Kitchen price comparison - Fair or fantasy?

Lack of transparency when buying a kitchen is really a disaster. In the end, we were very satisfied with our studio, but we also had experiences that were absolutely terrible with other studios.

I can only recommend the following approach if you want a well-planned kitchen with a reasonable price/performance ratio:

There are many very helpful and competent people working here. Setting your expectations takes time of course and you have to enjoy it, but in the end, you have a plan that you can’t get better in a kitchen studio. With this plan, you then go to multiple kitchen studios and have them offer you the kitchen exactly as planned. In the end, we had a huge price range (negotiated prices!) from the different studios (from 20,000 € to ~35,000 €), with the same brand, same fronts, same appliances, ... everything the same. The studio where we ultimately placed the order (logically the one for 20,000 €...) gave us all appliances at internet prices (+50 € installation cost per device).

At Ikea, for example, we wouldn’t have come out much cheaper, but would have had worse quality and less customization. In addition, the handleless variant at Ikea is incredibly ergonomically difficult to grip, which was a direct knockout criterion.

Just the appliances alone cost >7,000 € at the cheapest internet price, and these are by far not the top models. The ceramic countertop is passed through almost 1:1 from the manufacturer by the studio, another 4,000 € gone. Electrical work (sockets and LEDs), complete boxing in of the kitchen and splashback made of frosted glass also cost something. And bam, there isn’t that much left for the wood, the fronts and the assembly....

If you have time and patience, in my opinion you can get significantly more quality and customization at a kitchen studio for a similar price than at IKEA. But the time investment is also greater, because the industry is simply full of rip-offs.

The lack of transparency when buying a kitchen is really a disaster. ...In the end, we had a huge price range (negotiated prices!) from the different studios (from 20K€ - ~35K€), with the same brand, same front, same electrical appliances, ... everything the same.

Wow, really? I wouldn't have thought that. That's an incredible difference. But the way you did it, I think everyone does it like that, right?

We have been to exactly one studio. We knew exactly what we wanted and the offer was right, the consultation too - why go anywhere else?

To put it into perspective, I have to say that the €35k was somewhat of an outlier. The offers were somehow distributed like this (Reminder!): €20k, €22k, €25k, €26k, €35k.

Honestly, I think very few do it that way. Most people have something planned in every kitchen studio that is similar but not the same. However, the prices are then no longer comparable at all, as even small changes can lead to significant price jumps.

We did it exactly the same way as Tego and I can share the experience. The difference for exactly the same kitchen ranged from 17K€ to 27K€. The cheapest option was a small kitchen studio (not a chain) at 17K€, then the kitchen studio chains like Küchenaktuell (19K€ - 21K€), and finally a furniture store at 27K€.

I have to put this into perspective by saying that the 35 k€ was somewhat of an outlier. The offers were somehow distributed like this (reminder!): 20 k€, 22 k€, 25 k€, 26 k€, 35 k€.

Even between 20 and 26 there is already a significant difference. So it is definitely worth comparing. Especially when I actually get exactly the same thing.