Want to send a kitchen unit from London to Delhi -

Vela

Hi, I want to send a complete kitchen unit to someone in Vrindavan which is about 120km from Delhi. The weight will be approximately 100kg or more.

Does anyone have experience in shipping such items or other furniture. I am especially interested in information about shipping companies and prices and Indian government custom clearance duties.

Regards
Vela

Paleface

Including the sink?? There are lots of very good kitchens available in India, in Delhi even and you can check it out on the net?

Vela

We looked around and had someone from Delhi fit a kitchen unit. And just after a year, everything is falling apart. Poor workmanship from the start and poor material and poor finish. Everything is just falling apart, doors and cupboards not aligned and the wood is just rotting. This contractor charged us an unbelievable price for this poor work - even by western standards, the price was a rip off. You could get the proper thing for half the price in the western countries.

We looked around in Delhi and on the internet and could not find anything that we would consider fair in price and quality and durability. So if you know someone or have some web-links, please share with us.

Regards
Vela

Haylo

For what it would cost to ship, you could probably have the exact same thing hand carved out of solid marble!

EDITED TO ADD: Sorry to hear of your bad experience, I have no experience with kitchen units, but I've seen handmade furniture in Delhi which has been superior in quality and a fraction of the cost of western manufactured items. Good luck finding something local, I suspect that bringing something in could be prohibitively expensive.

EDITED AGAIN TO ADD: If you are working for a UK company or the British High Commission, ask around if any new members of staff are about to relocate to Delhi with a container, it won't cost anything to add a kitchen unit to their shipment.

__________________
The world is mud-luscious and puddle-wonderful - E.E. Cummings, poet (1894-1962)

Paleface

I didn't mean a carpenter actually, knocking up something to fit - I mean world class kitchen stories are available in India, What's the budget? Where is it going in Vrindavan? MVT or an ashram - I lived in VVN many years, termites can be a problem for the wood, wherever one is located. Also you know you can get completely polished steel kitchens, Units, doors etc -

Paleface

Well I do have a reasonable amount of info as I researched it for my own place here in the hills, a lot of it is in magazines however. Try this link as I have no idea of how classy you wish to be this Godrej stuff is practical, start here -

http://www.godrej.com/GodrejNew/Godr...GH/Kitchen.htm

Vela

What's the budget? Where is it going in Vrindavan? MVT or an ashram - I lived in VVN many years, termites can be a problem for the wood, wherever one is located. Also you know you can get completely polished steel kitchens, Units, doors etc -[/quote]

Well, we paid the carpenter around RS 150,000 in total to install the last kitchen. And we have a fairly small size kitchen, approx 4X2M. He actually showed us pictures of modular kitchens and told us that this was his work. He came highly recommended from a friend in Delhi.

It is good to know that you lived in Vrindavan as well. Hare Krishna! This kitchen is for a private house and not for an ashram.

I though that here in the UK, there are some fairly reasonable priced kitchens: look at this link to get an idea.
http://www.rocksolidkitchens.co.uk/modern-kitchen.asp

These are from Rs 50,000 onwards. I thought if it is possible to get shipping and customs for around Rs 50,000 - then I could have a good quality unit for 1 lak. Most of these here are termite resistant, very durable.

But I am very favourable to purchasing local; if I can find a good deal all-round. Thanks for the link, I will look at it.

Hare Krishna
Vela

Nick-H

You can even get imported Italian kitchen stuff these days!

All I can say about Indian kitchens is that I too have far too much experience --- and that was gained just getting one kitchen fitted out . I doubt that we were hugely overcharged, spending about £5,000 on what might (guessing) have cost £20,000 in UK, but I do know all too well the bits that are not made right and the bits that might not last a lifetime. It's probably better than yours, Vela, nothing has rotted or actually fallen to bits yet, and it is about 18 months old.

The lesson that I learnt, should there ever be a next time, is that I wouldn't go for wooden construction again; I'd go for traditional brick and cement construction. You can still hang your fancy wood doors, and end up with something that looks modern, but you know it is strongly built and will support the worksurface fully. One of my beefs about my kitchen is that I am fairly certain that, if I took a walk on the granite, it would just break. I'd also check everything, and not rely on the engineer whose job it was to check everything to do so.

I'd also say (and this we did) to increase the concrete floor hight by two or three inches under the cabinets. Indian floors get sloshed, this prevents water getting under the cabinets.

But then, perhaps I should just say, 'don't get me started on Indian kitchens'!

Vela

I suspect that bringing something in could be prohibitively expensive.

Hi Haylo

This is what I am trying to find out. Any ideas on custom duties involved and how much. I could probably find someone to ship easily.

Paleface

50,000 UK sounds extremely reasonable, I haven't lived there for years so what do I know! I saw the link, of course this is all dependent on Sq. footage and what fittings, lots of variables no doubt, probably MDF, but it's one of those fill in the form things, but Yes I get the picture. Shipping, well you can get your own half container for 50,000 or so. I wasn't a member of the Iskcon Temple in VVN or anything to do with it really except on collaborative enviro-projects. And sad as the state of Yamuna and Braj environment is, the living Vaisnav culture of VVN is refined and sophisticated, after a little digging beneath the superficials.

Vela

Hi Nick, thanks for the imput.

I think £5000 is a lot of money on a kitchen. Only the upper middle class would spend that kind of money on a kitchen. The good thing here is that they cater for all different types of income groups. But all are good quality and durable. Don't get me wrong though, I love India, especially Vrindavan - faults and all.

Nick-H

If it was flat-packed for assembly, the shipping would probably not be too bad. If it is made-up furniture, then the bulk is going to make all the difference.

It has all the possibilities of damage during shipping too, and the distance by road from the nearest sea port to Delhi probably increases the likelihood of that.

I had three boxes full of stuff shipped a year ago by these people --- it was actually quite reasonable, but we had to collect from the airport and clear the customs, which was a half day work, and would have been very tough for me had it not been for my Tamil-speaking wife. Otherwise, googling for international shipping (or similar) is probably the best bet. Making phone calls often, I find, leads to people saying 'we don', but call these guys who do'. Those guys then say that they used to, but don't any longer, but try... and one eventually finds someone that does!

Nick-H

Yes, we felt, at the time, that we could afford it --- and the rest that we spent on this house .

The stainless pull-out baskets, drawers, etc came to nearly 1 lakh of that.

Oh well...

Vela

except on collaborative enviro-projects.
Hi, you could be the right person to give me advice. I am also conscious about eco-friendly living and I have been looking around for someone in India that could supply a wind turbine and solar panels for me so I could try to generate my own electricity the natural way. Do you have any ideas.

Sorry I have to leave now but I enjoyed this dialogue.

Paleface

You can start with solar hot water, evacuated tube system, great deals available - then Yamuna side in Dec/Jan can be a whiteout. Look at the fantastic deals in the US on DIY wind turbines - to be honest I don't think VVN has the constant breezes to make it worthwhile. Where is the house in VVN?