A Tradition of Kitchen Design and Manufacture
Germany is the birthplace of the fitted kitchen, where architects and designers such as Bruno Taut and Maragrete Schutte-Lihotzk (the designer of the famous Frankfurt kitchen) lived and worked in the early parts of the 20th century. Enlightened designers and institutions such as Bauhaus embraced modern production techniques and scientific approaches to ergonomics and design, creating what we would now recognise as a unit or 'fitted kitchen'.
Led by early producers such as Poggenpohl, German companies started to produce these kitchens in ever-increasing quantities, for both the domestic and export markets. As these kitchens were now being sold abroad and separately from the manufacturer, this in turn created a need for professional kitchen designers who possessed the key knowledge of available cabinet sizes as well as the ability to accurately plan these in relation to the intended room.
Manufacturing Innovation. Collectively, German industry and the 'Mittelstand' companies in particular were early to adopt automation and total quality management philosophies; an approach that continues to this day. For example, despite turning over e350m, Hacker kitchens Gmbh is still a privately owned company, committed to long term sustainable investment. It is the focus on innovation that has created a process of continuous improvement and refinement in product quality; for example it was a German kitchen manufacturer that first introduced a ten coat lacquering process. Laterally, the German kitchen manufacturers have been the first to create industry wide quality standards and environmental controls. The intense competition between the manufacturers themselves' has fuelled this process further still and mean that high quality suppliers of components such as hinges and drawer runners have grown to support the cabinet manufacturers.
A Unique Domestic Market Place.
Despite being one of the wealthiest countries in the world Germany has a relatively low degree of homeownership, just 42% versus 69% in the UK. Therefore rented accommodation is far more common, although contrary to the UK, a German family renting a property will own their own kitchen and take it with them when they leave! The German consumer is by comparison far more quality-orientated than their more price conscious British counterparts and demand kitchen furniture that can endure being installed, removed, transported and reinstalled on several occasions. For this reason if a kitchen manufacturer is to succeed in Germany, they must be able to demonstrate a very high level of engineering excellence! Furthermore as all of their kitchens are produced in the same factory, any kitchen exported to the UK will have been engineered to a standard far higher than needed for most British families who will use the kitchen in only one home.
It is through a combination of history, technical expertise and unique domestic market place that German Kitchen manufacturers have been propelled into their current position as undisputed global market leaders in Kitchen furniture manufacture, and consumers can continue to look forward to the latest innovations coming from these industry leaders.