Quality Defined
The Oxford English Dictionary gives the following definition:-
Quality – “The standard of something as measured against other things of a similar kind; the degree of excellence of something “.
I think this two part definition is very interesting and relevant to the increasingly competitive fitted kitchen market. To dissect the notion of quality even further we can look at quality of product and quality of service as two separate issues.
The quality of some thing, as opposed to a service, can be very difficult to define or explain. What makes one car better quality than another? Mercedes and Ford both make excellent cars, but one is more expensive than the other and generally has a longer useful life expectancy. The reasons are often hidden from view or at least not immediately obvious. When explaining to clients why a particular kitchen layout works well it can easily be demonstrated using graphics. However, start explaining the different densities of the various layers of carcass materials, or how many rivets are used in wall unit support brackets and clients eyes can sometimes glaze over. It’s just not that interesting.
However, I think these hidden qualities are very important and can help explain why two products which on the face of it can look very similar can have very different price points. Our colleagues at the SieMatic factory in Germany take this issue very seriously, in fact so seriously that they have produced an 80 page, ring-bound folder explaining in detail exactly what makes a SieMatic kitchen such exceptionally high quality. The booklet has the catchy title 'SieMatic Plus Points' and we keep a copy at our showroom in Blagdon available for clients to browse through at leisure.
Moving on to the quality of service what do we mean by that? At Raven Kitchen Design we feel just as strongly about the service we offer as our suppliers feel about the quality of their products. We are totally committed to client satisfaction, before, during and after the process of creating and installing a new kitchen. We are a family business and as such your kitchen will be designed by either myself or my daughter Hannah rather than a commission driven salesperson. One of us will personally oversee every aspect of the installation from delivery to hand-over and once the kitchen is installed we are always on hand to deal with any after-care issues which may arise from time to time. And even if we don’t hear anything we will often just call in for a coffee and a chat to make sure everything is as it should be.
A new kitchen is a major investment decision and we work together with our clients to ensure they make the correct choices for them. We believe our hands-on approach to customer service, coupled with the superb quality of the furniture we install is a unique combination. After all it’s our name above the door. That’s important to us.
