Is this 1-1/8 ct tw 14K White Gold Diamond Engagement Ring from Kay Jewelers a good deal at $4,875? If you’re in love with that very design, maybe. (But see my comments on the Clarity and Color below.) You can actually get an equally beautiful design, with a better diamond, for $3,027 (earth-created) or for $2,417 (lab-created).
That means you’ll save $1,848. Or you’ll save $2,458.
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The Kay Jewelers offer: $4,875
This ring is Kay Jewelers item number 993054319.
You can see it live at Kay, until or unless it sells out.
James Allen offers a ring with the same or better diamond specs for $3,027 (earth-mined) or $2,417 (lab-created)
Earth-mined for $3,027:
Lab-created for $2,417:
Yet again, James Allen has the better deals.
You’re saving at least $1,848, and up to $2,458.
How to get the James Allen deals
At Kay, you just add the ring to your cart and check out. No problem.
But it’s kind of telling. You don’t get a lot of choice. And you certainly don’t get to examine the diamond before you buy online.
At James Allen, you select a ring, which comes with accent diamonds in this case. Then you select a center diamond.
Sounds a little “expert” level. But it’s not. It’s the way diamonds should be sold. And it’s so easy.
Here’s how to get these deals (or very similar deals) at James Allen:
1. Select this 14K white gold setting for $1,747.
2. For an earth-mined diamond similar to the competitor’s offer, go to my pre-set James Allen diamond search results and select a diamond from the first 2 or 3 diamonds in the list.
(James Allen diamonds are unique, so I can’t of course send you straight to a specific diamond. It would sell out quickly.
Also, of course the inventory is always changing, so you may see slightly different prices when you search.)
3. For even greater savings, click the “Lab-Created Diamonds” filter. (Use my pre-set Lab-Created Diamonds search results.)
The specs on the diamonds in this price compare, quickly explained
Diamond Certificate
It’s unclear what lab or entity graded or certified the diamond in this Kay deal.
I recommend never buying a diamond without a certificate from GIA, IGI, or AGS. The reason? They’re the most trusted. Diamonds they grade are very widespread in the industry. There’s just no real excuse, from my point of view as a connoisseur of diamond deals, not to have an expensive diamond graded by one of these widely trusted labs. It’s all about industry transparency, for me.
The James Allen earth-created diamond has a GIA certificate. That’s probably the best respected diamond grading lab in the world.
The lab-created diamond from James Allen in this comparison has a certificate from IGI, which is another very well respected diamond grading lab.
Shape
All three diamond rings in this contest have Round Brilliant Cut diamonds. As you probably know by know, this is the cut of diamond which is performs the best for brilliance and fire. (As long as it is cut skillfully. See Cut Quality, below.)
Carats
All three diamonds — Kay’s, and the two I’m using to demonstrate from James Allen — are 3/4-Carat center diamonds.
The Kay diamond has 0.375-carats worth of accent diamonds. (That’s 3/8 of a carat.)
The two James Allen examples both use the same setting. And that setting has a total of 0.46-carats worth of accent diamonds. (That’s very slightly more than the Kay accent diamonds total. But the difference in visual terms is virtually nil.)
In my opinion, the differences in carat totals (less than 0.10) is not important, although the James Allen ring has a clear win here.
Clarity
The Kay Jewelers diamond is of I1-Clarity.
The earth-created James Allen diamond I chose to compare is i1-Clarity as well.
That’s um, pretty bad Clarity. Don’t buy any diamond with I1-Clarity. Use your savings from the less expensive deals at James Allen to bump up the clarity of the diamond you select.
I compare with an I1-Clarity diamond here at James Allen vs Kay just to show an apples to apples comparison.
The James Allen lab-created diamond I chose to compare with is SI2-Clarity.
Even SI2-Clarity is kind of questionable. You’d want to visually inspect your diamond using the 3D imaging at James Allen. Try to find one that looks pretty god. (You can visually inspect, on super zoom, the exact diamond you’re about to add to your cart.)
You can’t do that at Kay. You’re buying blind.
Color
The color of the Kay diamond is I-Color.
The color of the earth-created James Allen diamond is H-Color. Which is getting into more respectable diamond color.
The color of the lab-created diamond at James Allen is G-Color. Which is obviously even better.
Cut Quality
Kay says nothing about cut quality. They haven’t said anything about it any of the deals I’ve ever looked at from them. Which is a big red flag for me, now that I’m paying close attention to Kay deals. I’m truly surprised.
Cut Quality is maybe the most important grade of a Round Brilliant Cut diamond. The whole point of a Round Brilliant Cut is to sparkle as much as possible. And that is determined almost wholly by Cut Quality.
The cut quality grades of the James Allen diamonds are Excellent cut (for the GIA-certified earth-created diamond) and Ideal for the the IGI-certified lab-created diamond.
That means either of these diamonds will sparkle like the Milky Way from the top of Mount Everest.
James Allen has the clear win here.
Conclusion: This Kay Jewelers diamond is not a good deal, even if it’s “on sale.” James Allen offers two better deals, as shown in the hard numbers and screen shots on this page.
And once again, that’s my opinion. But it’s backed up by hard numbers.
The James Allen offers win again.
If you saw a James Allen diamond you loved in this deal, buy it asap. They’re unique. They’re offered as unique items for sale. There’s not a “stock” of the “same diamond.”
But don’t panic. The inventory is so great at James Allen (well over 100,000 diamonds), and their search filters are so useful (once you get to know them a little), you’ll certainly find a diamond you love at a price you also love.
It’s easy to get great deals on better diamond jewelry — for less money! Here’s how:
- Scroll up to the section on “How to Get the James Allen Deals.”
- Follow the easy directions there.
- Feel 100% confident that you bought the best diamond for the money
How to search this site to save up to tens of thousands of dollars at trusted diamond retailers, vs most any Costco, Kay, Jared, or Zales ring you’re considering
Search and save. You could save enough for a new compact car. Or a honeymoon. Or several expensive dinner dates. Or that guitar you’ve been wanting.
Read this very short note on how easy it is.
