February 2012
K&B business news
Bringing you the inside stories straight from your industryread more...
Kitchen newcomers
We reveal the latest designsread more...
Kitchen retailer case study
Light fantasticKent-based Fiesta Kitchens was tasked with transforming the Howard family’s small, dated kitchen into a bright, open-plan cooking and entertaining space
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Kitchen special report Wine coolers
License to chillA hi-tech wine cabinet is the must-have statement appliance for consumers who love design and wine in equal measure
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Kitchen retailer profile
Revival tacticsCrosby Kitchens is stepping into the limelight with a revamped flagship showroom and plenty of promotional activity
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Bathroom newcomers
The best of the brand new productsread more...
Bathroom special report Radiators
Hot propertyThe latest sculptural radiators are turning up the heat on all levels
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Bathroom retailer profile
Street wiseAccording to Park Street Interiors’ general manager Simon Hockey, the secret to surviving the recession is to take a proactive approach across the board
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Company profile
Doors to successApex Interior Systems’ MD Andrew Ashworth reveals how investment in state-of-the-art machinery is taking production to ever greater heights
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Exhibition The Sleep Event Europe 2011
Rise and shineBathroom manufacturers were flying high at the hotel design industry's most successful exhibition yet
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Online health check
This month our resident web doctor tests the temperature of radiator manufacturers’ online offeringsread more...
Manufacturing falls for second month
The manufacturing sector contracted in August for the second month in a row,...
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AGA Rangemaster reveals boom in profits
AGA Rangemaster Group has more than tripled its profits in the last year,...
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Police to investigate fatal Beko fridge-freezer fire
Police have confirmed they are investigating a fatal fire which has been linked...
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The manufacturing sector contracted in August for the second month in a row,...
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AGA Rangemaster reveals boom in profits
AGA Rangemaster Group has more than tripled its profits in the last year,...
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Police to investigate fatal Beko fridge-freezer fire
Police have confirmed they are investigating a fatal fire which has been linked...
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Get in touch
Are you a Beko dealer? Have any of your customers called you concerned about the faulty defrost timers on some 500,000 fridge-freezers [see our story in Breaking News]? Has Beko contacted you to find out if any of the affected appliances were sold by you? Has Beko done enough to allay consumer fears? Will you still stock Beko?
Are you a Beko dealer? Have any of your customers called you concerned about the faulty defrost timers on some 500,000 fridge-freezers [see our story in Breaking News]? Has Beko contacted you to find out if any of the affected appliances were sold by you? Has Beko done enough to allay consumer fears? Will you still stock Beko?
- Ceramic sales
Paul Taylor, pictured left with Eunice Bishop, centre, and Debra Walne are to work as sales agents for recently formed Silverdale Bathrooms to support its BC Sanitan and Jacuzzi ceramic brands. The...
read more... - Eco-power first for Nolte
The Nolte Group has become the first in Germany to switch to electricity generated by a green provider.
All the electricity for the seven companies in the group – including its two...
read more... - Make mine a kitchen
Kitchen and interiors retailer Kit Stone has converted a former pub into its sixth showroom. The 2,000sq ft, two-storey building, on the main A24 just outside Epsom town centre, showcases the...
read more... - High-flying manufacturers are beating the market
A select group of recession-busting KBB manufacturers is outstripping growth in the market and leaving competitors trailing far behind.
According to market analyst Plimsoll, 64...
read more... - Boat cuisine
Robert Charles Interiors went the extra nautical mile to deliver a kitchen to a customer on the Devon coast with no road access. Loading everything on to a small boat, staff from the Taunton-based...
read more... - Stop South Koreans 'dumping' on us, says Whirlpool
Appliance manufacturer Whirlpool has asked the US government for protection after accusing South Korean rivals LG and Samsung of dumping cut-price washing machines on the American market.read more... - Consumer safeguards no longer relevant, says Competition Commission
Legislation that prevented suppliers of electrical goods – including domestic appliances – from fixing recommended retail prices, or restricting supply to wholesalers or particular...
read more... - Champion idea
What do you do when you’ve made a patriotic, Union Jack-adorned, granite worktop to mark Olympic year? Simple – invite British gymnast Beth Tweddle to demonstrate her championship-winning...
read more... - Marc Newson gets CBE for design
Australian designer Marc Newson, whose work includes appliances for Smeg, was awarded a CBE in the 2012 New Year’s Honours List for services to design in the UK and worldwide.
