The kbbreview Interview // Graham Johnston
Q&A
Where do you enter the Kitchens International story? It actually all started with a mystery shop. A few years ago I was being headhunted for a role at the James Donaldson Group and, as part of the process, I mystery shopped Kitchens International. At the time my wife and I were planning a major renovation, and that mystery shop ended up with us buying a KI kitchen. Little did I know that a few years later I'd be buying the business as well. I joined the Donaldson Group in 2022 and when Gerry Watson, one of KI's founders, began stepping back towards retirement, I was asked to take over the business and I probably ran KI for about a year before the conversations around a management buyout started. By then I'd got to know the business incredibly well and it really is a privilege to own it now.
What convinced you it was the right business to buy? The customer experience was phenomenal, but what really struck me was the team. This is a business that's been around for more than 30 years and
there are people here who have grown up with the company. They're incredibly passionate about the brand and that gave me huge confidence to take the business back into independent ownership. The enthusiasm from everyone has been amazing because they all see this as the start of a new chapter.
Why was now the right time for a management buyout?
The Kitchens International Advisory Board
Colette Grant Entrepreneur, business mentor and
leadership coach
One of the reasons Donaldson Group originally acquired KI was because of its contracts business. Like everyone else, that market faced significant headwinds after 2021 and, following a strategic review, the group decided to move away from that side of the market. What remained was fundamentally a retail business, and that no longer fitted the group's overall direction. I felt very strongly that KI would flourish as an independent business, so I put my hand up and offered to do a management buyout.
What changes now that KI is independent again? Fundamentally it allows us to get back to our roots. We're a design-led, people-focused luxury interiors business and now we can make decisions purely around what's right for KI. We can move as quickly or as carefully as we choose without having to fit into the priorities of a much larger organisation. That freedom means we've been able to announce ambitious growth plans almost immediately because this business deserves to reach more customers geographically. It also creates more opportunities for the people who work here and for the suppliers we've partnered with for many years. Being independently owned simply gives us much greater freedom to invest where we think it's right.
Tony Singh MBE Award-winning chef, restaurateur,
broadcaster and entrepreneur
Emma Aitken Senior marketing leader building
brands across Scotland’s luxury hospitality and professional services sectors.
Martin Ewart Business transformation,
technology and recruitment leader
You're expanding at a time when plenty of retailers are being cautious. Why? We're actually seeing a really positive market. The luxury end continues to perform well and, importantly, customers are investing in much bigger projects than perhaps they were previously. We're doing far more multi-room projects now, for example. Someone might come to us for a kitchen but then we're designing the pantry, utility room, bedrooms and bathrooms as well. Customers increasingly want one business to manage the whole project. Equally, this is a 32-year-old business, so customers who bought a KI kitchen 25 or 30 years ago are coming back. Sometimes they're buying another kitchen in a new house but quite often they're refreshing an existing kitchen because the cabinetry has stood the test of time and they simply want new doors, worktops or appliances.
Tell us about the expansion plans. We're opening a new showroom in Glasgow's West End and another in Morningside in Edinburgh, alongside a new appointment-only design studio at Orwell Farm near Loch Leven. The Glasgow showroom is particularly important because KI has had a presence in the city for more than a decade so we wanted to stay there and, although we thought it might take a year
24
kbbreview
August 2026
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