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Kitchens
Symphony Kitchens
13
Oct
Oct
Written by Joe Bishop – KBBT Design Studios Sales & Support Manager
Green Kitchens
Understandably, the brand of your kitchen cupboards might not be something you’ve ever considered. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t a strong one behind who’s making them. Part of our showroom is demonstrating Symphony Kitchens, a privately owned UK company with a turnover of more than £350 million per year and 2,000 employees.
Symphony is the largest privately owned kitchen manufacturer in the UK. To prove it, they’re able to say that more than half of all new builds in the UK have a Symphony kitchen fitted. They outweigh all of their competitors combined.
Having recently been granted a tour of their warehouses, logistical operation and marketing suite, we’re letting you in behind the curtain on one of their key pillars.
Sustainability
A big part of Symphony’s brand is their sustainability pledge. Symphony has successfully eliminated unnecessary waste, and although segregated waste bins placed throughout the facility aren’t the most exciting ornaments to look at, when we visited earlier this summer our guide made a point to highlight them at every opportunity. It’s a big part of their business, and in 2022 they saved:
- Enough plastic to produce nearly 6.5 million carrier bags
- 7572 cubic metres of land waste (and in-turn, the land itself)
- The cardboard equivalent of 7,857 trees
The relationship between our guide, Andy and his bins also extends to cows and their milk (being from Jersey we know the importance of that). Excess chipboard is taken away and used for cow bedding to help them stay warm and dry, while also helping the scientific process of making milk. When the dirty bedding is removed, it then ends up back on the farmer’s land as fertilizer. Kitchens to chipboard to cows to fertilizer to trees to kitchens to chipboard. Ahhhh Zabenya.
Plastic and Timber
Symphony hits 100% in recycled materials usage on plastic cabinet legs, cardboard boxes and corner protectors. Six of their frontals attract the perfect score as well, and more than half of their cabinets are made from recycled materials. Any which don’t are sourced according to FSC Certification, ensuring timber comes from a well-managed forest, run in accordance with strict environmental, social and economic standards. 100% of their paint-to-order finishes are water-based too. Pretty impressive given their volume – they shift tens of thousands of units through the door every week.
Charles Darwin
Our memorable trip took us from Rotherham to Barnsley to Wakefield through some stunning Yorkshire scenery. We stayed at the Waterton Park Hotel – the ancestral home of Charles Waterton; a friend of Charles Darwin and creator of the world’s first nature reserve. As if there was any doubt about Symphony’s connection with the planet and nature.
As Gold Members of the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, they’re heavily involved in promoting biodiversity within their local community, and helping to conserve environmental sites that are used daily by fellow Yorkshire folk.
A great trip that Laura, Nachu, Silvio and I took great pleasure in being part of.
