Interview: Ligneous Kitchens

Interview with kitchen designers LIGNEOUS

Tell us a little about how you came to establish Ligneous Kitchens? I met my business partner in 2007 working for a mutual friend. We have both worked in the built environment for more than 20 years. We formed the idea for selling German kitchens in 2016, having a passion for luxury design and the precision that the German kitchen industry work to. After a little searching we found our wonderful showroom premises in Walton in Thames at the beginning of 2020 and spent the next year doing the design/build ourselves to create what we think is the finest kitchen showroom in the country.

How would you describe your style? Our style is contemporary and opulent, as well as tech savvy. We very much believe in the idea that the kitchen is where the real revolution in home automation is happening and should be the everyday hub for living our lives in this way.

Talk us through your customer process? We try to place the client very much at the centre of the ongoing design process. Our stated aim is to facilitate inspiration in our clients and thence to find a design that manifests that inspiration. Then we inject our know how and design expertise to show the client the full range of options regarding appliances and technology that will suit their lifestyle needs. We try to make sure the process is joined-up and coherent from start to finish, as would be expected from our German credentials. We want the client to feel that they are getting a design and functionality that truly speaks to them and their lifestyle.

What advice would you give to a client who wanted a kitchen that will work for them but also add value to their home? I would say that there might be two strands of thought. On the one hand, a beautiful German kitchen that is also built to last a lifetime has a cache and presence of its own that will inevitably add a sense of robust elegance to the living space. This is dependent on the taste of the prospective buyer however, so I would say, secondly, that maybe a good strategy would be to install a solid but unassuming German kitchen, with a view to a prospective sale, that complimented the house and space, making it attractive to a buyer, but then did not present a psychological barrier to a buyer wanting to put their own stamp on their new purchase once they had moved in.

What’s your favourite thing about working in this area of Surrey? I think, for me, my favourite thing is that I am still within a short train ride from town and yet the towns and villages are still relatively uncrowded and unspoilt. All in all it is a very pleasant and civilized part of the world to live in. It also sits squarely in our target demographic geographically with plenty of customers who want the quality of product that we sell at all of the price points that we sell at.