Kitchen quote from John Lewis - seems really high, and that's with a discount [London]

TeamMCS

I've been meaning to fully replace my kitchen for some time now but I've had issued in the past getting any final concrete numbers before a supplier/installer wanted a deposit. Obviously before I go ahead I want to know exactly what it'll cost with the exception of unexpected events. 

To this end I looked towards John Lewis as a friend of mine had a good experience in the past, plus they would give me what I want. A single figure.

The kitchen in question is a pretty small galley 3.5mx2.5mx2.5m with doors at both ends - so no cabs at the end. I went for a 'middle of the road' offering across the range, yet I've been quoted almost £23k, not including flooring - and that includes a time limited 20% discount. This seems really high? I'd anticipated to spend somewhere between 13-15k at most to be honest. Plus it looks like once flooring, and some pipe rework is done that'll increase by a few grand at least.

I've attached a rounded up breakdown of the key costs. Happy to go into details of cabs and extras, but tbh it's not a particularly elaborate setup.

Any advice would be appreciated. 



[Edit] I've founded up the numbers to avoid any headaches with JL if I choose to move forward

Emmia

We had a JL kitchen put in a couple of years ago, including glass splashback, neff slide and hide oven, gas hob, quartz top, extractor and sink + LVT flooring - we paid about £11k (also in London). For a 2m x 3m room.

But to warn you we had an awful job getting the snagging done - we needed a different door as the plan was wrong, and an extra long decorative end panel

Despite repeated requests they kept delivering either the wrong size (too short) or colour (white rather than dark grey). The sink was also substituted at the last minute for a different one - so we had to rush about finding another at the last minute (sinks.co.uk were great).


However, overall we're really happy with the kitchen now it's done.

TeamMCS

Interesting. I wonder why yours was literally half what I'm being quoted? 

timjim

The numbers don't make sense if there is 20% discount 

TeamMCS

timjim said:

The numbers don't make sense if there is 20% discount 

I've intentionally fudged the numbers so the real quote doesn't lead back to this post. The headline cost is just below 23k with discount

baser999

If you reckon it’s a lot, get a quote from elsewhere surely? 

TeamMCS

baser999 said:

If you reckon it’s a lot, get a quote from elsewhere surely? 

I have previously, twice, neither time would the supplier move forward unless I gave them a non-refundable deposit before they'd confirm the total installation cost. In short I'd either lose the deposit or be stuck with a bunch of cabs and appliances that I couldn't (previously) afford to install. 

Hence I thought it'd be a good idea to run a sanity check with yourselves. I presume either the consensus would be, "Yeah reasonable", or "You're nuts, are your surfaces gold plated". 

SaverRate

For appliances an easy way to compare is to go onto AO.com or similar and check the prices against the ones quoted. 

Emmia

TeamMCS said:

Interesting. I wonder why yours was literally half what I'm being quoted? 

It was mostly done pre pandemic, and we have.very few units - the built in fridge was already there, we used it for 5 years not built in!

Which range have you gone for?

TeamMCS

We speced out the Chester with the Antaro upgrades if that helps?

Emmia

TeamMCS said:

Interesting. I wonder why yours was literally half what I'm being quoted? 

I've just had a look at the online brochure, if you compare the Chester you're opting for vs the style (equivalent), Modena we went for, there's a £2k price difference on the sample price - but our cost did include Amtico flooring over the whole floor before the kitchen went in, and yours excludes flooring.

We also have a stainless steel overmount sink with integrated drainer, as I don't like undermounts.

We probably spent a further £500-£600 (on top of the kitchen) on a cut to size shelf for an unused awkward corner, a metal picture shelf (perfect for the blocks holding the steak knives and the salt & pepper), a better shaped brabantia bin, and a magnetic notice board.

We did do a pretty straight replacement though, so no moves of plumbing / gas - but more sockets were put in and the isolator switches moved to inside a cupboard (the fitters also kindly fixed the kitchen light fitting properly, which was a little rickety and a dodgy socket in the hall whilst they were at it!)