KBB SHOW 2022: PART 2 OF OUR BLOG FROM THE NEC

At most KBB shows we spend time hanging out with people we know. I guess most people do! In our case, that generally means time spent with quartz people and our regular sink suppliers the 1810 Company. But 1810 missed the KBB show this year, and so did Cambria and Cosentino/Silestone, and I suspect that made us all a bit more adventurous in the stands where we spent our time. This week’s blog looks at some of the products and innovations that can complement quartz or granite worktops to enhance the practicality and beauty of your kitchen.

Pantry at the show by Daniel George Kitchens of Ireland – beautifully done, even if we wince at the maintenance of those wooden worktops! 😉

Peter Brook on the S-Box stand at the KBB Show

We have been aware of S-Box for some time. I think it was Fran Hickmott of Novella Designs who first specified one of these unusual pop-up sockets in a kitchen we did for her. Unlike standard pop-ups, where the top of the socket is generally a round, metallic plate, the S-Box has a lid designed to be finished with the worktop material. When closed, they blend right in – the “chameleon socket” is about right! Fitting an S-Box is obviously a bit fiddlier for us to do, but the results repay the effort.

In addition to the aesthetics, S-Box sockets have a number of enviable features that you won’t find anywhere else – or at least, not yet. We like the products, and, as a result of our conversations with Peter Brook, the MD, in the course of the KBB Show, we are looking to actively promote these exciting designs. Watch this space!

Part of the S-Box display at KBB Birmingham. Peter has plugs for many electrical standards across the world, so can export across a wide range of markets. Don’t worry, the UK is included!

S-Box retracted

Two beautiful innovations in one when it comes to USB charging:

1. S-Box USB sockets operate at a range of current outputs, allowing rapid charging of today’s more power-hungry batteries. Anyone who has ever waited long hours for an old trickle-charge pop-up will value this.
2. S-Box USB sockets are, incredibly, now being fitted with a genuinely universal USB – you can plug in with the lead either way up! I suspect there is not one person reading this who won’t see the benefit of that!

I look forward to further innovations from S-Box, and for the chance to promote these products in tandem with our granite and quartz worktops. Anything which enhances the usefulness of the kitchen is good in my book, and I think that Peter Brook is onto a winner!

Andy and spent a fair amount of time on the NOVY stand. I confess that this product range was new to me – I am sure that they have been at the KBB show before, but I was probably too busy looking at new quartz from Cambria or Silestone. Suffice to say that we felt our time was well spent. Two specific types of product caught our eye – the neatest built-in rising extractor hobs we have yet seen, and the NOVY range of gas hobs, which can be fitted directly into solid stone worktops.

The NOVY Panorama range features a built-in rising extractor fan. These are available from other manufacturers – as are separate tower extractors which require a second slot – see our Paisley Gold case study from a few years back. What makes the NOVY extractor special is the neatness when it is out of sight – and the silence when it is in operation and moving. Even more striking for us is available space in the kitchen unit beneath. We have seen many extractor setups where the space required to house all the gubbins in the carcase beneath the hob has obliterated any other usefulness. The Panorama is the first product we have seen that works in such a neat slot at the back of the unit that you are still left with a 400mm useable drawer in front of it! That is so impressive. 

The other NOVY products that really drew our attention were their range of gas hobs which can be fitted directly into a granite worktop. A full hob assembly can be created using multiple burners, or a single wok burner could operate on its own in the stone alongside an induction or other electrical hob.

This kind of hob arrangement takes granite worktops to the next level. Suitable for stones that can withstand a degree of localised heating (which means granite or sintered particle materials like Dekton), I can see benefits in terms of cleaning and practicality, as well as the simple aesthetics of having hobs coming straight out of your top. Lovely design – I look forward to photographing Affordable Granite installations with cutouts for NOVY gas hobs.

Cassie and Naomi (on the Sunday) and Andy and I (on the Monday) spent a good deal of time on the Leyton Lighting stand. Recent trends in kitchen design have had lighting right at the forefront, and that has had an impact on us in the solid stone worktop business. How do you fit undercounter lighting to a worktop as unyielding as Nero Assoluto granite? Leyton have the technology, and we look forward to developing our relationship with them further. 

The first reason we like Leyton’s undercounter lighting products is that they have a strip which can be chased into the underside of the worktop in a channel only 4mm wide. That is a game-changer for us as we can make a 4mm channel with a single pass of the router.

For customers wanting the security of a grooved lighting strip, a single router pass means less workshop time and reduced labour costs. This is the most inexpensive approach to fitting grooved LED lighting that we have been able to offer thus far. 

Routing a groove isn’t the only – or cheapest – option, though. Leyton can supply us with stick-on LED strips (see case study) that can be made for any specification of kitchen, and can run into every kind of shape and curve. They can also offer LED strips in a wide range of colour temperatures.

My feeling is that, like Southern Counties Glass splashbacks and S-Box sockets, Leyton Lighting products may become a significant option for our customers over coming days.

All and all it was a good show for us – much to be seen and learned, many new friends to be made, and a lot of stimulus in our thinking about kitchens and especially about quartz and granite worktops. In my case, that means lots of material for blogs too. I will draw a line there for today – but don’t be surprised if images from KBB Show Birmingham 2022 crop up in articles on all aspects of kitchen and worktop design over the next few months!