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Kitchen Equipment | When is an oven not an oven?
Answer: When
it isn’t what you thought 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 to 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
beforehand – go into the large appliance stores and ask for their advice.
Collect catalogs. Research what’s new on the market. Have a look at the 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 realize 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 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 generalization, you’re better off buying your own kitchen equipment – the
ones you want from a specialist – but not until after you finalize 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.
