Kitchen haggling

Jeebus

[FONT=&quot]Hi all,[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Although I'm a long-time lurker on the MSE forums I finally decided to join as I am looking for some advice. This is the first time I've ever purchased a kitchen and this will be the most expensive purchase we've made with the exception of the house itself, so I'm unfamiliar with the negotiation process.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]So far we've only been to Wickes, but will be visiting other providers soon. Wickes have come round and taken some measurements, and then we've had a consultation with them to discuss the details and price. As it stands the cost is £6,900 for the kitchen (16 units, worktops and two appliances), and £2,700 fitting costs - so £9,600 in total. This is with the current advertised discounts. The salesman seemed pretty keen to get us signed up to their finance agreement that day, but we asked to have some time to think about it.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]To be fair, I don't think the price for the kitchen is too bad - although I'm sure they can go lower. The fitting seems quite high, but I suppose you pay extra for the convenience of having them come round and do everything, plus the guarantee that any problems over the coming years will be put right. I am a reasonably confident DIYer, however I think a whole kitchen is currently beyond my scope as we have two children under 2 years old and therefore not much free time at the moment.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Our next step is to visit Howdens and see if we can get a better quote, and then present this to Wickes if they haven't contacted us before then trying to sweeten the deal.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]What does everyone else think of the quote, and what our next steps should be? I can attach plans and materials list if anyone is that interested. [/FONT]

cranford

Before you proceed price up up your kitchen on the
https://www.diy-kitchens.com site and that will give you an idea if the quotes you get are reasonable.
Kichens from them come pres-assembled and re easy to install. The cabinets can also be ordered unassembled so that you can make alterations
Also look at the prices for appliances elsewhere.
I would be surprised if you can get a supplier to put it in the contract that they that will come back in years to come to fix problems! Its hard enough to get them to come back just weeks after a fitting to put things right.

Davesnave

Jeebus wrote: »

[FONT=&quot]Our next step is to visit Howdens and see if we can get a better quote, and then present this to Wickes if they haven't contacted us before then trying to sweeten the deal.[/FONT]

As you are not in the trade, Howdens won't give you a price or a breakdown. You need someone with an account there to get one.

cybervic

When we were getting quotes for our kitchen last year, Wickes was the most expansive but they said they will price match Howden. Howden quality was better and cheaper than Wickes and they said they will price match DIY kitchen. If you only in love with Wickes' range, then perhaps try to get them to price match.

Find a kitchen fitter that will let you negotiate with Howden directly so you can get transparent pricing. My builder has an account with Howden and doesn't charge any mark up buying kitchen through him so we got quote through his account.

Don't forgot trying local if you have one. I went to a reputable local independent kitchen supplier who order their kitchen from kitchen manufacturer an hour drive away, came out only just slightly more than DIY kitchen without any price matching and I can see the quality is much better than Wickes and Howden.

We eventually went with IKEA kitchen because their internal storage is bigger than other standard kitchen, also the cheapest too with 25 years warranty.

Tucker

I also went round the usual companies but got fed up with overpriced quotes, fake discounts and silly fitting costs.

I too went to IKEA and fitted it myself. IKEA kitchens are very good for someone with reasonable DIY skills and are made for self installation.

We saved a fortune and used some to get quarts worktops from a local supplier which was a big upgrade from all the basic worktops the big stores quoted for.

If you can diy, go for it. My IKEA kitchen was 3k including the dishwasher and we bought our own appliances. Howdens and wren quoted us 9k for the same units and dishwasher, supply only! No thanks!

MarcTJTD

Hi, mate.

It's very difficult to give you a reasonable opinion of the quote without quite a bit more information. There's a huge variation between top-end and bottom-end kitchen furniture, appliances, accessories and worktops. As it stands, it could be vastly overpriced or it could be an absolute bargain.

Much easier to judge the quote if you wouldn't mind sharing the following information:

The worktops, are they quartz or laminate?
The furniture range, do the doors have a chipboard or MDF core and are they painted or laminate wrapped?
The appliances, are they high-end (AEG/NEFF) or more entry-level like Beko?
Did you specify any expensive extras, like internal wirework or corner carousels?

couriervanman

Another vote for Ikea.......ignore the wicks/b&q etc 50% sales

TELLIT01

We got our kitchen from Howdens and although it was done through a trade account we paid Howdens direct. No opportunity for the middle man to take a cut that way, although it was our builder who wanted it done that way. They do a lot of kitchen fitting and if the cost of the units etc went through their account it would put them way over the VAT registration figure.

osc89er

I'm not convinced that having the customer pay howdens directly actually works the way that fitter thinks.

I think that because the contract is between howdens and the fitter then even if the customer pays howdens direct that is dodgy if they are ever audited.

That said, it's not really relevant here.

Clive_Woody

I just heard from my fitter that Howdens have agreed to price match DIY Kitchens, it was a bit of a battle but very happy they have agreed to bring their price down.

MarcTJTD

TELLIT01 wrote: »

We got our kitchen from Howdens and although it was done through a trade account we paid Howdens direct. No opportunity for the middle man to take a cut that way, although it was our builder who wanted it done that way. They do a lot of kitchen fitting and if the cost of the units etc went through their account it would put them way over the VAT registration figure.

That's a smart builder; if you pay Howdens direct, your contract of sale is with them and any warranty or product-related query is between you and Howdens.

If your fitter had paid on your behalf, he's technically Howdens customer and you're not so if they were feeling particularly bureaucratic they could reject any warranty claim you made on the basis that you didn't buy the kitchen from them.

B&Q used to do that sometimes when something went discontinued and they had a problem they couldn't easily resolve.