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Kitchen Special: Keeping Up Appearances

Posted 11 April 2020 by Gill Oliver

Kitchen technology remains important but styling still reigns supreme for many consumers. Gill Oliver looks at trends...

We may be spending more time in our kitchens than we'd like at the moment. But take the opportunity to look around and get to know it, with kitchen companies offering great options to UK housebuilders. Buying brand new means a brand new kitchen.

While technology remains important in the kitchen, styling still reigns supreme for many consumers. Gill Oliver looks at the trends currently tempting buyers.

Fisher & PaykelFisher & Paykel

There’s a delicious irony that the more time we spend in our kitchens, the less we want them to look or feel like somewhere we cook and clean-up. Of course, we want technology to make our lives easier, we just don’t want it to be on show.

The research findings of Yorkshire-based kitchen designer and manufacturer Moores Furniture Group broadly back this up. Established 70 years ago and with a reputation for craftsmanship, the company supplies housebuilders and developers for both private and affordable housing schemes. Head of product development, Andrew Story, says the company’s most recent product upgrades and launches focus on the dual trends of super-organisation and minimalism, driven by influencers such as celebrity organiser expert Marie Kondo and Instagrammer Mrs Hinch.

“This is what prospective buyers want to see when they step into their dream kitchen,” he says. As an example, he points to the company’s Olika kitchen collection, designed to meet demand for a ‘modern retro look’. “We are seeing an increase in popularity for this look – especially from millennials and first-time buyers who are inspired by what they see on Instagram and in design and lifestyle magazines.”

Michel Roux JrMichel Roux Jr

The Olika kitchen was also inspired by the ‘slow living movement,’ which taps into sustainable, local, organic and wholesome issues. Moores also has a deal with Michelin star chef Michel Roux Jr (above) to market its Roux kitchen range and Story says the firm looked to some of the world’s best restaurants for inspiration, along with the clean lines of Nordic influences. Accordingly, the Roux kitchen is chock-full of premium appliances and convenience features such as a deep-set sink and hot tap. But in line with the need for the kitchen to be everything to everyone at all times, other key aspects include subtle, integrated lighting, which can be adjusted to match the occasion. There are also storage solutions any organiser expert would be proud of, including floor-to-ceiling larders, deep drawers and bi-fold units.

Fisher & PaykelFisher & Paykel

Helen Haider, head of marketing at appliances company Fisher & Paykel, echoes this need for simplicity, pointing out how important it is for housebuilders and architects to specify kitchens with products and appliances that make our lives easier.

“Our busy schedules do not allow time for us to read a user-manual and we want to be able to use an appliance straight away,” she says. “We design for real people and for how they live. We ensure all the design innovations go into our products, but the interface stays simple and intuitive.”

Fisher & PaykelFisher & Paykel

And although appliances, especially big ones, have to look good, people also really care what’s inside, according to Haider. She cites Fisher & Paykel’s ActiveSmart technology in its fridge and freezer range. It’s a control system that anticipates future use, by sensing environmental conditions and understanding how someone uses their fridge. Not only can it analyse and adjust temperature, airflow and humidity, it will also rapidly chill new items to a safe temperature and quickly freeze foods to retain moisture.

In the company’s latest fridge-freezers, the temperature in just one of the compartments can be adjusted between pantry, fridge and chill mode in the fridge and soft-freeze, freeze and deep-freeze in the freezer. Thus, different compartments can be run at different temperatures, making the appliance more energy efficient.

Meanwhile, Haider says products and designs that appeal to both old and young will continue to be sought-after, as multigenerational homes are likely to become more popular, not least because younger generations may struggle to get on the property ladder until much later in life.

When looking at future-proofing the kitchen, it’s crucial to think about ergonomic, easy-to-use appliances, she points out. An example is Fisher & Paykel’s DishDrawer dishwasher in a drawer, engineered to pull open and shut smoothly and deliberately designed so there’s need to bend down, or kneel to use it.

