MADE-TO-MEASURE SLIDING & SLOPING DOORS

[Karan]:  In all of our years of experience we have never once met a square house, not once!  Even new houses that you may expect to be squarer than their older counterparts aren't square.

We have been very successful in quoting for irregularly shaped kitchens, bedrooms and bathrooms over the years because we're able to draw upon our carpentry joinery training and custom build base and wall unit carcases to order, in addition to supplying made-to-measure vinyl-wrapped and solid timber doors to fit them.  We also provide an uncommon made-to-measure sloping door service too, which helps a great many of our Customers with their irregular sized spaces, whilst also offering them an enviable choice of vinyl-wrapped colours and designs to boot.

Recently - during the past year or so - we have had the pleasure of finding a wonderful new supplier for made-to-measure sliding doors and room dividers, who offer an exciting range of products.  This offers Customers with i.e.: very high ceilings the opportunity to have a stunning and eye-catching built-in wardrobe, complete with maximum and easy access storage, without an unsightly chunky framework.

If you're interested in either our sloping or sliding made-to-measure doors, please contact me on Kettering (01536) 415280 to make your free no obligation design consultation appointment.  We will look forward to hearing from you.

RAPIDE+ BUDGET KITCHENS

[Karan]: As a wife, mother of two and (what seems like) General Manager of the Universe/IKD general dogsbody and gofor, I have very little time to myself. Which is why I love my steaming hot showers at the end of the day, where I can achieve five minutes peace whilst boiling my head and thinking a whole thought through to the end, without the phone ringing, the computer crashing or the kids wanting a thingummydodar.

It's not however all that easy to switch my mind off of what the kids have been up to, or my current work projects. I know I should set personal time boundaries, and I'm trying, but I need more practice. Clearly. I got to thinking last night about how the website is very nearly a year old and what, in the passing of time, has been the most hit upon item on the site - so I've just had a look, and the answer is ... [drum roll] ... our Rapide+ budget kitchen range. And I'm not at all surprised.

We have advertised this range of kitchens quite extensively on Google Adwords and Facebook, in a bid to offer a superior value for money range of kitchen designs at a truly incredible price. There are too many Bodgit 'n' Scarper merchants in the world who sell appalling quality budget kitchens, and we wanted to change that; which is why our Rapide+ budget kitchens come with a 5 year guarantee, on all ranges. This gives our customers a great deal more kitchen for their money, and the peace of mind thrown in at no extra cost.

As the Rapide+ kitchens are delivered with everything from feet to handles in a flat-packed box, the range appeals especially to the DIY enthusiasts who are capable of installing it themselves - saving themselves even more money! Property developers, landlords and carpenter joiners have also found this range hugely interesting and profitable and we are, of course, happy to sell the components as a Supply Only to anyone who asks. IKD would never insist on installing everything we can supply, unlike some of our competitors.

I have included a couple of images from the Rapide+ budget kitchen range for your reference, but should you require further information, please click here: http://bit.ly/RapidePlus or contact me on Kettering (01536) 415280 and I'd be delighted to discuss your individual requirements with you.

WHERE'S THE RESTART BUTTON?

[Karan]:  I've another one of those days today.  The kids are at home and unwell (currently in bed asleep), the fax machine is dying slowly and melodramatically, probably because I'm becoming increasingly unfaithful with the scanner - but the scanner will do things the fax machine just won't countenance, so what's a girl to do?  I have my needs!

Then the all-singing-all-dancing Internet Exlorer 8 decided it wanted a duvet day today and wouldn't work (again), so I couldn't even email the scan of the fax I wanted to send!  Arghhhh!  The order I placed with an office supply company has been delivered - wrong again! - this morning, and much as I've tried to cancel my Evening Telegraph delivery I just can't make it stop, despite several phone calls and an email pleading for a quick and painless end, but they keep coming, and our recycling bin is too heavy to lift!

I have successfully persuaded Internet Explorer to work today on the promise and understanding that I don't scream at it like I did last time, and that if it feels like hanging every five minutes causing me to reboot repeatedly then that's okay, I don't mind.  So, what's next?  Two unwell children, one petulant fax machine, a seductively efficient scanner, an all-powerful but temperamental browser, a hopeless office supply company and a local evening newspaper delivered continuously - whether I want it or not - at 10am every morning. 

