Majjie's Blog

It's that time of year again. The National Homebuilding and Renovating Show is always held at the Birmingham NEC in March and I went last week. If you want to go to a show, though, they have similar shows at other locations during the rest of the year ... just check their website.

So what was new for kitchens at this year's show? Well, it was a bit disappointing actually ... not a huge amount of new kitchen gear. There were a few bespoke kitchen companies there, with some nice looking displays, but nothing that really caught my eye.

Holme Tree, from Ashby-de-la-Zouch, were there again this year, they've done the show for a few years now and it's been interesting to watch them develop from a very small concern to a very posh one. I was working in a showroom in Ashby (no longer there) when they first set up. They teamed up with De Dietrich appliances this year:

There were a couple of companies concentrating on unpainted MDF furniture - which you can paint yourself, after it's been fitted. A sign of the troubled economic times perhaps. The displays from www.unpaintedkitchens.com (on the left in the picture below) had been painted for the show and they concentrate on traditionally styled, inset-framed kitchen units. Those from www.unpainted.co.uk, on the other hand, were left unpainted on the display (the right hand picture below) and they do mainly bedrooms and free standing pieces, in standard, plant-on door styles ... although the units are all made to measure and would be equally suitable for a kitchen.

The kitchens at the Homebuilding and Renovating shows do tend to be more traditional (than at the Grand Designs Live shows, for example) and there were even some renovated, retro kitchens from the 1950s (from Paul Metalcraft and English Rose) displayed by Source Antiques:

My favourite kitchen displays, though, were those of Callerton Kitchens on the RK-Tec stand. I meant to stop and have a chat, since I'm not sure I understand the concept behind RK-Tec and Callerton's Modular Design. What do they do, that's different to any other kitchen company? They were busy when I got there, though, and I never got round to going back. I particularly liked the display in the picture below, with it's rounded corner posts and curved doors – and that's a neat little unit at the back, with a warming drawer, a single oven and a combi-microwave.

When it comes to accessories for the kitchen, there were several stands that caught my eye. I particularly liked some of the pendant lights (good for fitting above an island) from The Lighting Company:

There were some very good looking pewter handles from Finesse - who had won a product excellence award at the show for architectural fixtures and fittings:

And I was particularly impressed by the engineered oak flooring from Shire Oak. It has a 6mm surface layer of solid oak, fixed to 14mm, 10 layer, birch ply - giving a total thickness of 20mm and a very stable floor, ideally suited to kitchen conditions. Shire Oak won't use an engineerd timber floor that is less than 18mm thick overall.

Diapol were at the show again this year, giving away worktop samples. They're another company that started off in a small way in the UK and have grown considerably since. They sell granite and quartz composite (and marble) worktops, direct to the public, with a template and fitting service. You can price your worktops on their website and they don't charge until the tops are fitted. The granites and quartz are sourced from various locations all over the world, are cut and shaped at Diapol's factory in Estonia, and then shipped over to the UK. They've introduced quite a few new colours in the last year.

The granite I was most impressed with, though, was one I hadn't seen before, called Matrix. It was being shown by Whitby's Granite Products Ltd, based in Cheshire. They're a more traditional granite company but they too will sell direct to the public. Matrix is basically a black granite but with a large, vaguely geometrical, swirling pattern. It was shown on an oak kitchen but I think it would look much more dramatic on a pale coloured, painted kitchen:

Finally, there were the appliances. Nothing very exciting in built-in. Cooks & Company from Newark had a big bank of ovens and coffee machines (as well as range cookers and other free standing appliances) - which looked impressive but it was actually quite difficult to get to the small appliances and have a good look:

Aga Rangemaster weren't there this year and the only Aga I noticed was a renovated one, from the 1930's, on the Avec Cookers stand. The business was started nearly twenty years ago by Lindsay's husband - and is now run by her son. That's Lindsay on the stand - trying to look unobtrusive! A reconditioned Aga doesn't have to use traditional fuels, apparently. Avec can also provide a 13 amp electric version. There are prices on their website.

There was also news from Sandyford - in the traditional cast iron range market - and from Britannia and LaCanche (for those interested just in good quality cooking) ... but I'll talk about those over on Majjie's Kitchen Corner, otherwise I'll be here all day!