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Many of you have asked me for a ‘top 10 list’ of European kitchen companies. Being that in my mind ‘Top 10′ is not just about company size and/or sales volume (especially in today’s economy…) I’m still working on that list for you and sooner or later it will be posted.
In the mean time, with the help of a good friend (thank you, A.S.), I was able to come up with the list of the largest companies in the European kitchen brands for you.

                                               
The difficult part about coming up with such a list is how do you measure size, or I should say - by what parameters. I see, some European companies are actually part of a Group - they own several kitchen brands/factories, not necessarily all in the same country (!). Some manufacture kitchens but also sell retail, through a chain of factory owned stored. They may produce less kitchens, then another company, but if you add their retail sales, to their wholesale figures and then add appliances (manufactured by appliance companies, counters and even labor, the comparison is simply not easy.

So with the above in mind, the only way to create the list (without going nuts) is really just by total sales figures (Europeans like to use the term - ‘Turnover’). So here is the list:

1. Nobia Group (Sweden) - There are many companies in this group, like Poggenpohl and Pronorm (Germany), HTH (Denmark), Marbodal (Sweden), Sigdal (Norway), EWE (Austria), plus, they also have a retail-network in the group - Magnet (UK).
2. Nobilia (Germany) - one company.
3. Alno Group - Alno, Wellmann, Pino and Impuls (Germany).
4. Cuisine Schmidt (France) - including a retail-network.
5. Häcker (Germany) - one company.
6. Nolte (Germany) - one company.
7. Mobalpa (France) - including a retail-network.
8. Schüller (Germany) - one company.
9. Bauformat Group - Bauformat and Burger (Germany).
10. Snaidero Group - Snaidero (Italy), Rational (Germany and including retail-networks like Ixina and Cuisine-Plus.

Some intresting facts:

•  The majority of the companies, in the above list, are from Germany and the Scandinavian countries.  In that part of Europe, the groups (or concerns) are very typical and have been around since before Columbus discovered America… (no joke!).
• The only Italian company is in the tenth spot - unlike the northern Europeans, in the southern part of Europe, the opposite is more common - smaller companies, privately owned and operated. Even inside Italy, the more south you go, the smaller and more family owned and operated the companies are. With that said, there are a lot more Italian kitchen companies operating and selling kitchens, then there are German and Scandinavian combined…
• If we only consider single factory sales, without retail sales and/or other companies in the Group, the largest one is Nobilia, from Germany, then  Häcker, Nolte and Schüller, from Germany.
• This list is not guaranteed, as many companies do not publish their sales figures but is fairly close to reality. Also, the list can change in one day, if one of the groups decides to sell off a factory or two, or in return, to acquire a couple of brands.

I just had to ’stick’ that line in there - if you don’t remember, it is from Beverly Hills Cop, when Serge (Bronson Pinchot), who was working at the art gallery, is offering Det. Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy) a cup of espresso.

When this movie came out, the espresso ‘craze’ was already at full swing - everyone were getting the personal espresso machines that set on the counter, in the kitchen and usually made very mediocre espresso, at best.

Then, about 7-8 years ago, Miele came out with the first built-in espresso maker. One that gets built into the cabinetry, the same way a wall oven does. High end kitchens were never the same, after that… Even if you were not a coffee drinker, you had to get one of these babies put into your kitchen or your kitchen was just not ‘it’!

Miele espresso system

With the push of one button, you get an excellent cup of espresso and as long as you use good coffee and fresh water, your espresso (or cappuccino) will as good as any coffee shop out there, maybe even better.

Miele coffee machine warming drawer

Within a couple of years, several other brands have come out with their own built in coffee makers - Gaggenau, Dacor, Kuppersbusch and others, all have their own but Miele have definitely ‘cornered’ this segment of the market. Being the first and now offering more choices, sizes and a great service put them up front. You can now get one that is capsules driven or stick to the whole bean system. You can get a unit that is plumbed in or one that needs to be refilled. You can add a warming drawer, to keep your cups warm or just a matching drawer to store your coffee and accessories. You can even get a coffe maker that is reduced in depth, to fit into a standard wall cabinet.

Gaggenau coffee maker

An Exclusive Tip for European Kitchen Design Readers!!! - If you just want an excellent espresso maker and are not ready for a new kitchen, you can just purchase the same machine, but the counter model, that is as good as the built in one or perhaps even a newer model.  The espresso maker, inside the Miele coffee maker, is made by a company named Saeco, who makes some of the best espresso machines in the market.