24 | Customer Focus: Kitchens
Despite these latest increases in prices from some suppliers, fitted cabinetry has been in historic decline in terms of its share of total fitted kitchen market income. Ten years ago, it comprised over 50% of market revenue. In 2023 it was down to 46.9%. “This reflects a market where the two largest players, Howden and Wren, being vertically integrated, sell cabinetry at highly cost competitive prices,” states JKMR. At the same time, however, the market value share of worktops has recovered from the 13.7% where it sat from 2019 to 2021 to 14.2%. The driver behind this, says JKMR has been partly increased production costs, but also “intrinsically higher specification in top end sales”.
Above: Howden’s current figures indicate its 2024 UK depot income was broadly stable
House owners are also tending to spend more on fitted MDAs, with their share of market value rising to 28% in 2023, up from 26.9% in 2020.
◄ not see any actual decline. New build completions also fell significantly, while wider budgetary pressures limited subsidised rental landlords’ ability to commission major block refurbishment. Legal changes further reduced the attraction of private rental as investment, while the simple fact of more tenants looking for accommodation than was available meant landlords saw no need to spend on kitchen renovation to lease their property.” The consequence was an overall drop in installations of 11.3% to 1.133 million. The more positive news though was that the drop in value of the UK ‘family home’ fitted kitchen products market (excluding fitting, tiling, lighting, heating, free-standing MDAs and partial refurb) was just 0.9% to just below £5.23bn. This, say commentators, reflected the increase in the perceived value of the
kitchen as the hub of the home, leading to householders prioritising spending on it and buying more sophisticated products. JKMR adds that the proviso here was that manufacturer selling prices (MSP) also rose as producers strove to cover rising costs, as did retail overheads. “So, it is likely that profitability will have been more challenging in their 2023 accounts for some kitchen suppliers,” says JKMR. It adds that fitted cabinetry (furniture) value, closely driven by the actual number of installations, declined 2.3%, despite price rises implemented by mass volume operators. “Worktop value was also marginally lower in 2023 than 2022, reflecting the cost competitiveness of various engineered stone materials in the mass volume sector,” says JKMR’s report.
In terms of sales by client sector in 2023, private household refurbishment continued to make ground in fitted kitchen product value. It rose to 76.9% of the UK total, up from 74.9% the year before, despite 10.5% fewer installations, translating, says JKMR into a “theoretical average per project cost” 13% higher over the year.
“Thus, outside of the absolute budget
sector, once owner-occupiers decided to buy a new kitchen, they were still willing to maximise budget to achieve their ‘dream’ look,” it says.
Despite high end dwellings being an increasing element of the new build mix, reflecting the drop in completions in 2023, new build housing’s share of the fitted kitchen product market declined to 16.7%. The value share of the market accounted for by registered social landlord kitchen installations was static at 1.9%. The kitchen market share of new build and RSL projects overall declined 5.7%, but, says JKMR, direct contract was down only 4.6%. This reflects the increasing presence in the new build market of Howden and to a lesser extent Wren (both of which it defines as indirect contract). “Both are likely to seek to grow their engagement with national large-scale developments,” it says. “This will make the overall contract sector even more price focused with a potential impact for the bottom lines of established direct contract cabinetry suppliers.”
Private rental installations contracted in 2023 to make up 4.6% of the fitted kitchen product market, one factor being the gap between demand and supply of rented property, which enables landlords to let properties at increased rent, without needing to refurbish it.
Above: Howden and Wren sell cabinetry at highly cost competitive prices PHOTO: HOWDEN TTJ | March/April 2025 |
www.ttjonline.com
When it comes to kitchen routes to market, multiple merchants, including Howdens, saw their share of market activity drop 0.4% to
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