Sat 1 Mar 2008
Kitchen couture
Following hot on the heels of the fashion catwalks, 2008's kitchens are all about high colour and deep, dramatic woodgrains. Linda Grabham reports on an industry that's coming out of the shadows when it comes to colour.According to Magnet's Kitchen Trends report 2008, the cost of a kitchen has risen, on average, by ten per cent in the past five years. Even in the past 12 months, it established home owners are putting greater importance than ever on the look and design of their kitchen and are seeking more expensive materials and finishes. While the contract market will always demand tighter margins than consumer, manufacturers and developers alike agree that the amount of budget allocated for the kitchen within new-builds is growing in-line with the high street. Besides lifetsyle demands, Nobilia GB director Keith Barker also highlights the continued competitiveness of the housing industry, particularly the shortage of affordable development land, as key to increased kitchen spend. "As the market continues to get tighter, more money will be spent on kitchens in order to have an advantage over competitors," he explains. Inflation, rising labour costs and raw materials costs are also affecting the price of kitchens, which leads to the question: what are today's developers getting for their money?
The answer is 'plenty'. Once the less exciting sibling of consumer kitchens - the wall-flower of the family, so to speak - today's contract market is really getting its act together in terms of fashion-led design and added-value functionality. Looking first at those all-important design trends, it becomes clear that contract kitchens are really pulling out the big guns. White, cream, and beige gloss finishes are still going to represent the lion's share of the market, purely due to mass appeal, but developers are increasingly recognizing the design potential of 'accent' doors in more striking finishes such as zebrano, wenge and even eye-poppingly zesty limes, oranges and yellows. For example, Rational's latest addition to its Cambia range boasts a striking horizontal veneered laminate called Damson, which has a slightly purplish hue, while Moores has added green, orange, black and red gloss MFC doors to its Moderna range, and Symphony's `Mirari brand has pushed the design boundaries even further with an innovative new concept called Individual. These funky printed panels utilise an exciting new technology that allows pictures to be printed directly on to door frontals and glass splashbacks, providing developers with a fresh way to create personalised kitchens for their customers using trendsetting imagery. "Four stylish designs have been selected to showcase the versatility and scope of the graphics available; a stylised floral tracery in black and apple green; a fresh meadow inspired image; a bold blue swirl design and an abstract of an oriental parasol with a spiraling pattern in red, white and black," explains Kathleen Lyon, marketing manager for Symphony's Building Division.
On the timber front, dark species are widely predicted to be the hottest finish within the contracts market for 2008, either on their own or again as part of a mixage with paler finishes. "We are definitely seeing a surge in popularity in natural wood, in dark, sumptuous colours. Whereas these used to be seen as heavy and overpowering, the new trend in dark timber such as teak, ebony and rich walnut couldn't be further away. Walnut works well in both contemporary and traditional kitchens. What is important is the quality of the grain and a glamorous, luxurious feel," says Paula Morris, marketing manager of Sigma 3, which supplies PWS kitchens to developers. Indeed, Scottish-based supplier, Kitchens International, has recently installed a mix of dark timber and white gloss doors in Treetops Developments' Axis project in Craigleith, Edinburgh, which have provided a really strong impact and is helping to put this retro development on the map.
As well as demanding more in terms of aesthetics, modern developers are also looking for more in terms of volume, with kitchen units increasingly creeping into other living spaces in the house. "There is an increasing trend to incorporate other aspects of family life (such as dining, entertaining and watching TV) into the kitchen and many properties now boast large open-plan kitchen/family/dining rooms where all this takes place. So much is this a trend, we are even seeing large property developers deliberately omitting dining rooms when constructing large properties," explains Robert Adams of Savills' Esher office. William Ball has now added what it calls 'open-plan living' furniture to its portfolio, which features doors from five of its most popular kitchen ranges so that developers can achieve a completely coordinated feel between the kitchen and living areas. "The smaller size of properties means that offering this extra storage can really boost the desirability of a property, especially for first time buyers who may be stretching their budgets and have nothing left over for furniture," says Terry Ball, md of William Ball.
Besides the general trend towards open-plan kitchens, which will again continue unabated in 2008, one of the latest revolutions in kitchen planning is the use of mid-height and full-height units that are quickly replacing the traditional wall-unit. This helps add a fresh new design dimension to kitchens and can often result in a higher volume of usable storage space. For example, a bank of mid-height units with eye-level appliances horizontally positioned, will keep all storage within easy reach and the top of the unit can be used as a display feature with lighting incorporated. Tall, floor-to-ceiling food larders are also very functional, especially if internal wirework is used to provide clear visibility of all contents. Compared to the traditional wall-unit, which often has top shelves that are unreachable by many, these new layouts have ease of access at the fore and also have a greater resemblance to living furniture, thus enhancing the whole cooking-living-dining ethos of modern homes. "People are entertaining at home more and they need space around the kitchen area to do so, hence even more open plan living. This can be challenging as kitchens then need to look more like furniture than a kitchen. Our Lux kitchen is a popular choice for developers as it lends itself very well to the open-plan look," explains Barker of Nobilia GB.
If the value placed on kitchens has increased in the last decade, word on the street is that this trend is set to continue. As buyers feel the crunch of high interest rates they will not be as willing as before to rip out a new kitchen because it is not to their taste, which has long been a popular option when faced with low quality units. "For this reason, new-build buyers will demand more expensive, higher quality kitchens than before and will be looking for a kitchen they can live with long term, rather than a quick-fix solution," predicts Lara Quie, director of Sola Kitchens, which has recently been established to import high quality Swedish kitchens to the UK. With developers and homeowners alike giving the kitchen a higher profile within properties, so specifiers and kitchen designers must stay on top of up-coming trends and create wow-factor designs that will pull in the crowds. "Not too long ago the use of a fitted kitchen in a new house was a selling factor in itself. Now the time has come where the banal cabinet of standard design must be replaced by innovative, design-led cabinetry and the highest quality materials," concludes Nick Grunfeld, MD of Parlour Farm Kitchens in Cirencester.First published in Show House Magazine March 2008.
The greatest care has been taken to ensure accuracy but some information contained within this article may have changed since it was first published.
Posted by Linda Grabham
in Alno, Boffi, Caple, Chalon, Inside Out, Kitchens International, Moores, Neil Lerner, Nolte, Oikos, Poggenpohl, Rational, Sigma 3, Symphony, Theobald's, William Ball on Sat 1 Mar 2008
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