Majjie's Blog

I visited some very impressive cabinetmakers the other day, at the Anglo Kitchen Company near Northampton. Nothing unusual in that, I work with quite a few different kitchen manufacturers and suppliers, and some of them are traditional cabinetmakers. I also worked full time for a cabinetmaking firm, a few years ago ... but Anglo are different.

 Christopher Proudfoot and Erin Woodger, owners of Anglo Kitchens,
in their temporary showroom and office

A cabinetmaker (after his initial training or apprenticeship) usually starts with - himself - a workshop and no showroom. If he's successful, he takes extra people on, to help in the workshop. He may well undertake other joinery work, like making window frames and doors or staircases, as well as making free standing furniture ... and kitchens. Some - whose kitchens are particularly popular and/or particularly good value - get recommended to the friends, family and neighbours of their customers, and start to specialise in kitchens. They may, at that point, open a showroom. As they progress along this path, their kitchens become more specialised, and more expensive. There are quite a few kitchen specialists like these, around the country, some of whom sell kitchens that are very exclusive and very expensive indeed.

So how far along this route are Anglo Kitchens? Well, I'd say they've branched off, along a new and different road altogether. The link above, is to my review of their business (in our Kitchen Retail Suppliers section).

Anglo Kitchens have a workshop and they have their AngloKitchens.com website. The website is a bit ornate in style, for my taste - but Anglo are one of a new breed of cabinetmakers who are completely upfront about what they do, how they do it, and how much the kitchens they make cost. They use the site, not just as a brochure site, telling you to visit them ... but for generating enquiries from interested potential customers ... and they publish a list of their prices online. They don't yet have a showroom (you can currently visit them in a rather nice portacabin outside their workshop!) ... but they're planning to be in one before the end of the year. That won't be their cue to become an upmarket kitchen specialist with higher margins, though, and they won't start to sell you appliances, or granite, at increased margins either.

The new showroom is going to be called the QVS Centre (standing for Quality, Value and Service) and it will be a co-operative effort, with a number of different retailers under the same roof. There will be an appliance specialist (one who also sells via the internet, I suspect), a granite company (that sells directly to the end customer), a lighting specialist, a tile supplier, probably a bathroom company ... and Anglo Kitchens. They'll share the display space, some of the advertising costs and the showroom overheads, whilst each concentrates on providing value for money within their own speciality.

The Lowestoft kitchen from Anglo Kitchens - one of my favourites - I'm hoping
to see this on display when their new showroom, the QVS Centre, opens later this year

It's increasingly difficult for high street specialists to compete with internet sellers these days, with customers becoming ever more price conscious. For kitchen showrooms, the competition is mainly for the sale of appliances - but there are also direct sellers of worktops (something that never happened a few years ago) ... and increasingly, even kitchen units are being bought online.

I read a fellow kitchen blogger recently (Brendan Watson - who blogs for those within the industry) suggesting (There's Something Wrong with the Kitchen Business) that the future for high street kitchen showrooms could be to integrate themselves with one big brand name kitchen supplier - to reduce advertising costs and overheads.

For small bespoke kitchen manufacturers and cabinetmakers, I think Anglo Kitchens may have found another answer ... embrace the internet wholeheartedly, for marketing and generation of enquiries; adopt an open and honest pricing policy; and get together with like minded, value orientated suppliers - to provide customers with a one stop shop - and to cover showroom overheads.

I look forward to the opening of the QVS Centre and I'll be sure to let you know when that happens. In the meantime Anglo Kitchens are already in the business of selling good value, bespoke kitchens - and, incidentally, all of them with solid oak carcasses. Click on the link for my review of their business and for contact details.