The kbbreview Podcast

Welcome to the kbbreview Podcast, this is a very special bonus episode of the show where we get to introduce you to our friends at Hanex UK.

Hanex is, of course, the solid surface from global manufacturing giant Hyundai. And, here, its official distributor is Hanex UK. Based in Southampton, they work with fabricators, architects, interior designers and, of course, kitchen and bathroom retailers and designers to specify its wide range of colours and applications.

Now, given the global reach of the Hanex brand, the Hanex UK story is actually a very personal one of family, friendship, ambition and determination and we're going to hear it from managing director Jake Naylor and contracts manager Fraser Moon.

Hanex UK is the official distributor of Hanex solid surface in the UK and you can find all about the range, colours and services they offer at hanex.uk or you can give them a call on 01329 888 365.

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Welcome to the kbbreview Podcast, your host is Andy Davies and we're back with a brand new season. 

That's right, we're heading into the summer with another bumper crop of episodes that we're going to unimaginatively call Season Nine.

And what a guest to kick it all off with - we're talking to a proper KBB legend - Roger Cooper.

As of the end of June, he's finally retired, closing the book on a 53 year career...and this time, he says he means it. 

He retired from Ideal Standard, the company he joined in 1970, a dozen years ago but came back to join the board at Bathroom Brands just a few months later.

He is, without doubt, a hugely experienced figure in this sector and as the market enters yet another period of turmoil, the chance to pick his brains just one more time seems too good an opportunity to miss.

So where is the market now? How does it compare to other economic woes he's been through? What needs to happen next? And what is the future for the big name bathroom sector?

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Welcome to the kbbreview Podcast, your host as always is Andy Davies and this is Episode 10 of Season 8 - that makes it the last episode of this season but don't worry,  we'll be back towards the end of July with Season Nine.

And for this triumphant finale we're going to celebrate by talking about something thoroughly depressing - mortgages. Let's be honest, interest rates are going up and up and as repayments go through the roof, people's willingness to fund their new kitchen or bathroom this way is going down and down.

So, I'll be talking to mortgage expert and friend of the show Iain Swatton and, hopefully, he'll be able to give us some light at the end of the tunnel

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Hello and welcome to this very special bonus episode of The kbbreview Podcast brought to you with the help of our very good friends at Cyncly.

As you know, Cyncly is the name of the company that came out of the merger between the two software giants of Compusoft and 2020. It now also includes Virtual Worlds in that suite of products as well as EQ and Winner of course.

That means there is every chance that you're using at least one Cyncly product in your day-to-day business. 

So what is the Cyncly story? What does it mean for you as users? And what 's coming in the future as this new entity continues to develop and grow.

We're getting the full lowdown from Alex Ainge and Ben Roberts...

To find out everything you need to know about Cyncly, head along to cyncly.com 

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Welcome to Episode Nine of Season Eight of The kbbreview Podcast,  your host as always is Andy Davies.

Today we're looking at what has become a real growth area for the kitchen retail market - and we could definitely do with some of that at the moment - and that's Outdoor Kitchens.

They've shot up in popularity since we all took a new interest in the totality of our home during lockdown and, for customers with a few bob, they're looking to utilise their outdoor space as much as indoors when it comes to entertaining and cooking.

So,  kbbreview's Chris Frankland has been talking to two retailers who are already doing it to great success - old friend of the show Richard Hibbert from KSL in Sudbury and Richard Kingston from Bell of Northampton.

This is packed with loads of advice on starting out, choosing suppliers, targeting consumers, working with landscapers and much more.

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Welcome to the kbbreview Podcast,  your host is Andy Davies and this is Episode Eight of Season Eight. 

Today we're talking stone, it's a material that's so common in premium kitchens - and bathrooms sometimes too of course - especially in the form of engineered quartz.

So we're going to ask two really important questions today - firstly, do designers and retailers really understand how to use stone, the properties the different types have, and how it should be installed and maintained?

