Subject Kitchens

The Idea
The idea of being a broker puts these feelings to one side. Gathering a portfolio of options seemed to be the way forward, so I can have offerings across the price points, so you get the best for what you are happy to pay.

It's not so crazy, as a comparison, if you want insurance: car, home, pet, traditionally, you would have bought from an insurer. But your circumstances may not be that insurers speciality, so they will charge more, you only get the best deal they can offer. There was an element of insurers taking advantage of a captured market or your built-in loyalty.

With kitchens, in fact, I can take this a step further. If you wish, I can have the best options for individual doors, individual carcasses, specific worktops, and appliances. No element of your kitchen needs to have any restrictions, you can engineer your kitchen, exactly how you want it. Never again will you see your ideal door shape in that particularly desirable colour, only to be told that it's only available with a specific colour carcass.

The Solution
There’s no £1,000,000 showroom, but I do have up to the minute software, not the sheet of paper and a pack of highlighters that I had when I started all those years ago. The software can produce an image quite indistinguishable from the real thing. This and a Virtual Reality headset, makes a showroom obsolete in that you can see the kitchen that we created together, change things, colours, layout, and be sure of what you are buying, images can be shared so you can show family and friends.

I believe that my approach as a kitchen broker is the only approach that makes sense. It means I don't need to concentrate on being a salesman, trying to force the best I have on you, but concentrate on what you want and then sourcing it for the best price.

The Problem
I have worked for most of the people you may expect B&Q, Wickes, Andersons, Dream Doors, Howdens and most latterly, Wren, as well as a few independent outlets and even having my own shop opposite Carlisle Castle.

My problem is I enjoy selling kitchens, but I don't enjoy telling a customer they can't have something that there's no reason they shouldn't have, just because.

From each experience I have learned, and I keep learning. It's that accumulated experience which makes me feel qualified to be able to design and source the best kitchen for you from the huge assortment in the marketplace available to us.

It's impossible for one kitchen outlet to be constantly in-vogue or serve all tastes. But for a kitchen broker it's a different story.

Working for a company you can only sell that company's product. You, the customer are being blinkered, exposed only to a retailer's availability.

Knowing what I know, I became fed up with pretending that the customer was getting the best they could get for their money, there always seemed to be compromise built in.

• Subject Kitchens
• Complete Kitchens
• Doors only
• Cabinets Only
• Surfaces
• Appliances
• Sink & Taps
• Accessories
• Door Styles