The children will get better with sleep and some TLC.  The fax machine can buck up or ship out, the scanner's the future.  Internet Explorer may have had me over a barrel today because of my limited time contraints, but there are many other browsers available, and it would do well to remember that.  There's no panic with the office supply company - I can wait for paper and ink cartridges, but why can't they get such a simple order right first time?  And, in a bid to focus their minds, I will withhold the settlement of my account with Johnston Publishing until the Evening Telegraph stops being delivered.  In the meantime my elderly neighbours can cancel their subscription (good luck with that!), and have my FOC copies with my compliments.

There, all sorted, but I wish days like this had a restart button.

EVERYONE'S A COMEDIAN!

[Ian]:  We were due to start work on a bathroom refurbishment recently and needed to hire a skip for, well, obvious reasons. 

As the skip was to be kept on the road, I needed to obtain the necessary authorisation  from the council.  When I asked if I could have a skip outside my Customer's house, I was met with a very dry "...you can do cartwheels for all I care!"

It's so refreshing to come across someone who loves their work (not), but it made me chuckle.

CONFIDENCE

[Karan]: Ian and I are only just this side of nerdish nerdidom, when it comes to all things kitchens, bedrooms & bathrooms, as we can pore over a brushed nickel tap that would border on the obscene for most other people.  We love what we sell and are always thirsty for new, exciting, innovative and inspirational products, which is why we went to the 2010 KBB trade exhibition in Birmingham recently.

You can imagine our bitter disappointment then when the number of exhibitors this year was significantly less than it was the last time round.  We felt like The Grinch had pinched Christmas!  It's sad but true that too many manufacturers, distributers and retailers in our industry have been fatally wounded by the recession, but we were surprised by some notable absences; companies who are definately still with us and are trading strongly.  We wondered if these absent companies were having a crisis of confidence because - if they were - it was a crying shame, as the halls of the NEC were heaving with bods like Ian and I, all straining to see the next big thing and all trying to find the magical treasure to take back to their customers.  What profitable new contacts might our Notable Absentees have made, what abundant sales might they have achieved, if they had have been brave and shown us their wares?

There's no doubt there's been a recession, and the economy is now in a desperate state.  IKD experienced a slower and lower growth rate last year, and we were definately effected by everything that happened - there is no disputing that.  But.  Now this is just our uneducated opinion: we can't help but feel the media made everything a lot worse than it might otherwise have been.  When you remember that bad news sells just as many (if not more) newspapers, and definately fills more air time and online column inches, is it any wonder the press were lured into a feeding frenzy?  The problem now was that the media had almost invoked hysteria, which led the vast majority of the general public - or "hard working families" in political speak - to conserve their assests and resources, particularly if their income was threatened by redundancy or bankruptcy.  Look how people stockpile bread and milk when the supermarkets close for two whole days over Christmas; are we really surprised by the protective reaction to the promised financial Armageddon?

I wonder now what would have happened if we hadn't all been force-fed a diet of doom.  What if the overall message had been: this isn't a good situation but we're going to manage these difficult times with steely British determination, fortitude and confidence - like we did as a nation during the First and Second World Wars perhaps?  Some may argue that this is precisely the message the government was trying to convey, but I doubt the masses believe (in) them any longer, and Gordon Brown is certainly no Winston Churchill as an orator, politician or Prime Minister.

The man in the photo above (which isn't Ian by the way!) looks like he's just climbed a mountain - or at least threaded his way around the twisty mountain roads in his 4 x 4 - am I being too cynical now?!  For the sake of my argument, we'll agree he has climbed this mountain.  If, when he started, he was worried about heights and falling, chances are he would have fallen, just because he wasn't concentrating solely on conquering a terrifyingly high piece of granite.  You have to expect to succeed when you start anything.  If you're going to embark upon such an enormous challenge, then you'd be wise to give it your undivided attention and tackle it with confidence.  Remember: if you think you'll lose, then you've already lost.

