German worktop manfacturer Lechner has closed its UK showroom, following the decision to pull out of the UK. The company, which employed eight people in the UK and rented part of Blanco’s showroom in Hertfordshire, cited lack of orders as the reason for its withdrawal from the market. Office manager [...]

Around 1,300 jobs are under threat as owner of Moben Kitchens and Dolphin Bathrooms, the Homeform Group is preparing to appoint an administrator. The company is aiming to sell off the Moben and Dolphin brands to save its Sharps Bedrooms and Kitchen Direct businesses. A statement read: “The Board of [...]

Appliance manufacturer Hotpoint has come top in a poll, which rated the UK’s most trusted brands, for the 11th consecutive year. ln a Readers Digest Survey of 1,000 people, almost 1 in 4 consumers chose Hotpoint as their most trusted large kitchen appliance brand. It receved 23% of the large [...]

Following speculation Villeroy & Boch  was to mirror Kohler and Daryl by restricting sale of products online, I wonder about the value ofan anti-internet or interNOT policy. This type of control has been used for some time by selective kitchen appliance brands. But playing devil’s advocate, is it the best [...]

I recently finished the arduous  process of designing a new brochure, potentially one of the most important tools manufacturers have to influence the sales process. Throughout this process I have learnt many things, but none has struck me as much as how the industry seems to be selling to the [...]

Shoes and bags; you’ve aIways had my full, undivided attention. But until Ijoined the kbb industry, gadgets have had to work that little bit harder After my recent visit to the global press conference for consumer electronics show IFA, held this year in Alicante. I’m now a complete techie convert. [...]

Intelligent products are now firmly established; once they were a niche market and regarded by many retailers as novelties at best – and at worst, expensively prohibitive, not to mention difficult to sell. However; things have moved on and if you were a recent visitor to ISH or kbb London, [...]

I’m involved with specifying bathroom products for a new house. I know I have to meet the Building Regulations Part G and the Code for Sustainable Homes. But it’s really difficult to calculate the water usage from the products I have chosen. Can you help? The Building Regulations Approved Document [...]

A range of lighting products have been launched by Flos, including NET, designed by Philippe Starck, featuring a USB socket above the light diffuser for an iPod, iPhone or iPad. The company’s Soft Architecture collection presents RUPTURE, designed by Thierry Dreyfus, representing a crack in the wall which is lit [...]

It’s easy to become focused on the kitchen frontals (or face value) when creating a customers dream kitchen but it must function effectively too. While, an interior and shelf matched to the colour of the external carcase was once the epitome of sophistication, it’s long been succeeded by state-of-the-art storage [...]