“It is not only high-tech products that consumers will want in the future kitchen, but also appliances that make us feel good,” she says.

SymphonySymphony

Symphony is one of the UK’s largest privately owned fitted furniture manufacturers, with a turnover of more than £250m. With almost 1,800 staff across three sites in Yorkshire, it supplies kitchens, bedrooms and bathrooms nationally and exports to 20 countries. Customers include private developers, social housing providers and independent retailers. Its kitchen, bedroom and bathroom brands include the Laura Ashley Kitchen Collection.

The company sees kitchen trends as starkly divided between two main design schools. The first is a simple Shaker-style, timeless feel, as evidenced by Symphony’s new Princeton Shaker range in colours such as indigo and pearl grey. In contrast, the industrial trend is characterised by simple styling and muted colours but with metallic accents and matt-finish accessories.

SymphonySymphony

Brass handles, trims and other accessories are popular, as is matt black. This is reflected in Symphony’s new range of matt-black handles, linear trims, open-framed shelving units and black-framed glass wall units. It also recently launched its 2020 Urban range in smooth and textured concrete, pebble and concrete finishes. The company’s designers believe colours will remain simple and muted with warm greys but it also predicts a move to darker colours, such as indigo and bottle green.

Oxfordshire-based contract furniture designer and manufacturer Whiteleaf, supplies to residential developments, including build to rent, PRS and student accommodation. According to managing director Ben Algate, technology’s not the main driving factor for its developer and housebuilder clients.

“It’s about trying to move away from a kitchen being a kitchen,” he says. “People are moving away from the standard layout. Kitchen design within developments became quite boring and it was always the safe and non-offensive route that people went down.”

Algate is seeing strong demand for Shaker-style doors and a move back towards handled units, rather than handleless: “A big developer I’m working with recently said to me: ‘Think Shoreditch or Soho Farmhouse’. That’s the kind of look they’re going for.

“A lot of the feedback we get from designers within these big developers is you can’t get away with a boring, bog-standard kitchen anyone could go into Wickes and buy. The end-user wants something a bit different, quirky and unique.”

He also points to the continued popularity of build to rent, where when someone signs a six-to-eight-year lease they’re often making the same decisions as if they were buying.

“Gone are the days of ‘It’s a rental property, so I’ll only live here for a year. I couldn’t care less’,” Algate says. He also highlights that BTR’s all about the lifespan, meaning anything, including technology, that dates too quickly is a potential liability. With most of these buildings on six-to-eight-year cycles before being sold on, there’s a need to lessen exposure.

“Is whoever buys it going to have to come in and change all the worktops and appliances? Because if so, that will be knocked off the sale cost,” he points out.

“We’re not being asked for boiling water taps, or advanced technology, or even steam ovens,” Algate continues. “The technology that goes in is the same technology we were asked for 10 years ago, because it’s still about design and look. People don’t even ask if there are wireless chargers.”

WhiteleafWhiteleaf

Whiteleaf has worked with many major developments in the UK’s biggest cities during the past 18 months and Algate says he’s constantly in conversations with big players ranging from Barratt Homes, EcoWorld and McAlpine to Development House and Taylor Wimpey.

“Not on one occasion has someone asked me: ‘Is there an ice-maker? Can we make sure that’s included? Is there a cooling drawer?’” he says.

Whiteleaf has a scheme for Berkeley Homes in Chelsea in the pipeline: “It’s bang-on, very expensive plot values and they’ve not asked for a cooling drawer,” Algate points out. “What they’re interested in is: ‘Can we get a piece of natural stone wall? Can we have these specific materials in the kitchen? The appliances haven’t even been discussed, beyond a combination oven, induction hob, extractor and fridge-freezer.

“It’s still mainly about: ‘What does it look like? What are the finishes and what are the styles?’ The other stuff doesn’t even come into it.”

SymphonySymphony

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