At IKD we're starting to see "the green shoots" of recovery; people are choosing to refurbish the homes they currently have rather than buying a new one.  Some customers are telling us they'd rather add value to their home because their pensions and savings are accruing virtually nothing in the banks.  The tide is turning, the wheels of industry are starting to tentatively turn again (in Kettering at least) and it's refreshing, and it's positive - which inspires confidence.  Let's all hope it lasts and develops into a full blown recovery but - like our mountain dude - we all have start somewhere and these's no point starting at all without....

THE BEST OF KETTERING

Towards the end of 2009, IKD Kitchens were invited to join The Best of Kettering following a surprise nomination from an ardent customer called Ben.  We eventually became members of The Best of Kettering during November 2009, and have been enjoying the fruits of our labour ever since.  We haven't looked back!

As with The Guild of Master Craftsmen, membership to The Best of Kettering is far from a given; we had to supply a high number of customer testimonials, and have to conduct ourselves professionally and with integrity at all times to remain a qualifed member.  We are currently vetted by two seperate organisations, on our customer's behalf , and neither will hesitate to disqualify us if we're ever less than exceptional. 

The merits of our membership to The Best of Kettering is that our customers approach us with certainty, knowing that they will receive the very best sales, service and products available, because they have read the numerous testimonials available to them, following a third party vetting procedure.  We believe it's important, during these uncertain times, to give our new and potential customers as much reassurance as they want, so that they can be sure we're not Bodgit 'n' Scarper merchants.  Existing customers know this already, but if someone finds us online or via the Yellow Pages etc, they don't know us from Adam and will reasonably expect us to deliver all that we promise them.  Well, now they can be sure of that.

The Best of Kettering is also a lot of fun to belong to, and we're always challenged to find new and exciting things to offer their members - which reminds me, I must sort out a new and exciting special offer for Stuart to include on our profile!  Stuart Pate - the man behind The Best of Kettering (and Corby for that matter), is not a man to let the grass grow under his feet, and positively lives and breathes special offers for the general public and commercial members like ourselves.  You will always find a great deal somewhere on The Best of Kettering - whether it's where to eat out, who's a great accountant or what deal is on at Richard Sanders Peugeot this month.  We would highly recommend you signing up so that you can benefit from all of the wild and varied offers available to you.

During the beginning of February, The Best of Kettering ran a fun and enlightening promotion called The 14 Days of Love, to see which of the 300+ listed businesses was the most loved - what with Valentine's Day and everything.  Customers from every company listed were invited to leave a testimonial for their favourite Kettering business, and guess what?!  IKD Kitchens came a joint fourth - out of 300-odd!  We were delighted.  Obviously first place would have been nice, but no one even got close to The Old Bakehouse Restaurant in Rothwell [note to self: reserve a table at The Old Bakehouse!]

It's great to be associated with such a vibrant and energetic enterprise as The Best of Kettering as it encourages us to push the boundaries, to always be moving forward, and to always be driving standards and expectations onwards and upwards.  We have always fuelled IKD with the twin dynamic philosophies of constant reinvestment and continous improvement, and The Best of Kettering helps us to do that.  With bells on.  Thanks for everything Ben!

You can visit our Best of Kettering profile by clicking on this link : http://bit.ly/BestOfKettering

MY NEW FAVOURITE GADGET

[Karan]:  For those of you with mucky minds, it's not what you think!  Good grief, I bet you know all the best jokes, don't you?  If you're not easily offended and you catch up with me one day, ask me to tell you the "Thor" joke; it's a bit rude but hilarious all the same.  Admittedly I don't tell it nearly as well as my talented and versatile friend Catherine, but I'll try my best and you can judge for yourself.

