52 | Customer Report: Kitchens
RUST AND RECLAMATION IN THE KITCHEN MIX
Kronospan got off to a buoyant start in 2020. It hosted several hundred customer visits through the last quarter of 2019 into the year to showcase its new Kronodesign Trends Collection and the latest £200m investment at its Chirk plant. The result, it reports, was very strong first quarter sales. The situation changed with lockdown in March, with all major customers closing or significantly reducing volumes. Kronospan kept manufacturing, however, supplying NHS facilities with melamine
faced products, plus laminate flooring, particleboard, MDF and OSB to busy DIY and builders merchants sectors. Then, post-lockdown through to August business recovered robustly, and the company reported a real increase from August to December. “Demand was the highest we’ve seen
for several years and all products were on allocation and extended lead times,” said UK decorative product manager Kevin Davies. “We believe this was due to people working
from home and refurbishing kitchens, studies and bedrooms to fit with new working routines.” Thanks to its latest spending in melamine
facing, Kronospan was able to increase volumes to meet demand, with sales strong across all décor groups. January 2021 started well too and, despite the third retail lockdown, the company forecasts a good year ahead. Customers report strong order books for the first quarter and a renewed sales boost is expected when restrictions are lifted. “With lack of clarity on taking holidays,
or life returning to normal soon, people are spending money on their homes,” said Mr Davies. As for latest design directions, grey and brown trends in Kronodesign Trends, which
◄ Over the summer, however, as lockdown restrictions were relaxed, the sector picked up. And, despite the second wave lockdown, it now seems business did not shrink in 2020 as much as anticipated earlier in the crisis. The prognosis for 2021 is for continued
market value improvement. Manufacturers expect pent up demand to be further unleashed as the vaccination programme rolls out and third wave lockdown rules relax. They also anticipate the kitchen continuing to be among the beneficiaries of consumers spending money on the home saved from not taking holidays during the pandemic.
With many employees predicted to stick with at least an element of the remote working imposed by the health crisis, the kitchen is expected to be a focus too in conversion of homes to combined living and working spaces.
Some kitchen manufacturers additionally see wood playing a particular role in such makeovers. Increased home-working, they say, is coinciding with accelerated growth in conscious consumerism, with the buying public increasingly focused on the environmental impact of purchases. One already discernible expression of this, say
makers, is preference for natural materials, including timber.
“There’s also evidence that consumers tend towards the traditional and natural in the wake of crises, be they economic, political or health-related,” said one kitchen designer. “After the trauma, they’re looking for comfort, reassurance and something they can rely on.” According to AMA Research, going into 2020 the kitchen furniture market (including units, worktops and sinks) was set fair, with growth “driven by growing housebuilding”. But the pandemic saw sharp contraction, “with the real damage felt from April on,
Above: A black and white zebrano centre section adds a flourish to a Stoneham island TTJ | March/April 2021 |
www.ttjonline.com
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