Kitchen purchase - How do you negotiate the price?

Hehe, nice to hear that it wasn’t just me who experienced that. A few weeks ago I tried playing with the seller more than he was playing with me.

The ads everywhere also said that you get the electrical appliances for free, etc... the usual stuff.
So I went there alone first and after the greeting the budget question came right away. I tried to be reserved about it, but the lady didn’t want to let up, so… “7000€ including granite countertop is my absolute limit.” She started coughing at that and I already wanted to wave it off and head to the exit, but she said she would try to stay within that range.

I then spent 3.5 hours with her putting the kitchen together, planning, looking, thinking and so on. I was only interested in the shapes and appliances. We ended up at 18,000 without granite. Minus all the appliances I get for free and blah blah blah, we were then at 12,000 if I decide today and limited time and all that. I made it clear right away that I’m not signing anything today, but will come back with my wife for color and details if the price gets somewhat attractive and not so unrealistic. “Yes, but with the high-quality fronts that are lacquered x times and what else, that’s expensive blub blub blub” (at some point I stopped listening).

I don’t care about all that, this is simply the only kitchen I like and my budget is fixed because no miraculous money multiplication. After I remained absolutely stubborn and her boss had come twice in the meantime and she even ran off to consult with her boss, we landed at 9,000. That fits well because my budget was actually 10,000 – and of course I know I won’t get granite for that. After 4 hours she was visibly exhausted, I had drunk well and eaten cake. I was supposed to come back very soon because the offer is only valid for a few days and so on. Yeah yeah, sure, but okay, let’s play the game. Next day I came with two women. At this point it should be said that I don’t care much about the kitchen, it just has to look good visually when I enter the kitchen, I don’t care about the rest. As expected, the fridge I picked was too small, the sink still needed an extra bowl, the dishwasher some extra functions, different color, different countertop, oven upgrade and the hood made of pure black glass. Well, whatever, fine with me, optics and layout stay the same as before. In between the seller refused to include all the chosen items because we would “far exceed the budget.” I didn’t care at all, the women chose, so now do it, otherwise we’re leaving. After another 3 hours, the most expensive sink in the showroom and a lot of knickknacks, we had everything. She started calculating again and came up with a price over 22,000 instead of the previous 18,000. I made it clear to her directly that I wasn’t in the mood for the game from yesterday again and we should save ourselves that. “Due to all the changes we have an extra cost of over 4000, which is much more than you wanted to spend.” Nice try, good thing I have no plans today. “We already discussed the price yesterday, today is only about the details, but that’s clear now, so let’s finalize this.” Now of course came 20 minutes of rambling about live and let live and that’s not possible and so on. Well, I leaned back relaxed, let her talk and thought about dinner. Then I proposed a compromise, I’m not willing to pay more, but since the two women went wild with the upgrades, they can each pay a hundred so we end up at 9200. The usual again, ask the boss, he comes by and talks very politely with us. I then looked at him very seriously, already put my jacket over my arm, and said I’d like to sign now. That’s when he realized we would have left otherwise and printed everything out.

Lo and behold, we ended up at 9,200 from over 22,000, with delivery, assembly, 5-year warranty and a free check after 12 months for adjusting doors and stuff. I think that was halfway fair, at least I could live with it well. Funny was that the two women completely stayed out of the price negotiation and kept referring to me. If one of them had given in, thought about it or raved about the oh-so-great kitchen, my negotiating position would have been gone. Good that I looked at it 9 months before the house completion, so I wasn’t in a rush and would have simply driven home if it hadn’t gone the way I wanted. The seller knew that too, going by the motto “I DON’T HAVE to buy the kitchen here today.”
I’m sure they still made a good profit, which is OK, I just don’t have to make others rich…

Yeah, yeah, that's how it is... I have already written it once, but for my two kitchens that I have bought so far... according to the list etc., I would have had to pay over 10,000 each.