And secondly, we're going to look at the dangers of fabricating stone  in the form of silicosis, a horrible lung disease caused by breathing in the silica dust created when it's being cut. It is, as the Daily Mail described it, 'the oldest occupational disease in the world' but even in 2023 it can be controversial.

That's particularly true in Australia where, earlier this year, the government got another step closer to BANNING engineered stone because of an alarming rise in cases of silicosis among stone masons and fabricators. 

In fact, silicosis has been called a 'public health crisis' in that country.

However, those that make it -  and those that are involved in the professional fabrication of it - have said that all the safety precautions available are more than sufficient and the issue is about whether or not they're followed, not whether the material itself is intrinsically dangerous.

But alarmist Daily Mail headlines like 'Trendy quartz kitchen worktops are fuelling a resurgence of the 'world's oldest occupational disease' among stone masons that can lead to chest infections and lung cancer' does not help consumer confidence.

So, last week Andy went off to the ExCel centre in London to visit the Natural Stone Show and the Hard Surfaces show where he caught up with Andy Phillips, the director of fabricator Affordable Granite in Surrey as well as being one of the founders of the Worktop Fabricators Federation.

As you can imagine, that organisation has a lot to say about stone, silicosis and how much retailers do or don't understand. 

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Welcome to The kbbreview Podcast, this is Episode Seven of Season Eight and your host as always is Andy Davies.

It's another nuts and bolts episode this week as we look at what retailers think and do about consumers who are shopping around. 

Everyone is told to get several quotes for any big job, but for kbb retailers that often means wasting significant time working on quotes or designs that you know are probably going nowhere.

How do different retailers handle these situations, and what happens when the customer gets out plans drawn up by another retailer and asks for a better price?

But theres no time wasting here in this episode, it's just half an hour of very insightful and knowledgeable discussion with two returning podcast guests - Nathan Damarell from KF Kitchens in Plymouth and Nick Warrington from Stuart J Warrington in Macclesfield.

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Welcome to The kbbreview Podcast, this is Episode Six of Season Eight and your host as always is Andy Davies.

It's a very hot topic this week as we talk about artificial intelligence or A.I. 

It's incredible technology, but what might it mean for kitchen and bathroom designers now and in the future. Is it going to take your job? Or is it going to be an invaluable tool that you can use to not only enhance your skills but also your ability to give your clients what they want and more.

We're very lucky to have architect, interior designer and  A.I. enthusiast Alan Crawford as our very special guest.

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Welcome to The kbbreview Podcast, your host is Andy Davies and this is Episode Five of Season Eight. 

Today, we're looking at one of the most fundamental questions a potential customer can ask a kitchen or bathroom retailer - how much is it going to cost?

More specifically, how do different retailers answer that question? How do they turn it into an effective conversation starter about price and budget?

And is 'how much have you got?' ever the right answer?

Joining me to talk it all through we have Roxanne Baker from Olympus Bathrooms in Kent and  old friend of the show Luke Wedgbury from Coalville Kitchens in Leicestershire.

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Welcome to The kbbreview Podcast, your host is Andy Davies and today while you maybe anticipating a normal episode, we promise that we're going to totally exceed your expectations and deliver something beyond your imagination.

Well, sort of.

That's our topic for today anyway, we'll be talking about how kitchen and bathroom designers go beyond the client's brief and really stretch both their own design skills but also the expectations of the person who's going to use that room everyday.

It's all about that part of the designer's skill that is managing the client - pushing their ideas beyond what they could've imagined, but also convincing them that it's a practical idea they can live with. This is where design skills meet people skills and it's an absolutely fascinating area to explore.

It was actually a theme that came out of this year's kbbreview Retail & Design Awards judging sessions where judges repeatedly found themselves praising entries that had stretched the client's expectations.

So who better to talk about it than two of our design award winners? We have Kia Stanford from Kia Designs in London and Kate Lusty from Elementi Cucina in Cardiff and they'll be talking to kbbreview editor Rebecca Nottingham.

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