Tactics when buying a kitchen / how to negotiate properly?

Big fail- IKEA gives a 25 (sic!) year warranty on its kitchens:

But not on the installation. And everyone knows the complaint procedure at Ikea: you are not going to dismantle a cabinet just to get it replaced for 87.50. You will somehow repair it yourself, because anything else would simply be idiotic.

My buddy opened a studio. He was at the furniture store for 8 years before. He is a member of the [Verbund], apparently had good contacts. He said, especially now with Corona, people are buying kitchens like crazy. And the margin is enormous! If he sells 2-3 kitchens with a five-figure amount, he lives better than as an employee! Every complaint is handled by the manufacturer / [verband]. He is just a pass-through of heated

Although I come from consumer electronics, so brown goods not white goods, I think the rules apply quite similarly. The margin on electronic devices will never be better than on furniture. For anyone. The lack of transparency is not that you can’t get a kitchen offered from different kitchen dealers, but that with a kitchen dealer I never know whether a tall cabinet xy costs that much more extra or that much. There are cases with these block charges where you add two wall cabinets and suddenly the kitchen is cheaper than without them. That’s what’s annoying. I bought my current fitted kitchen from Nolte with a 3m run and 1.80m peninsula for about 6,500 EUR (5 years ago). The nominal price was 12,000 EUR. And then he also gave me some kind of non-cash goodies. Back then I was just clueless and had no desire for IKEA. But I think he basically offered me this almost 50% discount without me asking. When I asked, a cutlery insert and some stuff were added. But I’m not sure what would have happened if I had come with an offer from another dealer that might have been 1,500 EUR cheaper. If a kitchen dealer said, look, an 80cm base cabinet costs 300 EUR, wall cabinet 250 EUR and a tall cabinet 500 EUR including all fronts and interiors. You just have to add up and in the end you get 20% if you spend over 20,000 EUR. Then probably no one would complain. But as it is, I’d probably go to IKEA.

I would also find that strange. They probably hardly make any money on the furniture, but rather on the electrical appliances. And in the end, it’s all a mixed calculation, where, for example, the warranty is also factored in. That all goes into this price.

Is it forbidden to take over appliances from the "old" kitchen when buying a kitchen? We didn’t want to buy a car with the carburetor deducted.

The Ikea buyer loves tinkering, he’d rather factor in a few days of DIY if something pulls or rattles than spend 500€ more for 4 years of warranty.

No, very stuffy and old-fashioned from the carpenter/kitchen builder of the distrust and paid with real money. Once again, the popular clown of the blanket judgment was briefly active in your head? This time it’s the stupid Ikea cheapskates, who’s next?
The main thing is to bash generally, that makes life noticeably easier.

A bargain is always only equated with a dumping price, let’s not kid ourselves.

In your life that may be the case, maybe that’s why this thought comes naturally to you.
In our house, we had nearly the same craftsmen, kitchen builders, and our small, fine furniture store for 30 years. You can assume that this long-standing relationship was not built on the stinginess or unfairness attributed to us here.
We regularly and almost blindly commissioned from abroad and paid without ever seeing a result live—do you do that as well? ...and even though we are supposedly dumb Ikea kitchen buyers. Hmm... what do we do now with your blanket judgment?
Honestly, your blunt insinuation or general prejudice against me and others as rip-off artists or unfair business partners bothers me. By the way, we ourselves are extremely loyal customers, from the dentist to the carpet layer; as long as they had their business, we never switched.
There seem to be only the good ones, in this case of course you, and the stingy, unfair, and dumb ones, that is me and some others here. Always nice and black-and-white, because that’s easier and makes you feel more comfortable in the light.
It’s solely about some partly occurring cheeky and improper behavior of some sellers, or what do you say to these shocking examples mentioned here? Or do you then have to fail and be put on display to finally be considered a "decent customer"? Always nice and black-and-white or good and bad. Apparently, that’s how life is for some.

...I’m just wondering, is there transparency when buying a car if the selling price is 3100€ below MSRP? Do people get upset about unclear pricing there? Why can one do that, but another can’t?

