Häfele | ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE


One-in-five homeowners ARE planning a new kitchen


Natalie Davenport, head of marketing at Häfele UK, shares key findings from its latest Functional Spaces: Homes for Living research


to give retailers valuable insight into the changing KBB market


L Living,


ast year, Häfele UK launched Functional Spaces: Kitchens for a


study that explored


how consumers use their kitchens, their biggest pain points, and what features would improve their space, quality of life and wellbeing.


Designed to give retailers useful insights to help boost and focus sales and marketing activity, the report was well-received and valued by our customers and wider industry. Following its success, this year we’re building on the study with Functional Spaces: Homes for Living, examining changes in consumer wants and needs over the past 18 months and broadening the scope to include more areas of the home.


Strong opportunities In positive news for KBB retailers, a new kitchen was one of the home improvements that consumers said they are planning over the next two years. Second only to interior decorating, our research found that


August 2023 •


more than one-in-five homeowners (23%) are planning to upgrade their kitchen space before 2026. More


broadly, almost half of UK homeowners (45%) are planning home improvements within the next two years. Examining the


findings regionally,


hotspots for new kitchens include the East of England (30%), Southwest and Wales (both 26%), and London (25%), a close fourth.


This trend corresponds with our 2021 findings, where most


respondents


said


they


planned


Drivers and priorities Analysing


the a data kitchen, from


to


update their kitchen, on average, in the next five and a half years.


2,000


homeowners across the UK*, we also uncovered the critical motivators for changing


drivers when


planning a new one and reflections on a recent upgrade project.


One-quarter of consumers selected a style overhaul as the motivator for why they would or have updated their kitchen. Quality improvements (23%) and lack of storage (19%) were second and third on the list.


Against a backdrop of the cost-of- living crisis and rising interest rates, it’s perhaps unsurprising that budget and the overall cost was the most important factor for those who’ve recently bought or updated their kitchen (34%) and almost half of those who said they need to upgrade their kitchen are worried about the cost to do so. This figure has increased by 6% since our 2022 study. However, the drivers were more varied for those planning a future project. Almost a quarter (24%) said they would shop around to get the best functionality for their budget, and 14% said ‘function and usability’ was


Q: What, if anything, would you prioritise the most in your next kitchen?


More storage


Smarter storage (e.g., pull out corner units) to make better use of awkward spaces


Better layout The quality of the build Separate utility room/ability to shut away laundry area


31% 26%


26% 19% 15%


the second most important factor, just five percentage points behind cost and ahead of style and quality. Delving deeper into the results, more and more smarter storage solutions were selected most frequently in consumers’ top five kitchen priorities.


In terms of specific features most desired, kitchen islands topped the list at 41%, closely followed by a pantry or larder (39%) and a separate utility room or cupboard at 38%. When it comes to cabinetry internals, 31% longed-for pull-out wirework, 30% for pan drawers and 28% for corner storage. While practical choices dominated the most desired list, on-trend, luxury features like a breakfast cupboard were wanted by over a quarter of respondents (27%) and a second or spice kitchen was craved by 29%. As our findings show, while the kitchen industry has had a challenging three years for many reasons, the market, and specifically, the importance consumers place on their kitchen, remains strong. In fact, our study found that if consumers fixed the biggest issue in their kitchen, 82% felt it would improve their quality of life – a figure that’s risen by a massive 16% since our 2022 survey suggesting people are more aware of the impact that poor design has on their mental health. We hope that our research gives retailers valuable insight to help them capitalise on sales opportunities and support consumers in creating spaces that meet their evolving needs and balance function with budget and style.


Häfele’s Functional Spaces: Homes for Living report will be released later this year. Visit hafele.co.uk for more information.


15


* Conducted by Censuswide, May 2023


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