Devon kitchen company goes bust owing £744,000

Just two years ago it said 'the future is promising'

A made-to-order kitchen design and manufacturing company has gone bust. KCM Kitchens and its sister company, Kettle Co Kitchens, have entered liquidation.

The manufacturing company based at Clyst St Mary near Exeter and with other retail showrooms in Plymouth and Cornwall owes £744,623.82. It owes £219,000 to HM Revenue and Customers among sums owed to an additional 70 companies listed as creditors.

KCM Kitchens, incorporated in April 2021, was a furniture manufacturer supplying made-to-order kitchens and furniture across the UK. It employed more than 25 people and operated from a site at Langdon Business Park. This site is now listed as 'permanently closed' as are its retail showrooms, as CornwallLive reports.

The showroom websites have been shut down and phone numbers for each branch have been disconnected. Any previous posts on its Facebook pages have all been deleted. The Plymouth and Cornwall showrooms were located inside HBH Woolacotts stores, which has been contacted for comment.

Both companies have been wound up voluntarily. Luke Venner and Malcolm Rhodes, of Bishop Fleming LLP, have been appointed as joint liquidators of KCM Kitchens LTD and Kettle Kitchens Limited. The commencement of winding up was started on September 14.

In its most recent accounts, filed for the financial year of 2022, Kettle Co described it as a "transformative year" saying it had experienced losses. It said: "It is crucial to clarify that Kettle Kitchens Ltd, our retail arm, has remained profitable throughout this period".

However, the company overview says KCM Kitchens, the manufacturing facility, had faced challenges, resulting in an expected loss. It said significant changes were initiated to hopefully return it to a profit in the coming years, while the retail side of the business was successful.

At the time it said: "We are confident in our ability to implement the necessary changes and improvements at KCM Kitchens to achieve profitability in the coming years". In addition, the accounts said: "The challenges we face are focused on our manufacturing facility while our retail arm continues to flourish. The future is promising for the Kettle Co Group."

Chris Hemmerle, director of HBH Woolacotts, said the electrical company has stepped in to fulfil all outstanding orders across the four Kettle Co Group showrooms, despite having no affiliation with the company outside of the shared premises. The company opened its own replacement kitchen design showroom, Haven Kitchens, as a result of the collapse and has fulfilled all the orders.

"We have put every single customer right, or are in the process of, that lost out from Kettle," said Mr Hemmerle. "I'd say 90% of the customers we've been able to put it right and they haven't lost money."

He said some of the customers left out of pocket by the collapse had paid 100 per cent of their bill upfront to Kettle Co Kitchens without receiving their orders. Despite having no business link, he said: "We weren't comfortable that it happened in our stores and we've effectively funded that and put it right for them."

Bishop Fleming LLP has been contacted for comment.