Kitchen Craft Design

Beautiful Kitchens, Designed for Life

I’m William Toon and I’m the owner and managing director of Kitchen Craft Design. My role is to really look at where the company is going in the future and making sure that we still maintain profitability as well as expanding.

I actually took it over from my father, who unfortunately passed away in 2020, but I took over in 2013 and there was probably up to a year where neither of us were sure who was in charge!

Kitchen Craft at that time had three or four staff. I’d had previous businesses, but the recession and bits and bobs took their toll on them. They hadn’t disappeared.

From Local Family Business to Five Showrooms

We started with myself, Tracy, who was our company secretary, two designers, and a part-time delivery lad. We had half of this showroom, a 2,000 square foot showroom with a little bit of warehousing across the road, and we grew it quite quickly.

I was really excited about it and was able to work all the hours and all that stuff—from selling the kitchens, to designing the kitchens, to delivering the kitchens and helping out on everything. There was no excess, no fat.

We opened up seven days a week and I was working seven days a week, but at 23, 24, you could work every hour, go in and not have any responsibilities. We grew and we grew, and it became this showroom as you see it now, effectively from about 2016.

Now it’s going to be five showrooms in total, encompassing Kitchen Craft Design, Peak Kitchens and Appliances at Bakewell, and Derbyshire Kitchen Company, which is another showroom in Chesterfield just across the road.

Making a helpful difference

We have to take customers all the way from walking in not having any idea what they want, to showcasing things they’ve not even thought about.

You have to get to know them, work out what they want, extract their requirements, understand their style, and then put that together in a package within their budget.

It’s interesting and I really, really enjoy it. I’m looking forward to the next few years and what they bring.

It’s a good industry to be in, we feel, because it’s not as exciting as selling supercars maybe, but it’s a bit more exciting than selling pens. There’s something in between. There’s a lot of design element.

Resilience through COVID chaos

I was away skiing with friends at the start of March 2020. We were there when COVID shut everything down and we had to get back. When I got back, I had to isolate at my house for two weeks.

I didn’t have my dad to rely on, and then COVID hit and we were shut down. Everyone has their own COVID stories, but it was difficult.

We thought, how long can we pay everyone in full? I told everyone I’d pay them no matter what. We worked out we could go all year, but the next year might be a problem.

Luckily, they brought out furlough about a week later, and I thought thank God, because I’d already promised everyone I’d keep paying them!

It was tricky because we had customers halfway through kitchen fits. We’d ripped someone’s kitchen out and suddenly couldn’t continue. It was a difficult time balancing staff safety and customer needs.

Adapting to semiconductor shortages

Then in 2022, with the Ukraine and Russia situation, there were semiconductor shortages which massively affected appliances. We had big shortages, and you can’t finish kitchens without key components.

That caused delays, unhappy customers, and cash flow challenges. Since then, we changed our process—we now order everything immediately and hold stock to avoid those issues.

You just can’t rely on the supply chain anymore. It’s more complex now than when I started in 2013.

Reflecting on a successful journey

I think you always want more. When I started, I always wanted to grow, get bigger, push more. But now I understand you have to take stock.

Where we are now, I would have killed for 10 years ago. We’ve gone from one showroom and four staff to five showrooms, over 20 staff, millions in turnover, and we’re profitable every year.

You’ve got to be happy with that, while still pushing forward—but with more balance now, especially since having kids.We’re one of the biggest independents in the area. Not many have more than one showroom, let alone five.

We’re now winning bigger contracts - sites with 70 or 100 houses - which we couldn’t have done a few years ago. Now we’ve got the team, the systems, and the financial capability to handle it.

Working with Gravitate

It's been fantastic. We've had around two full years with Gravitate now, and it's worked out incredibly well.

Not only do they look after Kitchen Craft Design, but they also look after the three other businesses that we have - Toon Properties for the property work that we do, or our new kitchen showroom called Peak Kitchens in Bakewell.

Nothing’s too much, really. I can ring Tom at five o’clock and he’ll answer, or he’ll ring me back. It’s stuff like that I think I previously missed out on. I didn’t have that relationship with my previous accountant.

Other accountants might do the jobs that you ask them to do, but they don’t do the stuff that you’re not asking them to do.

And that is really critical as a business owner, because you are so busy running your own business. You’re in your own little world. But you do need that backup to advise and help you with things. That can be very critical to the business.

Client FD Tom South and the wider Gravitate team work in close partnership with Kitchen Craft Design to help them know their numbers and boost financial resilience. Here's how!

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