Renting furniture not Kitchens

This blog is/was about my tryst with modular kitchens. But the tryst now seems to extend to other furniture required for the new house. Since the only essential furniture missing from our collection is a wardrobe, we have been trying to look at options. As usual, I am not fond of most of what I see around. The ones that catch my fancy are going to eat into the budget for other items. Also there is the dilemma of "to hire an interior designer or not". Since I am aware that few areas of the house will have complicated carpentry and decor, I am in favour of hiring a designer who can deal with the carpenters and anybody else. However, many interior designers  prefer a full turnkey project as opposed to working on few specific areas. So the conflicts continue and dear partner thinks the easy way out, is to invest in nothing at all till we are decided and have greater liquidity.  I haven't disagreed but that hasn't stopped me from doing my homework or getting aggressive with my short-term investments.

Copyright : Furlenco

Nevertheless, quite some time back, I  came across a 'startup' for renting out furniture, Furlenco, when it was possibly still named as RentUrDuniya . These days, the term startup seems to be used very freely and I am not too keen when people use this term to define new companies that provide existing solutions with a user interface. However, the world doesn't care for my opinions or for Neil Blumenthal's opinion ( co-CEO and co-founder of Warby Parker) . Neither do venture capitalists and their assorted ilk who pour in truckloads of money to hedge their investments and make sure that they do not miss out on the next big thing. 

Irrespective of definitions and reasons behind funding, what actually matters in the real

Copyright : Furlenco

world is whether something is useful and I think Furlenco is. It helps to solve a common problem in  cities like Bangalore which is home to increasing number of students, professionals and expats. If they do things correctly and deliver great customer experience from start to end in terms of product and service they should turn out to be very successful. Right now Furlenco offers limited furniture in Living, Dining, Bedrooms and I am hoping they increase the categories and specifics ( remember I needed a wardrobe). I thought I read about an experience centre or something like that but I can't seem to find that info again. However, the pricing is worth testing it out and if the furniture turns out 90% like what it appears on the website then, my not so low expectations will be met. 

Copyright : Pepperfry

The catty comment on the gap between seeing the furniture on websites vs seeing the furniture in real life is from my own experience. After furniture buying moved online, lazy souls like myself heaved a sigh of relief. Nice furniture at okayish prices, in fact some seemed to be a steal at the prices they were advertised. So I spent time gazing on UrbanLadder, Pepperfry and FabFurnish. Recently I managed to visit a small retail store of FabFurnish and realized with deep sadness in my heart, that a lot of the furniture on display aren't as nice as they appear on the websites. A lot, not all. Any bias towards UrbanLadder is due to their well-designed website which has limited number of options ( choice overwhelms and confuses users ) and also because I feel they have taken the time to scale up well too.

Anyhow, I am digressing. Coming back to rentals, Furlenco isn't the first company to offer rentals. There are plenty of shops in Frazer Town, Shivajinagar where you can do the same. If you prefer shopping online, then some companies like Home Essentials,  RentalWala ( not only furniture), Rentongo, RFC Rentals, Rentech Designs also provide an interface for customers. I am yet to come across modular kitchens that are rented out though I don't see why some enterprising team/company can't make it work; especially since modular kitchens on display can be bought off ( and at discount ) if they match your general layout or if you can make it work.

If you have used any furniture rental company, it would be helpful to know about your experience.

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Gilma Spagnolia - Now at Discount!

Courtesy: Gilma Modular Kitchens

I visited the Gilma Spagnolia modular kitchen showroom at Indiranagar the second time. A big difference since the last time I visited it. Unlike before, they have an adept sales person who is not overtly pushy but helpful enough; a far cry from the lady I met previously. But less about the lady and her faux pas and more about the kitchens.

There are few kitchens on display with different finishes and configurations. The showroom is smaller than other brands and hence the number of kitchens on display is also lower. The positive effect of this is lesser confusion. I remember getting very confused at the Veneta Cucine and Nolte showrooms when I visited them. GilmaSpagnolia sells Italian kitchens (Spagnolia is their Italian brand) and Indian kitchens. The Indian kitchens are locally manufactured in India while the Italian kitchens are imported totally. Prices of Indian kitchens are obviously lower. I think starting price for a 10 X 8 kitchen was quoted at `3 Lakh for an Indian kitchen and `4.5 Lakh for an Italian kitchen. 

However, if you want lot of variety and colors, then the Italian kitchens are a better bet.

Courtesy: Gilma Modular Kitchens

There are a wide variety of finishes like glossy lacquer, membrane (includes a PVC foil over the MDF without edge banding), glass and wood. The doors have soft closing and better finishes.Very typically, the kitchen with a wood finish is designed in a typical country style and similar chimneys. I can’t remember the exact pricing but it is probably around `8 Lakh without appliances. While I loved most of the Italian kitchens on display, the bigger kitchens caught my fancy. One of them was a black glossy lacquer with a curved island, white glossy lacquer with a huge island and a dark wooden laminate one.

For people interested in buying a kitchen soon, the renovation of the GilmaSpagnolia showroom would be an interesting opportunity. The kitchens on display would be available at a considerable discount. In fact quite a few modular kitchen brands sell their kitchens on display at a discount. I am aware of Hacker and Nolte and now Gilma is a revelation. Of course, this will work for you only if the measurements of your kitchen space are comparable and the cabinets can be mapped into your kitchen layout.

The proof of the pudding is in the eating and in case of modular kitchens, it depends on the product and the service (design efforts, installation and after sales). While the designs and colors of the kitchens are attractive, I wasn’t very impressed with the shelving material in few of the kitchens (laminate and membrane). One can get an idea of the service from checking out  Mouthshut.com or inquiring with their past customers. The latter is preferred because most of us do not take the time to write a glowing review if satisfied. However this particular review on Mouthshut is probably enough to scare one away.

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