Welcome to the SieMatic Club

Just over a year ago, when I explained to my family and friends that I had decided to open a new kitchen showroom dealing with,

one of the world's best known luxury brands, I got a variety of reactions, ranging from "good luck with that " to something, let's just say a bit more colourful from my mate Nigel.

I guess what they were getting at was whether or not starting a business aimed at what is sometimes called the "high end" - whatever that means - was not the most sensible thing to be doing as the country was struggling to come out of the worst recession in living memory.

So, I took on board what everyone said - and ignored them. The reason is this. I prefer the phrase "high quality" to "high end", and I firmly believe that if you offer the very highest quality at every level of your business you will attract a following and your client base will grow, irrespective of the economic environment. And this is exactly what we intend to do at Blagdon Kitchen Design - provide the very highest quality at all levels of our business.

The furniture, storage solutions, lighting, room design, customer service, installation and after sales are all equally important parts of the process. If over 35 years in the kitchen business has taught me one thing - it's that get one of these wrong and the rest become irrelevant.

Owners of a SieMatic kitchen should feel as if they have joined an exclusive club with lifetime membership, and in the next few articles I will explain precisely what the benefits of membership are.