Now based in...
read more... - Mereway sets online Trend
Mereway Kitchens is hoping to give independent retailers the chance to take on the multiples with the launch of a new affordable kitchen range.
The Trend Interiors range will be unveiled...
read more... - A day in the life
Shower manufacturer Roman is out to prove that one working day really isn’t like another with a photographic project to document the forthcoming year. Project 252 will see the Aycliffe-based...
read more... - KBSA's click thinking
KBSA members who use EQ business management software can now register Consumer Care Plus contracts directly from their systems. The feature is said to reduce a time-consuming process to a...
read more... - Toddler death highlights need for anti-scald devices
BMA chief executive Yvonne Orgill says the “tragic and unnecessary” death of a toddler after she was scalded in a shower highlights the requirement for anti-scald devices to be fitted in...
read more... - Ultima makes a match with Matchmaker
The Matchmaker kitchen brand has been taken over by Ultima Furniture Systems after its former manufacturer went into administration just before Christmas with the loss of 30 jobs.
Tipton-based...
read more... - We’re not in the running for Olympic legacy, say small firms
Most small business owners don’t believe that the London Olympics will produce any long-term benefit for them – despite David Cameron stating that the UK is “on track” for a...
read more... - Duravit chairman calls it a day after 41 years
Franz Kook, the management board chairman of German bathroom manufacturer Duravit, has retired after 41 years with the company. Starting as an administrator in the sales department, Kook, pictured...
read more... - Four into one will go
A relocation for Lakes Bathrooms has seen the Tewkesbury-based business consolidate four sites into one super site. The move was driven by the success of the shower enclosure...
read more... - Round of applause
William Holland's circular Rotundus bath made a big splash at The Sleep Event in November, Europe's exhibition for the high-end hotel industry. The company's range of copper and brass baths can be...
read more... - Twyford Bathrooms' owner Sanitec 'up for sale'
Twyford Bathrooms' parent company Sanitec could be on the market with a price tag of up to €1bn. The Finnish bathroom ceramics business – which also owns a raft of bathroom brands...
read more... - Loss-making Alternative Plans up for grabs
Entrepreneur Leo Caplan is looking to sell Alternative Plans, the business he bought out of administration in 2009, to prevent its losses affecting his Canburg kitchen company. Caplan, pictured...
read more... - Ram Kitchens back in business
Ram Kitchens – once one of the biggest names in flatpack kitchens – is back, thanks to distributor PJH Group.
The Bolton-based kitchen, bathroom and appliance distributor has...
read more... - Cooper Callas to distribute Azzurra
Kitchen and bathroom distributor Cooper Callas is to distribute the Italian-made luxury sanitaryware brand Azzurra. The Bicester-based distributor has been appointed by Azzurra’s UK agent,...
read more... - Rates holiday extended for smaller businesses
Britain’s smallest businesses won’t have to pay business rates until April 2013 after chancellor George Osborne extended their rates ‘holiday’ for a further six months.read more... - KBB industry takes heart from housing plans
After tough trading conditions in 2011, and an autumn statement from the chancellor that went some way towards recognising the difficulties faced by businesses, KBB manufacturers and retailers are...
read more... - UK's oldest Electrolux fridge
It’s well out of guarantee – but this Electrolux L380 fridge, made some time between 1934 and 1941, is still going strong and could be the oldest working model in the UK. The venerable...
read more... - Use it, don’t burn it, say furniture manufacturers
Furniture manufacturers are to lobby the government in an effort to mitigate timber price rises caused in part through subsidies to companies who burn wood to generate electricity.
In December,...
read more... - Belling celebrates a business century
Appliance manufacturer Belling marks 100 years in business this year – having come a long way from its humble beginnings in an Enfield shed. Founded by Charles Belling and a young...
read more... - Belling's Facebook range cooker
Belling tapped into the popularity of social networking at this year’s BBC Good Food Shows with a range cooker covered with the profile pictures of all the brand’s Facebook followers. The...
read more... - BBC features ‘copycat’ online business complaints
The BBC’s Rip Off Britain has highlighted problems with online kitchen outfit kitchensuber.co.uk, accused last year
of copying the website of established kitchen brand Uber Furniture.read more... - Symphony support music to retailers' ears
Kitchen manufacturer Symphony is to give retailers a new-year boost with the launch of a recession-busting price promotion.
