium size kitchen - with only appliance being a built-in cooker and its hood would probably come in around £8k - £10k.

Then I add the fact that I want quartz worktops and cooker back and I think Silestone seem to be the only brand that currently do integral sinks the same:( and they aren't the cheapest brand. So I've guessed that that makes mine dearer then and mentally bargained on somewhere between £10k and £12k (excluding flooring and repainting).

Hence over £20k looks literally unbelievable to me - even if I've looked straight past their budget range to the mid-priced and dearer range. I'm guessing Mr Magnet isn't great at maths either....:rotfl:or is taking me for some sort of idiot (knew I shoulda put my glasses on......geek chic.....).

Thinks - I could do with a hard-looking/hard-sounding friend to "stand in" for me. Well that rules out literally every single one of my friends then.....

Meepster

Furts wrote: »

Your expectations are somewhat high. A "kitchen designer" is not a professsion, nor a trade, nor an artisan. It is a nothing job, that is on a par with a double glazing sales person. If you go top end kitchens then studios and all sorts of bumpf and spin enter the equation, but that is not where you are. The reality is the average consumer can plan their kitchen to a reasonable standard by measuring the room with a pocket tape. Then drawing this and the shapes they require on a piece of graph paper.


I have only ever come across one kitchen sales person, or designer, or surveyor who is competent. Do not knock the trade outlets for this person was at a Magnet Trade branch. To add a little anecdotal back up - my local Tradepoint had a switched on guy working on the tills. Some days he was designing kitchens for retail customers - he had no experience or training in this, but this did not matter because retail customers were deemed easy prey. With trade customers he remained behind the till!

Feeling slightly insulted by this comment Furts, especially the bit in bold. I'm a full time Kitchen Designer, I've had training in both kitchen and interior design. I'm not a Kitchen Salesman and I don't sell the kitchens I design.

It's true that anyone with an ounce of common sense can do a basic kitchen design; what is commonly known as "putting boxes in a room", in the same way that anyone can plaster a wall or write a book. Just because anyone can do something, it doesn't mean it will be done right.

Doozergirl

You went to Magnet. I'm not sure what you expected.

We told you that four days ago!

Meepster

Sorry money, haven't had time to reply to your PM, but will get round to it when i have more free time.

just wanted to say Silestone ISN'T an expensive product, it can be cheaper than a generic quartz, if you are looking at a price group 1-3 product. It's only the higher groups that are more expensive, and that's usually because it's all to order and not stocked.

Magnet use Sheridans for their worktops. The cost prices from Sheridans aren't too bad (even if they are a little more than most large suppliers) but then Magnet put their markup on at the price goes silly. If they reduce their list price on any solid surface by 40%, they still retain around 30% margin.

I'm looking at a Magnet worktop price someone dropped off with me, they were quoted just over 8k for the worktops, whereas we can supply exactly the same product for under 5k.

phoebe1989seb

Whilst I usually agree with Furts, I have to disagree with the suggestion that a kitchen designer is a "nothing" job. Assuming the same thought process applies to bathroom designers, I have to say that a very close friend is a bathroom designer - admittedly at an award-winning studio that he happens to own - with about 25 years experience of doing the job. He has a university degree in design as well as building-related qualifications. He understands the complexities of plumbing and often has to go on site to correct the trades that have got things wrong (think Money's bathroom error, for example) either because they have misinterpreted his design or because they erroneously assume they know best.......

He has had some reasonably high-end clients over the years (slebs, Saudi Royals etc) paying huge sums for his company's services and he is always happy to get his hands dirty on site in order to ensure the client is completely satisfied. I know this is the opposite end of the spectrum from what is being discussed here, but I don't think you can tar all "designers" with the same brush.

Sadly these days everyone thinks they are a designer, just because there are online tools to enable you to produce your own plans and cheap online retailers selling Chinese rubbish that will not stand the test of time. We've designed our last few kitchens, but we both trained in design (fashion and interiors), so feel fairly confident in so doing, but with bathrooms we always take advice before committing, although we do understand quite a bit about plumbing issues etc. We've also experienced some terrible "fitters" (of the bathroom variety), including the one that thought all German items were carp, because he couldn't handle the complexities of the Hans Grohe Axor Montreux shower we'd purchased......go figure!

Unlike some companies, our friend doesn't charge for drawing up plans/designs so occasionally finds that a client will take those plans away and order inferior items elsewhere. It's not unheard of for them to them come back to him when something goes wrong and customer service at the online retailer is non-existant.......what a blooming cheek!

I'll get off my soap box now, lol, and wish Money all the best with getting her new kitchen designed to her exacting standards!

moneyistooshorttomention

Doozergirl wrote: »

You went to Magnet. I'm not sure what you expected.

