Page 26 - HW 0821

kitchens & bathrooms
ALTHOUGH 20 YEARS may be the life of an average kitchen in New Zealand, the current drive to upgrade a home’s look and feel – and perhaps even add to its value or at least street appeal – means that, unsurprisingly, the kitchen & bathroom categories have been just as busy if not busier than the rest of the home improvement market.
Despite initial pessimism about prospects during the first lockdown last year, Melanie Gallo, Mitre 10’s Category Manager for Kitchens & Appliances, confirms: “Whether it’s your garden or your bathroom or just painting the house, everything has had a huge uptick.
“The last 18 months have just seen a huge upward lift in demand with the post-Covid impact and people are definitely, obviously, spending less on travel and redirecting those funds to domestic travel and home improvement.”
And, as we continue to hear, homeowners aren’t pinching
Fresh perspectives from
an “old hand”
From 1985 until forced to fold his Kitchen Installation Specialists (KIS) operation in 2009, Lance Preston and his KIS team were the go-to guys for installing some of the best kitchens to the highest level of quality.
Lance was also President of the NKBA for a period. He has skin in the game.
These days, having exited the world of corporates, which is where he’s been for the last 12-odd years, Lance has nice little business called The Laundry Guys, operating in the East Auckland area and specialising in turnkey laundry renovations.
“Laundries are too often overlooked and neglected,” says Lance, who’s currently operating solo but uses a trio of cabinet manufacturers and trusted tradies to get his affordable laundry renos done and dusted quickly and to a high quality.
Describing the set-up as “no stress”, while he’s all too conscious of the current lack of skilled kitchen installers – and actually has got a few kitchens on the go through his other business, Cabinets Unlimited – Lance isn’t keen to get back into kitchens boots and all.
In the full-on heyday of KIS, Lance says:“I think I spent half my days solving other kitchen business’s problems. It’s a complex product after all!”
Trouble is, he also believes, these days some Kiwis are ending up with sub-par outcomes to their kitchens.
“They like to think they’re saving money.They’ve got a bit of time and they’re taking on the projects themselves.
“A lot of them are getting help from low-cost installers and they’re accepting subpar performance or results because they don’t know any better.”
At the same time, the level of competency in installation is “growing thinner and thinner”, he believes.
If all this sounds like Lance Preston is putting his CV out there, he isn’t. He’s clearly relaxed and happy with his low-stress lifestyle.
Still, one can’t help thinking that his compendious knowledge of the practical aspects of the kitchen industry could be harnessed without Lance having to make up for other professionals’ shortcomings once again...
https://cabinetsunlimited.co.nz
Lots of news from Newtech
Newtech is another company that is seeing advantages from machining and assembling overseas-sourced components locally, at its Whanganui facility.
The company says:“Being NZ assembled is the number one focus for Newtech moving forward. Our entire laundry range and Vista coloured vanities are dedicated to this NZ assembled vision.”
Newtech is also currently working on a redesign of its laundry packages to offer more compact options along with a new handle-less upgrade for a more sleek and seamless finish, plus it has released new European-made Toni coloured ceramic vessel basins, in nine unique colours featuring sleek, slimline edges in three contemporary shapes.
Last but not least, Newtech has released its own online 3D design tool called Design@Home, allowing consumers to design their bathroom in the comfort of their own home using a wide range of Newtech products.
www.newtech.co.nz
24 NZHJ | AUGUST 2021
MORE AT www.hardwarejournal.co.nz