You wouldn’t think he’d worry about it, but pop superstar Ed Sheeran groused on BBC Radio’s Desert Island Discs about the cost of a kitchen.
“Why,” he cried, after buying one for his parents from his multi-platinum record sales, “are kitchens so expensive.”
One reason, according to the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA), is that the kitchen tends to be the room where consumers are most quality oriented. It’s the most used and comes in for most wear and tear. So people want furniture, fixtures and fittings that are well designed and robust and, while, says the NAEA, it’s not a money’s no object market, within reason, they don’t mind going expensive.
Putting numbers on it, the 2017 Kitchen Trends Report from homestyle site www. houzz.co.uk says the average UK kitchen makeover budget is now between £10,000- 25,000. Around 22% of homeowners spend between £25,000–50,000 and 10% £50,000 plus.
The added incentive for consumers to dig deeper for kitchens is that they also pay dividends. The NAEA says that a kitchen makeover is one of the top four home improvements that increases a property’s value. Property services site www. movewithus.co.uk estimates that it adds an average 6%.
Another plus point of the kitchen market to manufacturers and their materials suppliers is, while not impervious to wider economic trends, chiefly of course in construction, it is reported to ride out boom and bust more smoothly than other home product areas.
“If construction and the property sector are doing well, we benefit from an upturn in new build demand and from people replacing kitchens when they move,” said a leading home improvement retailer. “If property’s sluggish, the kitchen is what householders are most likely to renew. It makes their existing home more liveable and saleable.”
AMA Research bears this out. Its latest Domestic Kitchen Furniture Market Report, 2017 (www.amaresearch.co.uk) shows the sector growing since 2012, with the increase recently running at around 4% annually to reach £1.6bn in 2016. Brexit uncertainty may cause slight deceleration in the next couple of years, but “from 2020 the sector will return to stronger growth, topping £1.9bn in 2021”, says AMA.
The kitchen sector is also one part of the UK furniture market where imports have impacted little. AMA says they dropped from £188m in 2008 to £99m in 2011, stayed static to 2015 and dropped further in 2016. This is partly attributed to attrition in the recession among independent kitchen specialists, “the main channel for medium to top end imports”, but also to “increasing competitiveness of UK manufacturers in pricing and design innovation”.
AMA describes the kitchen market as being at a “mature stage”, with replacement accounting for 80% of sales. But clearly new build is still a key market shaper. The increase in share of the latter taken by smaller flats and apartments is reported to have dented furniture sales value. But against that increasingly popular bigger kitchen diner areas generally entail a bigger spend.
And expansion in construction overall in recent years has, said one kitchen supplier, “floated all boats”.
According to Andrew Laidler, UK director for decorative sales at panel products giant Egger, new build has, in fact, recently been the main market driver for its kitchen manufacturer customers, with trading conditions “a little tougher in independent retail”.
“Housing starts are now circa 145,000 annually,” he said. “Volumes are also being increased by growth in student accommodation build and refurbishment.”
Routes to market have also been evolving. The share held by multiple furnishing groups dropped sharply with the demise of MFI, and since then merchant share has risen strongly thanks to the rise of trade-only supplier Howdens Joinery. This trend looks set to continue, with the latter reporting a further 4.5% rise in revenue to £553m in the first half of 2017 and opening another 11 depots, taking its total to 653, with another 19 following in the second half.
A developing market trend, says AMA, is consumer use of online suppliers, like DIY Kitchens (www.diy-kitchens.com) and design platforms, such as Houzz, which brings buyer, manufacturer, designer and installer together.
But sales of kitchens with installation included are also predicted to grow, with IKEA, B&Q, Wickes and Homebase all promoting this service, and Howdens trade-only approach bolstering it further.
Wickes goes ‘glamily’
According to Wickes, the form and function of the kitchen has changed in recent years, and it’s responded with more range launches and a greater variety of styles and options.
“Customers’ demands for kitchens are now really diverse, and we’re constantly updating our range to reflect this,” said head of kitchens Michael Osborne. “Last year, we launched four new ranges, including a range of styles and design elements to suit different lifestyles, from young couples to busy families. The trend to create a stylish functional, versatile space to suit the demands of modern life continues at pace, with ‘broken-plan’ using design elements to break up the kitchen into distinct living spaces; and ‘glamily’, focused on balanced space for family living.”
Wickes is also catering for growing bespoke demand, with different elements customers can add to tailor a kitchen to their precise needs, including bars and pet sleeping areas.
