AFP Furniture Production, a business division of Julius Berger Nigeria, is using a model that fuses furniture production with appliance sourcing to deliver the modular kitchen goals trending in luxury demand.
Under collaboration with Miele Nigeria, an organisation that focuses on the supply of premium domestic range of appliances, AFP ensures that kitchen layout designs are tailored to house smart devices in functional and flexible positions.
BusinessDay check on AFP’s recently launched showroom at the heart of Victoria Island saw a smart cooking space built with fit-for-purpose cabinets, accentuated by dishwasher, oven, cooking hoods, microwaves and a mini dining arena among other handy devices.
The sharp layout reflects a departure from a core cooking arena where nothing but essential food preparation was performed to a centre filled with an expression of lifestyle preference and fashion statement.
Observers of interior design trends believe that while consumers with modern orientation want to simplify cooking processes using high-end gadgets for efficiency, they equally want to bond in interaction.
As a result, the modular embrace has seen kitchen concepts split into wet and dry sections.
The dry modular kitchen, on the one hand, typically includes all the latest gadgets for built-in kitchen appliances like a built-in three-door refrigerator, wine chiller, built in coffee machine, warming drawer, built in combi oven or an induction hob. The wet section doubles as a guest dining table or bar table, having a little breakfast counter table for instance and sometimes a television set. The layout affords the opportunity to do away with the greasing and untidiness that comes with food items
The dry kitchen, on the other hand, focuses purely on the moisture or greasiness that comes with preparing food items that need a lot of cleaning like meat, chicken or fish. The design is however structured in a fashion that prevents water from seeping into cabinetry from the countertop and sink area.
Modular kitchen, otherwise known as ready-to-install kitchen cabinets market is one of the fastest growing segments in the kitchen furnishings markets across the globe, according to Research Nester.
Kitchen market is anticipated to record a significant 7.5 percent compound annual growth rate between 2018 and 2027 on the rising trend of shifting modular kitchen structures across the globe with advanced functional features.
The rising urbanization in developing nations and modification for interiors in developed countries is also expected to boost the market during the forecast period.
Many multi-national companies are concentrating on new technological advances in ready to install kitchen cabinets, especially as the rising food and service industry across the globe accounts for the rising demand of modular ready to install kitchen cabinets.
TEMITAYO AYETOTO
