KITCHENS TO DIE FOR and to cook in, too
February 22, 2004 | 12:00am
Part of the pleasure of being home is being surrounded by the people and things we love, and by things that look good. Why do you think home stores have doubled or even tripled in the past 10 years?
We do not sit in one corner of our house. We move around, we talk, we cook, we entertain, we have meals together. When homemakers get together, we compare notes and ask each other where this or that was bought, who made the furniture, what exactly is that paint color on the wall, what store has the coolest accessories, what brand of scented candles actually smell good when they’re lighted.
Now, homeowners and homemakers have another thing to talk about: a new line of kitchens – stylish Brit imports launched by Federal Design Expo last month.
MFI or Mullard Furniture Industries is Europe’s biggest kitchen retailer and manufacturer. It’s a publicly listed company based in England and one of the top 250 companies on the London Stock Exchange. It has operations around the world, including retail centers in Asia in places such as Hong Kong, Taiwan and China.
MFI’s Mark Curtis, MFI International general manager, and Mark Magee, international operations manager, flew in early last month to officially open the showroom in Manila. Housed in Federal Design Expo on Pasong Tamo in Makati, MFI’s kitchens make for a great fit with the existing furniture lines at Federal, designed by Ivy and Cynthia Almario.
Mark Magee says the partnership with Federal was something they had been working on for the past 12 months. "We didn‘t just jump into the market," he says. "We did a market survey and assessed our competitors here. We also visited a number of Filipino homes to get an understanding of the different sizes of homes and apartments."
With an understanding of how Filipino homes are (yes, they know every home here has a "dirty kitchen"), MFI is positioned to service the high-end market and the top end of the C market, which is a rather pleasant thing. Now you can afford to buy a house and a kitchen of this quality.
Mark Curtis explains that with the company having its roots in London, where the homes range from the ultra-modern (think of Terrence Conran) to the historical (think of 17th century buildings), MFI has a very wide range of designs homeowners can choose from.
"We have 38 different designs, all of them available here and 14 of them are displayed here. Six can be taken away today for installation," he says.
Most importers don’t offer their kitchens off the floor. Because of the high prices of imports, retail centers don’t really stock up on the units and customers have to wait from three to four months before their kitchens can be installed.
"So you pay a high price and face a long wait. The other end of the spectrum is the low-price, low-quality products available as soon as you want them. There’s a big gap in the middle, and that’s where we come in. We’re not interested here in just selling kitchens, we want to find out what kind of kitchen you need. Does the family eat breakfast in the kitchen or do you use another room? Do you entertain a lot? By asking questions like these, we find out about their lifestyles."
What attracted them to Federal, says Curtis, "is that they have specific skills in terms of retailing products. There’s also the sister company Eurotiles, which has access to the projects market. So working with one company allows us to supply the products, warehouse the products and to sell them in the retail market and in bulk to the developers. "
MFI has six factories in England and 2.5 million square feet of manufacturing space. They manufacture up to 120,000 kitchen cabinets each week. "The reason we’re so successful is that we’re vertically integrated, meaning we are a manufacturer and retailer. The significance of this is there’s no middle man and the prices are able to stay low."
MFI’s market share in the UK is a staggering 30 percent. MFI controls the whole manufacturing process, and they "don’t look to make a profit at every stage, so the final price is very competitive. "
Curtis puts it this way: "We can deliver to Hong Kong from England cheaper than a kitchen made in China. That’s really due to the size and volume of our business"
Most of the imported European kitchens use particle board, and Curtis says this makes the kitchen very versatile in terms of coping with the humidity and cooking situations. One can choose to have cabinet doors in solid timber, or solid timber with veneer panels, laminated on particle board or with melamine finishes.
We’re moving towards more fashion kitchens, whereas 10 years ago it was more of function, not really for entertaining," adds Magee.
Clean lines are still in, so are light and pastel shades. The market, according to these two Englishmen, is moving away from solid wood and dark wood and moving towards clean, stylish lines.
But even if contemporary style is the preferred design, MFI still manufactures the classic kitchens. Which brings us to the question: Do kitchen trends change a lot?
"Some will stay for a year or two, then one design will go on for 20 years," says Curtis. "We have the classic ranges that go on and on, making up about 20 percent of our designs."
An example is MFI’s Bulgaria line, which "follows the classic clean lines of Edwardian design." The design works well in high-ceilinged spaces with its double-layer cupboards.
Or how about a blast from the past, say, the 1930s? The design in the inter-war years is characterized by the Devonshire line’s round edges, chunky wooden handles and slab drawers.
You can have the farmhouse look with plate racks and glass wall units and pewter handles for the country feel. Or urban chic with linear cabinets and smooth surfaces. What about an updated Shaker design that fits comfortably in a contemporary setting? Or what about recreating the romance of the French country life?
Many of MFI’s Schreibner collections, backed by 50 years of kitchen design, are inspired by famous cities around the world, showing how good design is at once global and timeless. According to MFI’s catalogue, the Verona line was inspired by the furniture exhibitions of Italy, where "darker woods are becoming fashionable. In this case, it’s a veneered cherry wood finish that we’ve opted for, on a Shaker style frame. We’ve also provided plenty of contrast to the cherry by including a lot of glass, high-gloss worktops and full-length stainless steel bar handles."
Spain’s Valencia inspired a kitchen popular in Europe with cabinets made from five individual pieces – again an updated Shaker technique . Madrid is MFI’s version of a typical Southern European kitchen with the distinctive character coming from its dark wood, decorative fluting and curved metal handles. The Salcombe range, which takes its name from a seaside town in England, mixes contemporary style with a kind of rustic charm that punctuates seaside spaces.
From MFI’s Hygena collections is a kitchen stripped of non-essential elements. The line is called Stockholm and was inspired by – what else? – the Scandinavian flair for sleek minimalism. From the basic cabinet units to the frosted glass pendant lighting, all the elements thrust a quiet, modern elegance into the space. This is a kitchen that would look so great in a house where bold architecture instead of decor provides the drama. You know, the kind of house that Lor Calma would design.
It’s amazing how the color, material or the lines of the cabinet doors can change the entire look of the kitchen. But make no mistake about it, the differences, no matter how slight, are not purely for aesthetics but have a functional purpose to suit different spaces.
These are kitchens were we can entertain our guests, in and share family moments . Oh, and yes, we can cook in them too.
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