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kitchens & bathrooms
pennies: “We’re seeing customers trading up to higher quality,” she adds.
“They’re looking for our highest budget cabinetry. Stone benchtops are in huge growth. You can see that people have just got a little bit more to spend and are valuing those extra special touches in their kitchen projects,” says Melanie.
That’s as may be for a DIY retailer, but, turning to the specialist KB operators, Mark Bruce of Designmarked in Cambridge, speaking for the NKBA as VP and as a qualified designer and cabinetmaker, is concerned that some Kiwis’ “champagne” expectations actually don’t match their “beer” budgets.
“We’re not seeing the PC [Prime Cost] sums going up,” he says. “We have clients coming to us with $20-25,000 expectations but showing us images of $50,000 kitchens and that’s something that we’re stumbling with as an industry.”
Surprisingly, Mark’s comment doesn’t just apply to consumers
and the razor-sharp operators in group housing but also architects!
All the above are “still thinking kitchens haven’t moved in price, but they’ve gone up just as much as all the other aspects of building,” he says.
As a more realistic yardstick, Mark Bruce refers to a formula used in kitchen design training – that the value of a kitchen (including appliances) should be set at around 8% of the cost of the home.
“So, if you’re building a million-dollar home, you should be investing $80,000 in kitchen and appliances – and that’s probably a realistic figure.
$25-35,000 should probably buy you “a good quality, entry- level kitchen with good hardware and good benchtops.”
After that, the sky is the limit, certainly for the kitchen specialists.
The race for space (and colour)
These Mitre 10 designs show there’s a need for a scullery, as storage becomes even more important with smaller kitchen spaces.
PlaceMakers kitchens still reflect the strength of black albeit modified by more natural tones and elements.
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AUGUST 2021 | NZHJ 25