The UK fitted kitchen market is serving up positives for the timber sector.
Firstly, after contracting during peak lockdown in 2020 – although more in volume than value – kitchen sales got strongly back to growth in 2021 and continued value improvement is expected in 2022.
Secondly, kitchen makers and the home-style media say environmental considerations are increasingly shaping consumers’ kitchen purchasing decisions. All things natural are firmly in and that very much includes wood.
According to latest analysis of the fitted kitchens business by market researchers JKMR, installations fell 8% to 1.13 million in 2020.
“However, the decline was primarily felt in new build, registered social landlord and private landlord refurb sectors and a positive impact [of lockdown] was a boost in budgets in the owner-occupier sector,” it states. “Here money saved on overseas travel and leisure was reallocated to home improvement.”
Consequently, says JKMR, the fitted kitchen products market contracted a less painful 3.2% in value to £4.2bn.
After a slow start due to renewed lockdown, kitchen suppliers saw the picture change markedly through 2021.
“Projections for the year show market value up 11% to a new high of around £4.5bn,” states JKMR. “This has been driven by installation increases due to follow through of ‘lost’ 2020 activity and price rises to cover increased production and logistic costs. But it also reflects client spend per kitchen remaining on an upward trend.”
Manufacturers also report an overall increased kitchen price point.
“That’s somewhat due to pressure on material costs,” said Naked Kitchens design director Jayne Everett. “However, clients have also been happy to add items such as larders and utility rooms to kitchen orders.”
Makers say the market has continued to benefit from consumers spending money saved during the pandemic on home improvement. Home working becoming a post-Covid life choice for many is also seen driving kitchen spend.
“In the past few years, homeowners have spent more time at home than ever,” said Stoneham Kitchens managing director Adrian Stoneham. “They’ve recognised the importance of well-designed living spaces and in many cases had more time to develop project ideas for improvements or expansion. Top of the list has often been the kitchen, now more than ever the hub for cooking, dining, socialising and, of course, working, hence inclusion in projects of features such as pop-up plugs, charging and filing drawers.”
Consequently, Stoneham has been very busy through 2021 to date.
“Customer enquiries and orders have increased and we’ve seen a surge of activity on our website,” said Mr Stoneham. “Online brochure requests rose 52% from 2020 to 2021 and website users increased by 58% from 2019 to 2021.”
Naked Kitchens described 2021 as “exciting”.
“Clients were keen to undertake projects following a year of lockdown and general malaise,” said Ms Everett. “As a manufacturer not beholden to imports, we were also able to carry on business, working remotely with clients. We were very busy indeed.”
On the market split between suppliers, JKMR projects Howden’s value share rose further, from 22.85% in 2020 to 23.5% in 2021. It forecasts Magnet’s share falling from 5.4% to 5.1%, other multiples’ going from 8.1% to 8.2%, direct contracts from 9.7% to 9.4%, multiple merchants’ from 1.75% to 1.6%, specialists’ from 38.7% to 38%, Wren’s from 9.7% to 10.3% and other retail 4% to 3.9%.
“Total independent sector market value share grew in 2020, since, while small/ regional merchant trading was affected by lower construction activity, studios saw client budgets increase,” states JKMR.
“However, while specialists saw budgets rise further in 2021, their capacity for more notable value share gains was restricted by limits on volume growth and substantial growth at Wren, which is expected to have accounted for over £1 in every £10 spent in the market in 2021.”
In its forecast for what will be hot in the kitchen in 2022, magazine Living etc highlights house trees. Householders – perhaps those with a little more space than most – are bringing full-sized trees into the home. Pictures on social media show them sprouting from kitchen islands or standing alone in ceramic pots, colour-themed with units.
“Olive trees have been most popular, adding a Med-vibe,” says Living etc.
This might appear a rather esoteric kitchen fad, with little mainstream relevance. But home-style media think otherwise. They say it’s an example – albeit an extreme one – of a wider trend towards all things natural, climate and planet-friendly in the home environment. Sustainability is the buzzword in kitchen design.
