Are kitchen appointments "free"?

[Run247]

I am in the process of replacing our kitchen. We have booked kitchen appointments with all the major places (Homebase, magnet) as well as bespoke suppliers.

We are not sure on the etiquette of these appointments. Are they really free (as advertised), or are we expected to put a deposit down on the same day? Do they expect us to be getting quotes from everyone else? Or at this stage should we definitely be going with that supplier we book an appointment with?

The ones we've had we've done quite a bit of design work. Appointment was well over an hour. Not quite deposit on the day but the quote was fixed for a couple of weeks, so we had a bit of time to think. I've always been fairly committed to a range from a particular place before booking a design appointment, I might do a couple of places but I can't imagine doing more than that.

We have looked round more places before deciding, ususaly the staff have had all the info on how their particular set up work so no need for the actual appointment until we were ready to start designing.

High street places are normally free, we paid our independent bespoke hand-made kitchen man for the appointment but get it back when we place the order. In fairness he was here for almost 2 hours and really tailored it to me and my wish list rather than following a bog standard template.

Sorry, posted too soon. We will pay a deposit when we order. For high street I think you pay in full when you order. No pressure to order at the design appointment, you need to think it through.

Magnet's after sales service was desperate.

We had designs done at Howdens, Wickes, Benchmarx and a local independent supplier / fitter. They were all free. Plus they all gave us the designs to take away which was useful - the Wickes design was the best so I took it to Benchmarx and got them to copy it as they had the units that we liked the best. I have heard although have no experience that Magnet will ask for a £500 deposit if you want their plans.