Wednesday 7 March 2012

KBB (kitchens, bedrooms & bathrooms) show at the NEC

Lynn and I went along to the show on Monday morning, I thought that it would be a good idea to see what was going on in the Kitchen Bathroom and Bedroom industry. I would have gone along from Sealine, usually with one or two of the guy's from there, ( where I was Continuous Improvement and New Product Development Engineer for a number of years ) where we would be looking at the new products on show, new ways of getting around something that would have been an issue before now.
If you are with the right person, and I have worked with some of the best at Sealine. Then the slightest thing can trigger off an idea or better still a brain storming session, that's what the shows are all about for me, with the added benefit of meeting the sales staff that you normally talk over the phone with, and getting their views on products. In the past, once we've been around the show for a bit, get a quick coffee, sit and have chat about things, I generally make notes, once I start that, then the ideas start coming through. This happened on Monday, Lynn's not really seen this side of what I have done in my last role. So, out comes the pad, I have a solution for the knives in the cutlery drawer, the girls put them all over the place and it does get a bit cluttered, so the solution will be put in our kitchen and I'll show them on here, and will be for sale, made to measure for you to purchase. There was, more then ever, a lot of solid wood tops on show, and more detail on them, better corners, more rounds, larger radii and better finishes.

Our kitchen will be pulled out soon, I plan to reuse all of the units and doors, just shuffle them around a bit. We have solid Beech worktops and I will design the build around the most efficient use of this valuable stock. I don't really want to buy too much, and if I do, it will be second hand or left over from someone else's dream kitchen. My key words for this room will be reuse and recycle.


At the show

There was a lot of bars sat on top of units..



I love this shade, the normal view was simple dark shade, then inside was all of the detail,
as you can see, it was quite big..we have a similar shade that we haven't used here at this house, but was in our first house and it will be going above the diner end of the kitchen



These butchers blocks are all too common, and are wasting a lot of space in kitchens, this one was jutting out over a pedestal, if 75% or more is over a unit then it's not too bad. I think people are having them for the sake of it..something to show off.. I'm not a fan of these.



Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen
Another show, another celebrity, actually he was really funny,
I don't think he was on the schedule for the event, he wasn't in the program,
but we were passing the seminar theatre and wondered in, so funny though..
If you get a chance to see him then it's worth it.
Avocado bathroom suites might be making a come back...



magnetic catches, I will be using these in the future..



This has given us an idea for the cloakroom,
We were going to tile the floor and up the washbasin wall, but now, I think we will do something more like this, small round or pebble tiles, it will look good in a small space...



Pebbles.. displays eh..
or have you got pebbles on the floor in your bathroom?

send me a picture if you have, I'll put the best one on here.
Oh, I've just read through this and thought...we have a pebble in the bathroom.

.If you show me yours...


This is something that I do like, no plinth,
we can now see more of the floor and the space feels bigger,
I'll be doing this in the cloakroom with our wash unit



Offset boxes...lots of people are doing them...
this would have looked so much better if there was no plinth
oh well...

We were done in three hours, I think this show is smaller than previous shows, but it was packed with ideas and inspiration. 


Tuesday 6th

After taking a load of boxes out of the cloakroom and a trip to storage, I spent a couple of hours stripping the room of the washbasin unit and the toilet.

We had to go out a get a few things, so it was time to treat myself,

yes... after searching the web, a trip to Ikea and elsewhere, I bought this from a shop just a mile and a half away...



A whiteboard.. yes at last I have my own..
This was one of my main tools to explain to Designers, Engineers and Naval Architects,
a solution to whatever the problem was on that day, or hour...minute

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