The 10 largest European Kitchen Companies
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 Denmark, 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.
[...] European suppliers of high-quality fitted kitchens. As a matter of fact, Häcker is today the second largest single European kitchen company (not counting kitchen groups, with several companies under one corporate [...]
Pingback by european-kitchen-design.com » Häcker Küchen - Family owned Giant! — March 10, 2009 @ 1:44 pm
Nobilia kitchens can be found in the UK at Kutchenhaus.
Comment by Kitchens — March 14, 2009 @ 10:38 pm
BEST EU KITCHENS!!
Just a suggestion to add to your list the company below; SHEER VALUE FOR MONEY
My name is Athina Markantoni and as I said on the phone I work for one of the biggest Italian furniture factories COLOMBINI Group (200,000 m2 of production) (http://www.colombinigroup.com/ ).
COLOMBINI Group with more than 5,000 sales points worldwide offers top quality, Italian design products at the best possible price. The quality, variety (6 different lines, including bedrooms, children’s rooms, dining rooms, sofas, fitted kitchens and wardrobes) design and price of COLOMBINI makes it an unprecedented partner, leading to success.
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Athina - thanks for your suggestion. Being that I’m trying to stick to facts and to be as a accurate and as informative as possible, I must reply to your comment - the list is of the 10 largest kitchen producers in Europe - Colombini (Artec) is not one of them and is really more of a large furniture company, that happens to also produce kitchens. In addition, I will not refer to Colombini as a “top quality” product - it is a company driven by price point and the quality is not exactly one of its strengths…
Comment by Athina Markantoni — May 6, 2009 @ 9:06 am
Dear,
I really appreciated the job you done in this site which you have consolidated the all the kitchen companies data who are really a incrediable productivity in terms of kitchens espacially Europeans, THANKS.
i have went through few of these companies web and their product pictures really i liked it.
Basically i am from Middleast -Saudi Arabia, one of furniture manufacturer of classic sofas, and since i have been through this modern new kitchen concept and got very much interested seriously to start to make it in our factory. but i have went through many webs i didn’t find the any training material or videos to learn how to make modern kitchen like eropean style. could any one help me in this regard please. and will be really appreciate.
my add naqheel@yahoo.com
thank you & best regards to all of you.
naqheel
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Dear Naqheel,
Thanks for the compliments.
Regarding the ‘training material or videos to learn how to make modern kitchen like European style’ - unless you are looking for information, to start building cabinets as a hobby, I must say that this is an unusual question - manufacturing cabinetry, at the level and quality of these companies is not a hobby but rather a very serious business. Some of these brands have a very long tradition and history, dating back 50 and as much as 100 years! Their suppliers of parts (doors, hardware, etc.) are also established companies and they too have many years of experience.
There are ‘do it yourself’ types of instructional web sites out there, such as Wood Shop Demos and ‘do it yourself’ books (see Amazon’s selection) but I truly doubt that this will allow you to build European cabinetry like these brands.
I hope this was helpfull.
All the best.
kitchenguy
Comment by naqheel — August 5, 2009 @ 8:20 am
My name is Dorothy from Nigeria, Africa. Thank you for the information.
I just started doing fitted kitchen business in my home country and my clientelle is growing.
However, I know I still have a lot to learn in this business and Im looking for a place where
I can take some short courses and get some formal training in the fitted kitchen business.
Your suggestions will be highly appreciated.
Thanks again.
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Hi Dorothy,
You’re very welcome.
In several countries, in Europe, they offer actual design schools - some in Germany, Italy and I’m sure that other countries offer them too.
Good luck!
kitchenguy
Comment by Dorothy — August 11, 2009 @ 6:21 pm
Working in South Africa in The 2 biggest kitchen companies, Require a job to expand myself.
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Hi Quinton,
Not sure that I understand your question/Comment - are you looking for a new job? Where?
kitchenguy
Comment by Quinton — October 15, 2009 @ 6:51 am
Nobila kitchens supplied throughout Kent and the South East of England by Kitchen Solutions Kent
Comment by Nick — November 5, 2009 @ 10:07 am
[...] statement, Thursday, Feb. 25th, 2010, Nobia AB chief, Mr. Preben Bager announced that Nobia (the world’s largest manufacturer and seller of kitchens), sold the Pronorm brand and their 50% shares of Culinoma to the Dutch retailer Mandemakers. Nobia [...]
Pingback by european-kitchen-design.com » Nobia to sell off Pronorm! — March 2, 2010 @ 5:18 pm
This article was a great read, very interesting to learn about the different companies involved within the fast growing kitchen industry.A job well done.
Comment by kitchens online — March 2, 2010 @ 11:28 pm