Until March this year, the Barnsley-based business is to offer over...
read more... - Electrolux opens Italian pop-up restaurant
Gastronomic delights and stunning views go hand in hand at The Cube by Electrolux – a pop-up restaurant with a difference that opened in Milan in December. The venue – only open until...
read more... - Confidence falls amid economic turmoil
Business confidence fell rapidly at the end of 2011, as fears of a double-dip recession and turmoil in the Eurozone took hold.
According to the Forum of Private Business’ Economy Watch...
read more... - Unify or face legislation, bathroom industry urged
The bathroom industry must unify its efforts to save water and educate consumers before the government steps in with costly and cumbersome mandatory legislation, says BMA chief executive Yvonne...
read more... - Bumper kitchen launch for Omega
Doncaster-based kitchen manufacturer Omega has christened its new £500,000 showroom facility with launch days to mark the introduction of 79 new kitchens across its Omega, Chippendale and...
read more... - Kitchens off the menu as MFI makes a comeback
MFI is back as an online-only venture – without the kitchens that made it one of the best-known names in UK retailing.
Instead, the brand, once a household name for flatpack furniture, has...
read more... - New KBB website to launch
Hubert Burda Media UK, the publisher of ek&bbusiness, is launching a new interactive website for KBB professionals on 18 January.
The new site, read more... - Baldi's basin carved from crystal
Looking like something from the pages of Lord of the Rings, this is the jewel-like Rock Crystal Basin, carved from natural crystal by Italian company Baldi. Cut like a diamond with geometrical...
read more... - Staff under threat as Bristan restructures
A restructuring of Bristan’s supply chain and operations team could see up to 46 jobs go at the West Midlands-based business.
The bathrooms-to-brassware manufacturer is in...
read more... - Ex-bosses step in to save jobs at Jacuzzi
The Jacuzzi Group has sold its Staffordshire-based ceramics factory – which makes product for Jacuzzi and its BC Sanitan brand – to two of its former UK directors.
The move will...
read more... - Banks forced to overturn small business loan decisions
The big four high-street banks are losing more than a third of appeals against their refusal to grant credit to small businesses.
Under the government's Project Merlin agreement, set up in...
read more... - Pay squeezed for small business bosses
The average pay for directors of small businesses fell by an average of 15% in 2011, with the result that many are earning less than they were five years ago.
According to workplace...
read more... - Furniture manufacturers feel the squeeze
Furniture manufacturing sales grew by 3.6% in 2010 – but still left the industry over £1bn down on the year before.
FIRA’s Statistical Digest for the year – a...
read more... - Bright idea
Hotpoint is introducing the concept of ‘high-definition washing’ to potential purchasers of its new A+++ Aqualtis laundry range. The £4m advertising campaign focuses on the...
read more... - Shower savings coming up short
Brits are spending so long in the shower they’re using almost as much hot water as bath users, bumping up energy bills and generating more greenhouse gases.
The popular view is that...
read more... - Fading Comet sold for £2 to former MFI owner
Struggling electrical retailer Comet has been sold for just £2 after its sales fell by nearly 19% in the six months to the end of October. Cash-strapped consumers cutting back on big-ticket...
read more... - Biomass power a burning issue, says new campaign
The Wood Panel Industries Federation has launched a new biomass campaign which aims to stop timber being burned to generate electricity.
As part of a series of events in November to highlight...
read more... - Kohler has more in store
Bathroom manufacturer Kohler is promising improvements in its supply chain following the opening of a new UK warehouse which holds up to 12 weeks’ stock.
The warehouse, just off the M5 at...
read more... - Economy worries deter credit applications
Bank of England figures have confirmed what many small business owners have been saying for months – credit is hard to find and costs too much. The bank’s latest statistics show that...
read more... - Brass-necked thieves target Vogue
Metal thieves have targeted radiator and heated towel rail manufacturer Vogue UK 15 times in the last 18 months – and the Willenhall-based business also suffered three arson attacks at the...
read more... - Capital investment
After just 18 months in business, London-based retailer The Alternative Bathroom Company has opened a flagship showroom in Fulham. The 2,600 sq ft, two-storey studio joins its existing Ealing...
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