Why is it so hard to buy a kitchen?

[happinessiseggshaped]

Just that really.

The sales people look at me like a loon when I tell them that we don't have a set budget. Particularly not for just the kitchen as I have no idea how much the fitting will be until l get the kitchen quote done. (Going to need lots of electrical work, making good walls after removing horrendous tiling and a few other bits, current kitchen is 35 years old so nothing is modern standard.)

It wastes hours and hours and hours just getting a quote, and then they are desperate to sell me finance (which we dont need) and give me random free crap. I cant imagine anyone spending £20k+ is going to be influenced by a free mug.

Latest guy said I should choose the doors last, which is fine, and I get the point, which is that ultimately it wont make much difference to the price. But if I don't like any of the doors then I have wasted about 5 hours of child free time, which I don't have a lot of.

I also don't want build in appliances which also makes then look at me like I have 3 heads. I know. Super unfashionable. But I have new freestanding appliances, why would I buy built in ones I don't need?

Its all backwards. I just want a new kitchen without massive holes in the walls. I'm kind of beyond the point where I care very much what it looks like. Which perhaps is the problem.

If you are not getting the service you want, it might be work considering how to find people who will be more in your wavelength. Could you find an smaller firm, so the people you talk to will be closer to the work. They might get what you want better than bigger places where the sales are just that and essentially working to a template of how sales go.

Went with a small local company for whole process last time (old house) and they were useless but cost a fortune so I don't necessarily think small is better. Generally I thought smaller companies are all the high spec hand made ones and we don't have anywhere near the budget for that. (See I do have a rough budget!)

Current plan is that a local kitchen fitter/carpenter will fit units so once I have decided where to get them from so it all be easier as it will be one person co ordinating the lot. Although obviously, I haven't got a full quote on the entire job from anyone so it may not work out that way....

Have any of these people been round to have a look? You don't say. Which non local companies have you approached?

Have a look at DIY kitchens, there's loads of threads on here recommending them. You plan it yourself and they deliver them fully assembled. If you can't fit them yourself you can just hire a local fitter.

I’m with you on this! It’s taken months and months to finally sign on the dotted line for our new kitchen. We went to lots of different places and used different tactics in each. For example stated a budget for some and not for others. Strangely whenever we gave a budget the price would come in just over....

Our real problem was finding a fitter. Had about 10 people round to quote for fitting. And only got a quote from one. Which was way over what we thought we should be paying.

So no tips from here just empathy

Not sure who you have been to but we have used Benchmarx several times (we've refurbished properties and moved) and have used them most recently for our current kitchen which is in the house we intend to stay in longer term. From memory the guys we dealt with never asked for a budget as such and were great at working with us on our design and making useful suggestions- we designed our ideal kitchen and then played around with doors and appliances etc. until it fit our budget.

We do have built in appliances except for our range cooker but I can't see them thinking that would be a strange request. At the end of the day it's down to personal preference.

As they do supply the trade with kitchens they should also be able to recommend some good local fitters if you don't have one.

HTH

I went with diy-kitchens because I just couldn't face dealing with the sales people in the usual kitchen salesrooms. I was very happy with the product and the price I got.

Agree it’s an awful process. I never go anywhere the pricing isn’t completely transparent. I pay for my own design then shop around for units :)

Get a local plasterer for the walls and tiling. Use the IKEA kitchen planner to plan all the units. You can change worktops/fronts/handles etc all in one go to price compare on the shopping list it draws up for you. IKEA staff will check your plan if you want them to. You can either use their fitters, a local fitter or do it yourself.

DIY kitchens is really worth a look - they have more sizes than any other manufacturer I've seen (other than bespoke, I suppose) and come ready assembled with the doors on as well, so minimal fitting required. We've managed it ourselves no problem. Don't be put off by the name - the quality is really good, better than many others.

diy-kitchens.com/

I've also just discovered they have a kitchen planner program (which I'm working my way through for our new kitchen) here:
planner.diy-kitchens.com/plan/units/

I am not connected to them in any way, I just think they're great.:)