In the end, both kitchens were about 3300 each... you just have to be tough and have the kitchen planned cleverly... here a kitchen salesman who knows his craft is also an advantage... many just put cabinets together and really have no idea what they are doing and where you can save...

Hello,

I can recommend the book "clever Küchen kaufen" to you.
The 20€ are really well invested.

Hello,


Why?

That is exactly what the buyer customer wishes for here in this country ...

Rhineland greetings

Sorry, but in my opinion, that is nonsense. The "stinginess is cool" mentality is entirely the fault of the retail trade itself. The whole topic of discounts has been drilled into the end consumer to such an extent that they basically have to start out feeling that they must negotiate or else be taken advantage of.

When I already see that furniture brands are relabeled through purchasing associations or attempts are made to conceal the actual manufacturer, it really makes me sick. Why can't retail just come out with honest prices right away and let these pseudo list prices disappear into the trash? Then the customer wouldn't generally feel fooled and ask for "discounts."

The customer is like a small child and lives out what is shown to them.

Hello,

Sorry, but in my opinion that is nonsense.

No need to say sorry, you have a right to your own opinion.

The "stinginess is cool" mentality is entirely the retail sector's own fault. The whole topic of discounts has been hammered into the end consumer to such an extent that they now basically have to start out with the feeling that they have to haggle or else they will be taken for a ride.

That is not quite right in such an abstract way. First of all, this annoying slogan was created by a big box retailer; as a reaction to the already existing attitude among the population that it is cooler to buy a product made in China than to support the domestic economy. They employ hordes of analysts. This electronics retail chain then also realized far too late what they had set in motion. The only consoling factor is that they shot themselves in the foot.

I have dealt with this topic at length and unfortunately have not come to any logical conclusion as to where this mentality - wanting everything cheaper - began. The possibilities are numerous and date back long before the advertising campaign of the 6th planet in the solar system. By the way, there are many sectors in retail where you would have tears in your eyes at the margins achievable.

The next stage is the ongoing trend over the past few years to locate companies in the Netherlands (the latest example is Fiat) in order to stabilize prices, save taxes, and appease shareholders. In this model, only one person profits, and that is the speculator. This development is diabolical – because there is no manufacturing industry behind it in terms of jobs – and therefore I am more than curious what surprises the retirement at 63 will actually bring us.

When I already see that furniture brands are being relabeled through purchasing associations or that attempts are made to obscure the actual manufacturer, it really makes me sick. Why can't retail just come out with honest prices and throw these pseudo list prices into the trash?

This has a lot to do with the individual relationships between manufacturers and bulk buyers as well as end customers and is really nothing new. Staying in the genre of home building, something that comes to mind spontaneously is Tecalor®. Tecalor® is a subsidiary of Stiebel Eltron® and was founded solely to appease wholesale.

Then the customer wouldn’t basically feel taken for a ride and wouldn’t ask for "discounts."

Apparently it is in human nature to bargain; the East has been showing us this since ancient times. Perhaps the cause of the current social behavioral patterns is indeed rooted in the increasing mixture of cultures in Germany. From my point of view, it is also not so much a matter of asking for discounts, but rather the expectation regarding the amount of reductions and the resulting assumption that the service provider is going to cheat every prospect sitting in front of them. Incidentally, this is – boiled down to its essence – the founding idea of every low-cost provider in the fiercely contested home builder market and, in my opinion, given the societal demands for cheap housing construction, also legitimate. Ruskin put it so well

The customer is like a little child and lives out what is shown to him.

That is the "simple" truth and although I personally view "simple" mostly as practicable where it makes sense, it is often only half the truth.

Rhenish regards

To get back to the actual topic: We ultimately ended up with an Ikea kitchen. Before that, we got advice at 5 different furniture and kitchen stores. We definitely saw 20 dream kitchens there – the cheapest would have still cost us €15,400. At Ikea, we then found a (already pretty perfect kitchen) for €11,300 and were happy. By the way, we also had them assemble it for us and I would definitely do it that way again!