Well, another year is drawing to close and we have had the pleasure of designing and installing some fantastic kitchens! As always, we are very grateful to our customers for choosing Lacewood Designs.
We’re equally as excited by what 2016 has in store for us and it’s fascinating to see the changing trends that are inspiring our customers as we end 2015 and head into the new year.
I chatted with Graham, our expert, about his expectations for the coming year – what he sees being popular and what trends he thinks will take off, based on the latter part of 2015 and what our current customers are asking for.
It’s fair to say, 2016 is set to be largely about natural and neutral colours for kitchen furniture with greys, cashmere and creams currently growing in popularity.
In terms of styles, we’re beginning to see a real change in what our customers are wanting, with fewer clients opting for the classic shaker-style kitchen and a huge increase in traditional in-frame designs, which are usually hand-painted. The two kitchens below are recent examples of our designs, which were extremely well received by our clients.
On the more contemporary side of things, we’re receiving and expecting a growing interest in our German brands in 2016 – Kuhlmann and Beeck. These two fantastic suppliers offer an excellent range of bespoke furniture with a huge amount of choice and their popularity in the UK is increasing because of the fantastic quality of German products, without the hefty pricetag that they carried in the past. For more information about what our German brands have to offer, visit the ‘Our Furniture Suppliers’ page on our website.
We’re also seeing an increase in customers choosing flat laminate doors, with an upward trend particularly in gloss choices. This was relatively common a few years ago, but seems to be picking up again. The beauty of laminate doors is that there are such a huge number of colours and styles available.
In terms of appliances, we’re certain our faithful collaboration with Siemens will continue to provide excellent appliances to a huge number of our customers in 2016 – but we are also pleased to be able to offer a huge range of other appliances from providers including Steele, Elica, Neff, Bosch, Rangemaster and many other excellent brands.
In the last year, for every 10 hobs we sold to our customers, approx 8 were induction hobs and only 1 or 2 were gas. This is a huge increase from previous years and really shows the ever-increasing trend for this excellent technology. We’ve written about induction hobs in a blog, explaining how they work and why they might be right for you too – check it out here. We expect to see this trend continue into 2016 as more of our customers discover the advantages of these hobs.
In 2016 we believe we’re going to see an increase in sales of ‘Dekton’ worktops – the latest product from Cosentino, the makers of Silestone.
‘Dekton is a sophisticated blend of the raw materials used to produce the very latest in glass and porcelain as well as the highest quality quartz work surfaces. It allows greater potential for installation in one piece with no cuts, no joints and no limits. It has the appeal of a completely uniform surface, which fits seamlessly into very different design styles.’
The benefits of this type of worktop are huge:
- It is resistant to stains (even bleach and oven cleaners will have no effect).
- It is highly scratch-resistant.
- It has high resistance to fire and heat.
- It is highly UV resistant.
- It is non-porous, so absorbs virtually no water at all.
Dekton worktops are currently available in 21 styles and we currently have one in our showroom, should you wish to have a look.
So, that’s what our expert thinks will happen in 2016, but please remember that we have a huge amount of other options available for our customers, so if you have a vision, we will do our utmost to make your kitchen dream come true!
If you’d like us to design your dream kitchen in 2016, please contact us on 01722 321447 or e-mail: [email protected]