No, my new favourite gadget is an Instant Hot Water Tap, like the one here above - you can enlarge the picture by clicking on it.  This little beauty is an Insinkerator HC1100 and we will have a fully functional demonstrator for you to play with - just as soon as the showroom is up and running.  This particular model will provide you with up to 100 cups of 98 degree filtered water per hour, as well as chilled filtered drinking water too.  Other models which offer the hot water only option are available too, but they are all definately worth having a look at as they're beautifully stylish, practical and economical.  They use less energy than a 40 watt light bulb, consume 80% less electricity than heating water on a hob, and are approximately 20% less expensive to operate than a standard kettle - click on this link for more information about Instant Hot Water Taps: http://bit.ly/InstantHotWater

An Instant Hot Water Tap would stand alongside an ordinary kitchen tap - as there's no need to waste filtered hot and cold water on filling a mop bucket or rinsing paint brushes etc, but you would use it for food preparation, cups of tea and coffee and warming baby bottles quickly - particularly during those parent unfriendly 4am feeds!  The hot water is instant, so there's no waiting for a kettle to boil - which we're convinced takes twice as long at stupid O'clock in the morning.

We'll be singing from the rooftops when the showroom is completely installed and fully open to the public and we'll be inviting everyone we know to come and visit us and play with the super cool gadgets we'll have for your perusal and consideration.  If you would like to be guaranteed your SHOWROOM GRAND OPENING invitation, please either contact me on (01536) 415280, or drop me an email via karan@ikdkitchens.com and I'll happily put your name on the list and reserve you a glass of wine.  In the meantime however, should you wish to visit the showroom in it's current "work-in-progress" condition, please let us know and we'll make a mutually convenient appointment to meet you there - there's still plenty to see, even if it's not finished yet.

REFUSE TO REFUSE!

It's brilliant that the vast majority of us are doing our bit to help the environment, whether it's reusing A Bag For Life carrier at the local supermarket, scraping our fruit & vegetable peelings into the compost or turning off the tap whilst we brush our teeth, but did you know you can go several steps further when your kitchen is due for a makeover?

We try very hard to be as environmentally friendly as we can be, and will almost certainly go that extra mile if we need to.  In fact I'd like to take this opportunity to give a quick shout out to the Bedford Recycling Centre in Barkers Lane, for having the greatest recycling centre I've ever had the privilege of frequenting - it's so clean, organised and efficient (they recycled 78% of refuse last year!), and left me hoping that a representative from the more local centres would visit them and take some notes!  Anyway I digress...

Nearer to home in the Kettering and neighbouring areas, we have the most amazing service available on our doorstep, which IKD have had the pleasure of introducing to many customers on many occasions; they're called KITCHEN RECYCLERS and will visit you, upon your invitation, prior to having your kitchen refurbished and - if they believe they can re-use any of your old carcases, doors, worktops and possibly even appliances - they will buy them from you to install in i.e.: sheltered accommodation etc.  How great is that?!  This means the environment is considered by the old kitchen components being saved from the landfill site, and you're actually being paid to have them taken away!  Why not give Robin Pipe a call on the number above and see how he may be able to help you out?  Good luck!

Whilst we're on the subject of recycling, how easy do you find it separating all the different classes of refuse: paper, card, glass, tins and plastics?  We have a couple of friends who use a single washing up bowl under the sink as an interim measure, and then regularly venture outside - because the bowl is not very big - to divide them into the relevant recycling containers.  They do confess however that vegetable peelings are only recycled in the outside bin, if there's time and the weather's not atrocious, because their bowl under the sink would end up in a state.  But there's an app for that, as they say.  Have a look at some of the gadgets and gizmos available these days, to help you compartmentalise your recycling, indoors.

Even if your peely bin (as they call it at our daughter's school) gets in a wet and starchy state, it's not going to make your paper/newspapers soggy, and will be quicker and easier to empty and rinse out too.  The bins pull out from under your sink and offer you a hygienic, practical and convenient solution to the small interim bowl under the sink.  Click this link for more storage solutions http://bit.ly/storage-recycling

THE GUILD OF MASTER CRAFTSMEN

IKD were invited to join The Guild of Master Craftsmen in 2007, following the recommendations from a number of our satisfied customers, but that proved to be only the beginning!  Little did we realise at the time, all that was to be involved.

