Majjie's Blog

I don't sell kitchens but, of course, I design them and I often recommend the sort of kitchen that clients should look for ... so I'm very interested in how kitchens are retailed.

I've just been writing a glowing report on the new Grohe Blue Chilled and Sparkling Tap (see it in the Kitchen Design News Section). I saw it in a review of filter taps by the newly revamped Kitchen and Bathroom Designer Magazine, and was impressed. I was also recently sent an e-mail by a company promoting their own filter tap ... they seem to be the in thing for taps at the moment, especially if the water is either chilled, or boiling (or both) ... and I noticed an anomaly.

Well, they're finally here ... the vegetable pictures on black canvas that I was talking about a year ago. It's been a really busy year for designing kitchens and that has delayed work on the kitchen pictures. The images that I showed you last year have been adjusted and the backgrounds have been darkened, so that the colourful fruit and veg images really stand out.

I went to a Kitchen Conference recently, organised by the trade magazine KBB Review. I've written about it already over at Majjie's Kitchen Corner in How has the Recession Affected Kitchen Sales and Why Do You Need a New Kitchen. One of the most interesting talks was given by Gus Desbarats of The Alloy, an industrial design company. He was discussing modern product design. If new kitchens need to be bought on their own account, rather than just as an investment for your property (see link above to why you need a new kitchen), then how should they be designed to work better and appeal to their owners more?

Perhaps innovative design for kitchens should come from
the designers and not just the manufacturers

Belling are sponsoring the BBC Good Food Show Winter this year - it's on at the NEC between the 23rd and 27th November - and they're producing a special range cooker to be on show at the event. It'll feature the profile pictures of fans who have "liked" the Belling Facebook page before 9am on Monday 14th November. Click on the picture to go and have a look. 

I'm frequently asked, by other businesses and marketing people, to include guest blogs here - but I usually turn the requests down. That's because the articles are usually very thinly disguised adverts without much useful content. When Matthew got in touch, on behalf of Aussie Man and Van, I very nearly turned him down too (especially since it sounds as if the business isn't based in the UK!) - but actually his advice could be useful - so here's our first Guest Blog ...

Majjie

How to Pack Up Your Kitchen When Moving

A certain amount of care and skill is required to pack up and move your kitchen. Appliances often have delicate inner workings and caution is the key to success in getting everything successfully moved. Ideally kitchen appliances should be packed in their original cartons, or use bubble wrap, cushions and good quality tape.

I went to a cooking demonstration the other day ... quelle surprise (do I hear regular readers say?) It was a last minute thing, because e-mails had vanished into the ether (computers - pah!) ... and when I got to sunny Newport Pagnell, it turned out that V-ZUG's head product demonstrator James was ill (no - not food poisoning!). I needn't have worried, though ... because Kevin John (UK Sales and Marketing Director) proved to be perfectly competent when it came to preparing food in a ZUG oven.

This is another one of those blogs that's really for kitchen designers and not kitchen buyers ... although, of course, anyone's welcome to read it. It might come as a revelation to those who think it's child's play to shuffle a few units around and "design" a kitchen!

I've mentioned the controversy surrounding internet sales of kitchen appliances before. Small kitchen showrooms feel that the big internet retailers (or e-tailers) are providing unfair competition to their own appliance sales. You can't help feeling some sympathy. Customers often go into a local showroom to check out appliances and get advice ... and then go off to buy them more cheaply from an e-tailer.

It came as a surprise to most of us, that the Homeform Group went into administration last week ... although some retail analysts claimed that they were expecting it. I think that was mainly because most retailers of large household items are having a hard time ... rather than any sign that Homeform, in particular, were about to go under.