Kitchens are increasingly “giving a nod to Mother Earth”, according to Woman & Home. With aspirations to sustainable living increasingly influencing consumer choice, it says, every aspect of the room will be put under a green magnifying glass. This, it sees, boosting demand for everything from A-rated appliances, to paints and stains that are both natural in colour – blues, greens, grey and “earthy purple” feature strongly – but also nature friendly and global warming unfriendly in terms of ingredients.
All of which, according to forecasters and kitchen manufacturers alike, is good news for wood. It features as the material of the moment across the home-style press, while makers are overtly expressing its natural attributes through design and finish and underlining its eco-merits.
“Nothing could exemplify nature’s ever-growing role in the kitchen more than the return of wood grain,” says Living etc. “It’s a big nod to sustainable living.”
The health crisis is seen as giving householders’ an even greater desire to bring a slice of nature into homes where they’ve been confined for so long.
“Many people reconnected with nature even more during the pandemic and want to bring it home,” said Rachel Carroll, Custom Fronts director. “Wood’s sustainability appeals to those who’ve been reminded how important preserving the environment is and who want long-lasting products with a light footprint.”
At Naked Kitchens, wood is a mainstay.
“Our heritage is from solid timber furniture and clients appreciate its sustainable qualities,” said Ms Everett. “Veneer ply cabinetry is always popular, with clients generally choosing solid timber drawer boxes with traditional dovetails.”
Oak and walnut are Naked Kitchen’s most popular species, with oak now coming out ahead.
“Clients love to use these timbers contrasted with bold colours for a timeless, elegant look, with greens now possibly nudging blues off top spot,” said Ms Everett.
Adrian Stoneham agrees that increased environmental concern is adding to wood’s attraction, although customers also choose it because of its “natural feel and because they want to create an environment that brings the outdoors indoors”.
Oak and walnut kitchens are also key sellers for Stoneham, in its case with walnut trending. “Certainly towards the last half of 2021 walnut was on the rise,” said Mr Stoneham.
“It provides rich grains and a natural warmth, but also dark tones for an instant sense of luxury. In some projects walnut forms the run of cabinetry, in others it’s used alongside other materials, such as painted timber, and we anticipate the trend to it and other dark coloured timbers will continue.”
Designer-maker Sebastian Cox reports more customers opting for entirely timber kitchens. They want furniture in “solid wood, grown and harvested responsibly and built to last”.
Sebastian Cox favours British woods and uses a wide range. “With customers we’re choosing different species for different commissions based on their properties beyond just colour; from strength and machinability, through to cost,” said Mr Cox.
Sebastian Cox has recently developed a new range for deVOL Kitchens, blending its “textural approach to using wood, with deVOL’s expertise in what works well functionally”. It’s made in British beech.
“It’s an abundant material traditionally used for kitchens, but has recently fallen out of favour,” said Mr Cox. “We wanted to invigorate it and generate demand again.”
Naked Kitchens is seeing a trend away from timber worktops to quartz and ceramic, driven by advances in processing technology for these materials. But it reports continued demand for birch ply, used for a sharp, utilitarian style of kitchen cabinetry.
“It’s been very popular for a few years and is very much favoured by architects,” said Ms Everett. “We offer it lacquered and either edge banded or with no edge banding to show the ply striations. Clients must be familiar with the mineralisation and ‘butterfly’ plugs in it, but this all adds to the industrial look.”
Consumers are increasingly quizzing manufacturers and retailers about timber’s environmental credentials and they are subsequently highlighting the material’s certified status, while Sebastian Cox emphasises local sourcing.
“Customers are becoming more aware of environmental issues,” said Mr Stoneham. “Some express an interest in solid timbers, veneers and board material composition and we have information on this on our website.”
As for the kitchen market through the rest of 2022, with economic conditions becoming tougher, particularly for lower income families, JKMR foresees some contraction in installations. “However, the fall is most likely to be sufficiently modest that it won’t prevent market value at end client buying price rising further,” it says.
And according to Lucy St George of home décor specialist Rockett St George, consumer focus on sustainability in kitchen purchasing, if anything, will intensify.
“Greenery is going nowhere,” she said. “With so many of us spending more time at home, the need to connect with the natural world through interiors is stronger than ever.”
