Kitchen
Secret #15
When is an oven not an oven???
Answer:
When it isn’t what you though you were getting.
Worse still,
you might not even have planned what you wanted.
The strange thing
is, when somebody’s buying a new pair of shoes, they generally try on
quite a few pairs before they even consider making a purchase. The scary
thing is that a new kitchen costs 100 times more. You need to do the
boring thing and ‘break down’ the kitchen into its individual components
– you need to make sure that every ‘bit’ is right for you.
A kitchen designer
will put the ‘bit’ in that’s the cheapest option. It’s natural for you,
the customer to get enthused about the design for your new kitchen –
to be tempted to make an emotionally led decision regarding a purchase.
The designer cannot bring oven samples to your house though. The additional
problem that he has is if he shows you too many pictures of kitchen
equipment, the selling process from his standpoint will get ‘bogged
down’ – you won’t be able to make a firm decision
‘on the night’ about the appliances required and the designer’s chance
of making a sale at the same time goes down the drain.
So what can the
designer do? Simple. Make sure that the customer chooses one of two
options. Either they take one of the ‘basic’ oven packages – one of
the ones in the ‘half price sale’, or they get their own oven. If a
designer establishes that a customer hasn’t made a decision on the particular
piece of kitchen equipment that they would like, all he has to do is
ensure that they make a decision before the price is presented.
What the designer
can do in this instance is make sure that the customer knows approximately
what they will be spending on their own oven.Also, the customer has
to be extremely confident that the designer has the ability to advise
them on the exact size of space that their oven is going take up in
the new kitchen. Then, and only then will the customer consider conducting
business with the kitchen company in advance of purchasing their own
appliances.
Possibly one of
the most logical ways of you being involved in the design of your own
kitchen is to consider the types of appliances that are best for your
lifestyle before hand – go into the large appliance stores and ask for
their advice. Collect catalogues. Research what’s new on the market.
Have a look at Internet costs. There are always websites available offering
you the appliance that you require.  The
unscrupulous kitchen designer might however tell you that he can get
the best possible appliance for you at an incredible price due to a
‘limited promotional quantity of stock’ that they have been given by
their supplier. The unscrupulous designer might then after he ‘wins’your
contract realise that he has two choices – either make sure that the
customer gets the special oven that was offered and takes a big hit
on his commission -
OR puts the product
ID number of the more basic oven model on the contract, giving the him
his full level of commission.
A customer who signs
for a contract with the wrong product ID number on it is in a poor position.
And the designer doesn’t care. He’s never going to see the customer
again. The argument is between the customer and the company. The company
in time will probably either bend to the side of the customer or cancel
the contract though. The negative publicity just isn’t worth the hassle.
As a generalisation,
you’re better off buying your own kitchen equipment – the ones you want
from a specialist – but not until after you finalise the design for
the kitchen.
An oven is the heart
of a kitchen. It can get used for many hours a day, seven days a week.
Customers often tend to buy the cheapest one available though. The static
electric model still sells far too many units. Have one if you want
one – but make sure that you make the decision and not the designer.
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