Did someone say this only happens in kitchen sales? No, you must have misread! It’s solely about rejecting blatant sales tactics, which you confuse with stinginess or stupidity on the buyers’ side. I would be equally annoyed with an unpleasant car salesman. The connection to the car salesman might partly apply, as some former car salesmen are now working in the kitchen or prefab house industry.

For most, it’s all about "what’s the final price" and not just for foreign fellow citizens.

Wow – that already contains quite a few clichés. I thought nowadays people only think such things quietly in some gloomy living rooms.
Have you ever lived abroad, that is beyond your federal state, to say things so bluntly? I have experienced fine manners especially in Arabia (not during the well-known 2-week all-inclusive buffet eating on a beach vacation!) and usually also fair treatment in sales. You probably watch too many bad movies or click on weird websites. Just go there, deep into the people, and live there, then you will talk differently about it.
The description of your kitchen purchase shows nothing particularly noteworthy, so please stop calling others here idiots by the dozen, that is “most” AND “the foreigners,” all of whom just want everything for free and only complain and are stingy, while you march through life as a role model. I’m curious whether you can also handle the echo of your loud call.

Yes, disgusting. The builder chooses very expensive 100x100 tiles or 15x120 ones, and the tiler adjusts the wage to the growing task and then has to be called disgusting.

You apparently love misleading comparisons to sugarcoat your stuff, okay!
As a reminder: it was described that the only available tilers faced the "take it or leave it" condition (quote from the builder) and demanded 100€/sqm for tile laying, which he had to “swallow” out of necessity.
If this work took place under difficult circumstances, for example on New Year’s Eve, overhead, or in the cold storage room, or if it represented another special service, I understand a different price. But I referred to what was written, namely "take it or leave it" – "tile laying" for €100/sqm and I replied only to this information.
According to your assessment, this "take it or leave it" attitude of these three craftsmen should be accepted as fair while the critically questioning kitchen studio customer is considered stingy and dumb. Aha...

Do people also get upset about the higher inspection price when they buy a Range Rover, Porsche, or Mercedes AMG?

Funny that people like to portray others as general idiots to give their own position more weight. Okay, that makes it easier, so that’s probably why.
By the way, I consciously do not drive any of those cheap vehicles mentioned but pay cash for quality—

You simply won’t take out a cabinet just to get it replaced for 87.50. You will somehow repair it yourself, because everything else would simply be idiotic.

.... "idiotic" for you, but that doesn’t mean it’s generally the case.
The carpenter or suitable professional assembles the Ikea kitchen and provides a warranty on their work. The next day, the same craftsman assembles the Nolte kitchen from a kitchen studio at the neighbor’s. It’s that simple.
You are claiming something that I have now repeatedly and, honestly, even unexpectedly experienced positively; therefore, one version is not automatically “idiotic” just because you apparently don’t know it.

Although I come from consumer electronics, that is brown goods not white goods, I think the rules are quite similar. The margin on electronic devices will never be better than on furniture. For none. The lack of transparency is not that you can't get a kitchen offered from different kitchen dealers, but that with a kitchen dealer you never know if an 80cm tall cabinet costs this much more surcharge or that much. There are block billing cases where you add two wall cabinets and suddenly the kitchen is cheaper than without them. That is what annoys. I bought my current fully fitted kitchen from Nolte with a 3m unit and 1.80m peninsula for about 6,500 EUR (5 years ago). The nominal price was 12,000 EUR. And then he also gave me some tangible goods. Back then I was just clueless and didn't want to bother with IKEA. But I think he basically offered me almost 50% off without asking. On inquiry, there were cutlery inserts and some other stuff added. But I'm not sure what would have happened if I had come with an offer from another dealer that was maybe 1,500 EUR cheaper. If a kitchen dealer said, look, a base cabinet 80cm costs 300 EUR, wall cabinet 250 EUR, and tall cabinet 500 EUR including all fronts and interiors. You just have to add up and in the end you get 20% if you spend over 20,000 EUR. Then probably no one would complain. But so I would probably rather go to IKEA.

EXACTLY that is what it’s about!