Are Wickes having a laugh?

[Panda57]

Just got a quote from wickes for a very very small kitchen. There is only 1 tall cabinet, 1 under the sink cabinet, 2 corner cabinets next to sink cabinet, small drawer cabinet and 5 wall cabinets. No appliances, only laminate worktop and a stainless steal sink in addition to the cabinets. Price 4k (this is a sale price as well, it's originally 7k). Plus trying to charge 2k for installation (no electrics or tiling involved, just removing old cabinets and putting new cabinets in the same place and putting in a new sink in the same place). Surely this is too much, especially the original price?

If you want a real laugh, try Wren!

Wren actually came in 6k under the Wickes price for us and only 1k more than Ikea. I wonder if there are regional variations?

We went with Wren in the end because the range of units and design they did we couldn’t replicate without spending mega bucks. I had heard lots of horror stories and was a bit scared but all was well and I’m in love with my kitchen!

I did a Wickes kitchen and install and love it. Yes, the install was a bit more than I could have done privately but the quality of the fit and guarantees were worth it. I had a cheaper quote from ikea for an almost identical kitchen/install and took it to wickes and was clear on my budget. After some minor adjustments they did knock enough money off to get close enough to the Ikea price and my budget. Design, deliver, customer service and fitting were all perfect.

I really hate the inflated prices with random "discounts" applied. I remember sitting in Magnet watching the chap make up the "discounts" until the whole thing came to very slightly less than a very round number and just thought "this is shit".

Wickes designed me quite a nice kitchen, but the prices were just insane - £700 "after discount" for a chipboard larder cupboard with vinyl wrapped doors. Yeah.... no.

That kitchen price sounds extortionate! So does the fitting too. Which? had a guide somewhere about kitchen fitting prices but I cannot find it at the moment but I’m sure fitting was £150-£200 a day, depending on the area where you live and a small kitchen should be about 3 days worth of work for 1 fitter. That does not include electrics, gas or any additional plumbing that the fitter cannot do though. If you look on DIY’s site here, you can price up the individual units but the prices shown do not have Vat on though

Find an installer and take a trip to howdens - you need a trade account to buy from them so your installer will let you know their account details to get a price. We are fortunate because dad has an account. No one pays the rack rate at howdens, each installer has a negotiated discount so ask when you are looking for one (we got a very special deal but normally 40% is common )

Wickes kitchens are supplied by Benchmarx (the kitchen arm of Travis Perkins) or at least they were when we bought our kitchen. If you can find a fitter with an account at Benchmarx you may be able to get exactly the same kitchen cheaper. You can look round Benchmarx but there are no prices displayed as they only sell trade and your tradesperson will decide the price they charge you.