As I sat and watched the news last night, aghast at the devastation being wrought, it was the human stories – the ones that the rioters care not one jot about – that really struck home. As an independent kitchen retailer the news story that really resonated with me was the fire at the ‘House of… read more
In the latest of a series of occasional guest blogs written by Kieron Hayes, friend of Nicholas Hythe Kitchen Design Studio, he looks at the concept of ‘Community’ rather than ‘Corporate’ Social Responsibility and shows how small businesses can turn what they’re already doing into a way of helping grow their business. It’s been around since the 60s… read more
Running a small business means everybody in the team has to be prepared to get stuck in when required. Whilst there is – and has to be – a decision-making hierarchy, nobody in the Nicholas Hythe Kitchen Design Studio world is allowed to think that any job needing doing is beneath them! As a result one of the roles… read more
As regular readers of our blogs know, we’re big fans of technology – especially if it can help make lives easier, interesting or more fun. As a result I ‘follow’ a number of Tweeters on Twitter who write about the subject (as well as kitchens of course!) and I came across an article from BusinessInsider that… read more
I’ve had two emails from kitchen suppliers in China during this past week. One from an exotically named ‘Lolita’ and the other, I kid you not, from a ‘Bruce Lee’! Lolita’s email stated ‘We are specializing in manufacturing kitchen cabinet, wardrobe & bathroom cabinet in China, with good quality and competitive price’ before asking ‘Please contact us… read more
Watching the BBC’s ‘Newsnight’ earlier this week one of the politicians being interviewed advocated the reduction of VAT to 5% on home improvements as an immediate way of boosting the rather lacklustre GDP growth figures that had been announced that day. As you can imagine my ears pricked up immediately! The opportunity to reduce the VAT… read more
In the second of our blogs timed to coincide with the start of the kids’ summer holidays this week – and in complete contrast to our first one extolling the virtues of making Marshmallow Crispies – we wanted to explore the issue of child safety in the kitchen and to offer up some measures that… read more
Today’s blog is guest written by Kieron Hayes, friend of Nicholas Hythe Kitchen Design Studio and PR genius! This article was originally publised in the UK version of the online newspaper ‘The Huffington Post’ on 21st July 2011. You can’t escape it it seems. Everywhere you look it’s Rupert this, Rebekah’s resignation that and Andy the other…. read more
How the most important room in the home can help solve a government problem. According to the Office of National Statistics ‘the population of the UK is ageing. Over the last 25 years the percentage of the population aged 65 and over increased from 15 per cent in 1985 to 17 per cent in 2010,… read more
A note of support for our fantastic suppliers. As any entrepreneur will tell you, running a business is hard! As you might expect we spend a lot of management time working on activities designed to grow awareness with potential customers, drive sales and reduce cost. But, equally, we focus a lot of time ensuring we deliver… read more
