KBzine: the original kitchen and bathroom industry e-news - since 2002
22nd April 2020
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International News
Products Karonia introduces The Unique Collection
Ripples teams up with Sam Lander to offer a collection like no other!
NEW Smart shower products catapault Aqualisa out to the front of the smart shower market
BC Designs relaunches the Magnus bath
A S Helsingö launches Bagel Mini and Novel Mini handles
VitrA launches the Voyage collection by award-winning designer Arik Levy
Inspired by his time living and working in Japan, Arik Levy worked closely with VitrA's in-house design team to create a bathroom collection that allows both mind and body to relax. Match made in heaven with Caple's new WMI4000 washing machine
This appliance is incredibly energy efficient with an A+++ energy rating with an A for wash class and spin efficiency, too. PJH signs distribution deal with Elica Appliances
Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the fairest of them all?
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With so much bad news around at the moment it's easy to forget that the Coronavirus is forcing us to make many positive changes in our lives, isn't it? I write this from my garden, directly under the area that Gatwick and Heathrow aircraft circle high above whilst queuing to land and am happy to say that a plane overhead is now as likely to make us stop and stare as the newly arrived Spotted Woodpecker and - incredibly - Red Kites which by rights shouldn't be anywhere nearby. I'm sharing my home with a daughter and her friend - both of whom work in highly sensitive fields that require privacy and which normally take them around the country. They're managing well and the group meetings and even group training sessions my daughter leads are running perfectly. I wonder how many others who are normally on road or rail daily (or flying too often for business) are happily home-based in a less polluted environment with more leisure hours in the day and are a lot less stressed to boot? I hope lessons have been learnt about our need to travel less and that both Heathrow's planned extra runway and the high-speed rail link that's decimating so much of our countryside and forcing people from their homes, will be abandoned. Yes we badly need to connect some places to the network but let's be sensible! Sadly, there's little positivity for the KBB industry, which relies on our visits to retailers to learn about ways we can enhance our homes. Easter is always busy in the home improvement sector, yet the opportunities this presents have passed us by. The housing market has stagnated - and with kitchens and bathrooms being the rooms most property viewers say they'd change upon taking residence, this stagnation, too, has hit our industry hard. What the answer is I'm not sure, but I sincerely hope we can find quickly find our way out of this mess. We've bought four wonderful mattresses from independent retailer Hamseys (www.hamseys.co.uk) in recent years. The service, product quality and price is always bang on. I received a mailshot today, saying that this is Hamseys' 50th year selling beds and mattresses to 200,000-plus customers, and that its planned celebratory 'big sale' is being replaced by a survival 'fire sale', since with a 95% drop in sales this year it will soon struggle to pay salaries and pensions. If you're in a similar position, my heart is with you... Yours,
 This Week's News
Cameron Design House seeks volunteers to make face shields for the NHS
Since launching production one week ago, the team at Cameron Design House has distributed over 2000 face shields to more than 30 hospitals across London and has purchased a new laser cutter to increase production. Coronavirus... global pandemic: national challenge
Consumers (home owners and tenants), it says, are clearly vulnerable as a result of Covid-19 and at risk of falling foul of: HiB wins prestigious Queen's Award for Enterprise: Innovation 2020
With a Head Office in New Southgate, North London and its National Distribution Centre, based near Tamworth, Staffs, HiB is one of only 220 organisations to be recognised nationally with this ‘Award of Awards’, which highlights businesses that have outstanding industry achievements. Bathroom furniture manufacturer Vanity Hall helps NHS Nightingale hospitals
Working with five key partners, CDUK was requested to design and supply 450 basin tops which were to be fitted onto mobile hand washing stations, specifically created for the London, Birmingham and Manchester hospitals. Family's lockdown kitchen emergency resolved by The Used Kitchen Company
Having worked hard to get a Nottinghamshire family out of a fix, that has not been the case this week. Shower-room pods account for 50% of the prefabricated pod market
Its Bathroom and Kitchen Pods Market Report - UK 2020-2024, says we have seen much of this growth since around 2015 due to increased requirements for fast build and quick turnaround times in key construction sectors from hotels, student accommodation to high-rise apartment buildings. VitrA identifies seven bathroom trends for 2020
Bette bath stars in radical BBC makeover
Your Home Made Perfect aired the first of its new series on Tuesday April 7th and featured couple, Silvia and Julian, who wanted to update their Brighton home. Whirlpool appoints new brand manager
Charmaine joined Indesit Company in 2014 as national account manager, managing the relationship with major retailer, Tesco and the white goods range on its non-food ecommerce platform. She maintained this role after the acquisition of Indesit by Whirlpool and introduced the Whirlpool brand to Tesco. In 2018, she joined the marketing department in her role as refrigeration trade marketing manager. This role included being responsible for Hotpoint, Indesit and Whirlpool refrigeration, introducing new products and ranges, in addition to liaising with the brand teams to meet the company objectives. A splash of colour in the bathroom from Not Only White and Hi-Macs
The minimalistic organic shapes and pastel tones add an aesthetic and warm touch to a decor which is often considered rather ubiquitous. Trio of top design awards puts new Bora X Pure on a winning streak
Emphasising the fact that Bora places its focus on its customers and their needs, the new cooktop has received the Plus X Award, the biggest innovation award worldwide for technology, sport and lifestyle. Bayswater London W2 supports retailers with updated brochure and PR & marketing support
Prima+ Taps into new kitchen style
Hotpoint integrated fridge recommended by Trusted Reviews
The Trusted Reviews team were impressed with the fridge's 'huge' capacity with 'flexible storage space'. The KBzine Archive Search We keep an extensive archive of news stories and product information that have featured in past issues of The KBzine. If you would like to run a search of the The KBzine web site using the search tool below please just go ahead by entering in the name of the person, product or company or any other key words that you are looking for. How to contact us at The KBzine:
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