Once we agreed to apply for membership, we had several meetings with The Guild's area representative who wanted in depth knowledge about our history, our trading practices, our mission statement, the ethos driving our customer relations, products sale and service, our financial stability and our long term plans for the future.  Although we had been recommended to The Guild, and had subsequently applied for membership, membership was in no way automatic, and so a number of flaming hoops had to be jumped to prove our merit and worthiness.

The Guild's agent then contacted a number of our previous and existing customers, entirely at random and without divulging their identities to us, enquiring upon their individual experiences with IKD, i.e.: were they happy with our products, service, price, reliability, honesty and after sales care etc.  This process took in excess of one month and, once the responses were collated and evaluated, IKD were finally accepted as a member to The Guild of Master Craftsman. 

Our membership now however has to be constantly tested and merited.  The high level of sales and service we supply must never be less than exceptional, or we risk expulsion from The Guild.  Our performance is monitored and evaluated by every customer we complete work for, and who wishes to take part, via The Guild's evaluation questionnaire, and we are required to submit a minimum number of evaluations every year - or forfeit our membership.

Membership to The Guild is not a trinket you can buy and branish, it is something you can only achieve through hard work, constant effort and consistantly high levels of service and after care.  IKD are proud (and exhausted) members of The Guild of Master Craftsmen, and we hope the flaming hoops we continue to jump through provides reassurance to the future and potential customers, who may be weary of bogus tradesmen in these uncertain times.  You may verify our membership by clicking on this link: http://www.findacraftsman.com/

BATHROOM, EN SUITE & CLOAKROOM SPACE OPTIMISATION

[Karan]:  As we're a family of four and our current abode doesn't accommodate our collective hobby of cat swinging (I'M KIDDING!), we recently explored the possibility of moving house - ultimately we didn't because we could only get £5 and a cheese sandwich for our own home, due to the recession and all, but that's a rant for another day.

During our quest, I was stunned with how small some of the "family" bathrooms were - you'd have had to have known each other pretty well to have shared such a small space together, that's for sure - my mind boggled at the prospect of having to bath two young children!  Ian was less shocked; well he would be wouldn't he?  Due to the nature of his work, Ian has the privilege of seeing inside a lot of people's homes, and has a more realistic idea of what space is widely available these days.  Our own bathroom was originally built downstairs - as they often were in ye olden times - but we converted a bedroom to give us a reasonably sized bathroom - certainly a very comfortable family bathroom; so my frame of reference is obviously skewed.

With the consent of our Clients, Ian started taking photos of some of the smaller bathroom installations he has completed, which left me very impressed not only with his talent for space optimisation, but also with the beautiful design of the bathroom components too, notably the corner toilets - what a great idea!  Ian's done his fair share of en suites and cloakrooms too, most of which are comparatively compact spaces, but they have been made completely functional because of a little design genius, combined with inspirational products.

If you'd like to meet with Ian and learn how he may be able to optimise your bathroom, en suite or cloakroom, please give me a call on Kettering (01536) 415280, and I'll be delighted to make an appointment.

HOW DO YOU EAT AN ELEPHANT?

[Karan]:  I've had one of those machine gun kind of mornings - you know the kind where everything's flying at you and you're being bombarded with information, questions, demands on your time, and yet more additions to your never-ending To Do List?!  And it's not even lunch time - gulp.  I haven't even had a cup of tea yet - which I shall rectify right now; please talk amongst yourselves for a moment....

Ahhh, that's better.  On days like today, I would dearly love to be able to slam the brakes on the universe (no less) for an hour, so I can play catch up, but it's not an app I currently have installed.  My only alternative therefore is to eat my elephant one mouthful at a time - it's all I can do, there's only one of me [note to self: research cloning], and I only have a finite amount of time in which to complete everything.  I will prioritise the urgency and importance for each task, create myself a demon To Do List, and get cracking.  Then, 10 minutes in, I shall throw it in the air to accommodate something new that has just been thrown at me - but at least I've shown willing!

The secret is not to be daunted by the huge task(s): square yourself, focus, work hard and methodically whilst endeavouring to do your best - what else can you do?  Now, where's that Nellie?!

Cartoon courtesy of www.fritzcartoons.com

HE'S BACK!

[Karan]:  Formula One is back this weekend - woo hoo - and may the best German, seven times World Champion win!