Smaller Independents
The big players are not having it all their own way, however. Smaller independent kitchen makers and retailers may have suffered in the recession, but say the growing diversity of the kitchen market and consumers’ increasing desire for unique touches or something bespoke, are strengthening their hand.
“We have the design versatility to target various sectors of the market,” said Katie Gladman at Naked Kitchens (www. nakedkitchens.com), which enables customers to build bespoke kitchens based on core contemporary, Shaker and classic styles. “For us 2018 is looking strong.
Sinead Trainor, kitchen category manager at LochAnna Kitchens (www. lochannakitchens.co.uk) is also upbeat. “Last October was our record sales month and February’s been fantastic – we’re looking forward to the year ahead, which we believe will be about increasing kitchen personalisation.”
Design Directions
If one word sums up kitchen design in recent times, it’s “colourful”. Painted and stained cabinets, or with coloured coatings have been “110% on trend” as one manufacturer put it. Finishes have ranged from translucent paints, stains and washes letting timber grain show through, to opaque shades, from pastels to neons. Clear lacquered and oiled “natural” wood wasn’t totally overshadowed, but played more of a bit part, in worktops, islands and fixtures, such as handles.
Now, said Matt Prall of Papilio (https:// wearepapilio.co.uk), change is in the air. “We’re now seeing natural timber finishes coming through more strongly, perhaps with shots of colour, but also on their own,” he said. “Homeowners are more mindful of materials and using natural materials in particular, so stone, marble and especially wood. It can be used for everything from statement wall veneers to unique cabinetry and shelving. The use of high quality wood to create statement rooms is going to be big.” Egger has a similar message.
“Using rustic, distressed and authentic timbers with contemporary finishes is an emerging trend and surface texture is increasingly important in wood grain decors. Consumers want surfaces that are indistinguishable from the original,” said Elliott Fairlie, Egger UK and Ireland head of decor management.
He added that the Feelwood decors in the EGGER Decorative Collection feature synchronised pore technology, aligning texture and print for an ultra realistic finish.
Overall oak, and white oak especially, remains the kitchen timber of choice, say producers, but the market is becoming more species-diverse too. Consumers want their materials choice to differentiate their kitchen, said a producer, and modern technology, notably augmented reality apps, enables them to see a greater range and envisage how they’ll look in the home, encouraging them to be bolder.
John Lewis highlights the trend by using an imposing “springfield dark oak” range for its new kitchen brochure cover. It includes a dark walnut too, a species which Matt Prall sees becoming increasingly ubiquitous in 2018, along with more “characterful” timbers, including pippy elm.
Stoneham has also seen a resurgence in demand for bolder shades and grains, including pippy and burr oak. “Painted oak, with enhanced grain, is also popular, as is rich walnut specified for complete rooms or in combination with painted high gloss facades,” said managing director Adrian Stoneham. “We’re also using accent veneers such as zebrano, macassar and pippy poplar.”Naked Kitchens also predicts growing variety in the £200m UK worktop market. Oak and walnut are still its best sellers, but it offers US cherry, ash and maple too.
Tropical timber is also featured prominently by a number of kitchen makers, principally for worktops. Naked Kitchens offers mahogany, sapele and iroko, emphasising their combination of aesthetic and resilience.
John Lewis also includes an iroko worktop in its latest range, and tropical species also appeal to Papilio’s Matt Prall.
“They can provide really interesting design twists,” he said. “Zebrano, for instance, is a fun, playful wood.”
Judging by their websites and brochures, where they feature prominently, wood kitchens are also increasingly teamed with wood flooring, with John Lewis’s 2018 brochure including light, white-washed, and dark oiled oak and Naked Kitchens offering oak and walnut.
In terms of carcassing materials, manufacturers, even at the top end, say, while they’ll provide a solid wood product – sapele, tulipwood and beech got a mention – they tend to direct customers to solid frames with panels in veneered or engineered sheet materials, chiefly high density MDF or Scandinavian birch ply, because of their stability in hot, damp kitchen climates. Both Papilio and Naked Kitchens use the ply and make the uncovered edges a design statement. It suits the ‘industrial’ strand in kitchen design, and “just looks good in is own right”, said Matt Prall.
Timber won’t have it all its own way in the kitchen in future, say producers. Again, they maintain, augmented reality apps will make consumers more daring in choosing innovative materials. Super hard compressed paper worktops are one coming trend, apparently.
But the consensus is that wood will remain core to the market, particularly since an increasing trend will be age adaptation. As the population gets older, kitchens, say suppliers, will be remodelled to changing physical requirements, with wood expected to be the material of choice for this segment. Which also means Ed Sheeran has more expenditure on his parents’ kitchen to come.