We told you that four days ago!

Well - I did expect that, whatever else happened, they would quote pretty much the sort of price I've figured out one pays for that sort of kitchen (after allowing for "Winter Sale" prices applying - ie cheapest time of year).

Guess - I've just been quoted the price equivalent instead then of when I got in one of the "biggies" (think it was Anglian?) to quote for outside upvc work on the house (fascia boards, pipes, etc etc - ie pretty big job for a little house) and got told (eventually!) a "sale" sort of price of around £10,000 for it!!!!:eek:.

I duly went to a local firm (not the cheapest one here either - and some people have described them to me as "dear") and they did the lot for around £4k as I recall and made a good job of it. I'd ruled out the £2k obvious bodger firm.

moneyistooshorttomention

Thanks Meepster - and just had your second PM. You've been very helpful - it's useful to hear right from the horses mouth.:T

Think I see what you mean re the Silestone price groups 1-3. I've been getting a bit confused by the fact that the booklet I picked up specifically about Silestone features many fewer colours than the 90 or so on their website (no blue for instance - which is one of the colours I see on their website).

I'll be picking a pretty "standard" type colour - in line with my plain/pale/Scandinavian type preferences and wouldnt want yer more exotic (eg blues, etc) anyway if I could afford it.

Furts

Meepster wrote: »

Feeling slightly insulted by this comment Furts, especially the bit in bold. I'm a full time Kitchen Designer, I've had training in both kitchen and interior design. I'm not a Kitchen Salesman and I don't sell the kitchens I design.

It's true that anyone with an ounce of common sense can do a basic kitchen design; what is commonly known as "putting boxes in a room", in the same way that anyone can plaster a wall or write a book. Just because anyone can do something, it doesn't mean it will be done right.

I make reference to high end kitchens and showrooms and also there will always be good and bad in all lines of work. However for the vast majority of consumers a typical B&Q, or Magnet, or Wickes or whatever kitchen designer will fall into my type of description.

In my defence, one does not do a time served trade apprenticeship as a kitchen designer because it is not a trade. When viewed professionally, I have not come across anyone doing a BA or BSc in Kitchen Design. Architecture, Structural Engineering, Building, Surveying are definites here. Looking at designatory letters if one tried to enter RICS or CIOB on the basis of being a kitchen designer it is likely to be difficult - I have not met people who have career progressed in this way.

For the vast majority of consumers a kitchen is a dirt cheap commodity comprising mfc sheeets cut and butt jointed with the addition of cheap doors. The worktops are also mfc or a more expensive substitute - but that does not mean it is a superior worktop. Sinks, taps and appliances are easy to source anywhere. The bottom line is kitchens are a vastly over rated, over priced, emotive purchase. None of this requires "professionals" to come on board. If they wish to do so then fine. Standards are so low, as Money has witnessed, that there is enormous room to accomodate a more professional approach!

moneyistooshorttomention

Or try buying a lottery ticket - and hoping for the chance to think "Blow the lot of them - right I'll have a good look at kitchens like Neptune or deVOL":rotfl:. Owt that's good enough for Hugh Fernley-Whittingstall is good enough for me:rotfl:

A'right and back on Planet Earth and with my level of finances - I've now torn my hair out trying to draw a plan on graph paper and thought "I could do without being slightly numbers blind - it's hampering me trying to figure this out:(".

Oh well...cant be helped - and done the best I can to get round that defect of mine and followed by writing a very detailed list of my requirements and an "educated guess" of what size unit I will require where.

I'm heading for a local independent "kitchen planner" or kitchen planner (as the case may be) next and see what she/he has to say.

Now I wonder if I can tempt Phoebe to consider a holiday over in Wales?.....

Davesnave

We just went to lots of places for the designs, and apart from Homebase, where new software resulted in precisely nothing after several hours of graft, we came away with interesting variations on the theme we started with.

It was a time-served guy in Howdens who produced what we considered the best solution, bearing in mind the inevitable constraints. Then, we pitted Howdens against our local firm and an independent for price/quality.

In the end the local manufacturer got the job, mainly because they had their own fitting team whom we trusted. If our builder, who's really a carpenter and joiner, had been keener, we'd have used him, but all he did was swear about 'bloody kitchens!' We also had flooring issues to tie into the work.

I think we may have paid a few hundred more for the flooring, but the kitchen co organised everything (we did electrics and plastering in advance) and the whole thing was done and dusted in a week flat.... amazing for around here!

We also did a much better deal for appliances than the prices on AO, so that was the expensive flooring job compensated-for.

In all, it added-up to one of our better decisions, but we certainly put in the leg and brain work.