NATIONAL PLUMBING DAY

[Karan]: I have broken away from our raucous National Plumbing Day celebrations to wish you all a Happy National Plumbing Day. Obviously, as more or less everything we do incorporates plumbing by some definition or another, this is a HUGE day for us.

We were up early at 4.30am - as the children were so excited, they couldn't sleep - so we opened our presents together in front of a roaring radiator, drinking tap water and listening to a compilation CD I'd made of dripping taps and flushing toilets.

Now that we're all dressed and showered, our family, friends and plumbing shop assistants have all popped round for more tap water toasts and home-made soup, before we all gather round to switch the dishwasher on. Then it's off into the utility room to put all our clothes into the washing machine, where the children will be allowed to stay up late so we can watch our favourite programme as a family.

Finally, once the children are in bed, we'll take a bath, brush our teeth and flush the loo for the final time during one of the best National Plumbing Days I can ever remember - it even rained!!!

LIFESPACE FOR YOUR STUFF

We are always looking for new and exciting products, and here is our brand new offering; Crown Imperial Lifespace shelving and storage solutions for your (home) office or study.

The range of doors, desks, colours and designs is really quite startling, and more information can be found by clicking this link: www.tinyurl.com/yzfn39u.

As space optimisation is something of a speciality of ours, you can be sure that your space will be designed to afford you the full flexibility and functionality that your life demands, in sumptuous luxury too.

Give us a call on (01536) 415280 if you'd like some more information or to arrange a free, no obligation design consultation within the Kettering and Northants area.

MOUNTAINS TO MOLEHILLS BY NOON

[Karan]: Today has just been one of those days. It started well enough, I got out of bed feeling rested - for a change - and was ready to scale a mountain. Within the space of a handful of hours however, I would now feel triumphant just to hurdle a mole hill - mountains are clearly too ambitious for today.

You see I have been thwarted at every thwartation, and hobbled so much by bureaucracy this morning, that I'm treating myself to an afternoon of counting the hairs in the palms of my hand, before I go shopping for one of those lovely jackets that do up at the back!

All that remains for me now is to wrestle the rest of the day from the jaws of defeat, and have something to show for my collision with officious officialdom - wish me luck!

GRANITE & SILESTONE WORKTOPS

There are many varieties of kitchen worktops available on the market, and IKD Kitchens can offer you just about all of them: laminate, solid wood, solid surfacing, granite, Silestone Quartz and a range of other quartz products too. There is much to consider.

Did you realise, for instance, that there are different grades of granite, where some products are comparatively softer and inferior to others, which makes them susceptible to scratches and stains? The granite IKD supply however is from a superior source, and will spare you the inevitable false economy and chronic upheaval of replacing your worktops prematurely.

You may also be interested to learn that Silestone Quartz contains Microban, the anti-bacterial property that offers continuous anti-bacterial and anti-fungal protection. The active Microban ingredients are blended into Silestone during the manufacturing process, which allow it to provide continuous protection throughout the entire lifetime of the quartz product. Silestone is a hard and non-porous product which makes it inherently hygienic to begin with, but combined with Microban, Silestone offers an unbeatable level of hygiene in all kitchen and bathroom environments.

We have a plentiful supply of samples for you to see from laminate through to Silestone, which we'd be happy to show you in the comfort of your own home during a design consultation.  Call us now on (01536) 415280 to make an appointment.

3D COMPUTER AIDED DESIGN

In the beginning, when IKD started trading in 1992, Ian designed kitchens, bedrooms and bathrooms the old fashioned way - with a drawing board, set squares and a pencil. These days however, as times and technology have moved on, we are able to offer our Customers a far superior 3D kitchen, bedroom and bathroom design service, using a Computer Aided Design (CAD) software package - and the results are astounding!

This is the CAD design for an actual Customer of ours, who was torn between a couple of door and worktop finishes - a common enough dilemma in our line of work - and this is where the CAD design comes into it's own. Not only does it allow the kitchen designer to optimise the available space with the best possible layout, but the images can be changed within a few mouse clicks so that the door and worktop finishes can be changed. This device has served our Customers extremely well by allowing them to visualise how their preferred selections will look - it works on appliances too. Another of our Customers was struggling to decide upon a built-in double oven, or a free-standing range cooker, so Ian produced a full colour 3D representation of each option and a decision was made; and never regretted I might add.

