New consumer research has revealed that kitchens and bathrooms rank high on the priority list for home improvements in 2023.
According to the results of Häfele UK’s ‘Functional Spaces: Homes for Living research almost half (45%) of the 2,000 UK consumers surveyed said they are planning home improvements within the next two years.
With rising interest rates taking the heat out of the property market and a tide of low rate fixed mortgages, thought to be in excess of 1 million, coming to an end in the coming 12-24 months there is a growing group of homeowners that are looking to both protect their home's value and improve their living conditions with home improvements.
With the home improvement market seeing a lot of turmoil during Covid, this is welcome news for the KBB sector specifically in that a new kitchen (23%) and bathroom renovations (21.4%) were among the top choices for those consumers planning home improvements.
Häfele UK, who are probably better know to the Kbb retailers than end consumers for their kitchen storage solutions also found that one in ten people do not like their current kitchen.
According to the study results, the most common motivator for a new kitchen was not having enough storage (28%) in their current kitchen.
Additionally, the size of the current kitchen was an motivating issue for a quarter of respondents who selected ‘too small’ as their biggest issue. Cluttered worktops (19%), damaged and tired cabinets (17%) and inaccessible cupboards and shelving (15%) were also frequent problems.
A quarter of consumers selected a style overhaul as the motivator for why they would update or have updated their kitchen. Quality improvements (23%) and lack of storage (19%) were second and third on the list.
However, with so many Kbb businesses closing their doors for good during the last 12 months and a cost of living crisis, that the Häfele UK was conducted in 2022 may not be as timely or positive an outlook.
Google searches for everything from 'german kitchens' to 'replacement kitchen doors' are way down in June, with a drop in excess of 50% since the Sep 2022 Lizz Truss mini-budget.