Technology is a wonderful and valuable tool, but you still need the experience, a hawk eye for detail and overall design talent to maximise it's full potential. Should you wish to have your kitchen, bedroom or bathroom expertly re-designed and updated, please give me a call on Kettering (01536) 415280.

Click on an image to enlarge

OFFICIAL : IKD CUSTOMERS ARE THE BEST!

[Ian]: It never ceases to amaze me how lovely some of our Customers are, considering the upheaval we put them through while we work. We always try to be as considerate as we can be, with dust sheets and clearing up at the end of the day etc; but you'd think we'd moved mountains with the gratitude and thanks we get! We love it - it makes it all so worthwhile and very rewarding. We also love the cups of tea and Hob Nob biscuits, but that's another story...

[Karan]: It's true, IKD really do have the best Customers in the world, and I know this to be true because I've completed a global poll* and have just finished counting. Please don't anyone dare demand a recount!

The testimonials we receive are enormously heartening, and we're very grateful and proud of them. During the recent 14 Days of Love poll conducted by The Best of Kettering website, IKD finished joint fourth - out of 250+ Kettering businesses - which we were understandably delighted about: thank you again to everyone who voted for us, we love you too!

To all our potential and prospective Customers: the endless cups of tea - and especially the Hob Nob biscuits - are entirely optional, and are in no way expected. Honestly, they're spoilt and will only get used to it!

* For the avoidance of doubt, I didn't really conduct a global poll, but still believe our Customers to be the best in the world

A BAG OF CATS

[Karan]: On Facebook this morning I was cordially invited by the RBS 6 Nations fan page, to try and win tickets for an upcoming match, by singing for my seat.

Those of you who know me, will know how much I just lurve my rugby - although who knew watching 30 enormous men in tiny shorts and tight shirts could be so engaging - or exhausting. A friend of mine once took me to see Northampton Saints, in the days when the very lovely Tim Rodber was playing, and I was thoroughly unprepared. Prior to the match all the players came out and Tim Rodber limbered up right in front of me, split his shorts with his huge muscular thighs, and I was in need of a lay down! So, even the most remote possibility of winning tickets to see our national squad - particularly the divine Jonny Wilkinson - is extremely tempting. However...

Those of you who know me are also aware that my singing voice leaves a lot to be desired: I sound like a bag of cats being slammed against a wall. It's sad but true. During our daughter's recent school concert, we parents were invited to sing along, and I now have camcorder evidence of my daughter frowning, waggling her finger and forbidding me from singing, and all from her elevated position on the stage! Other parents were smiling - knowingly - and assuring me it was for the best. You see, I used to sing to our daughter as we boogied around the lounge, in the days before she could walk or talk - escape in other words - so she knows you know.

I will therefore not be competing for tickets to a 6 Nations match. It did cross my mind that perhaps the worst singing would win the tickets but, knowing my luck, they'd play my rendition of Bat Out Of Hell over the tannoy during half time, and that's a 10 minute song! There'd be a stampede of 82,000 people with blood pouring from their ears, all thinking they'd gone deaf when the caterwauling finally stopped. So perhaps it really is for the best if I stay home to watch the match and sing the National Anthem in my head like I always do, and in accordance with my formal Cease and Desist Notice.

IF YOU'RE GONNA DO IT, DO IT WELL

[Karan]: I've never been one of life's "toe-dippers" - those who flirt endlessly with an idea before (a) talking themselves out of it altogether or (b) wafting half-heartedly through the process. I tend to think things through and then - if I like the idea - hurl myself headlong into the project, leaving dirty great Karan-shaped holes everywhere. My philosophy has always been: if you're going to do something, you may as well do it well.

Oprah Winfrey once said: by doing your very best in this moment, you set yourself up to be in the best possible position for the next moment. In my experience at least, rushing through and offering a slapdash job is a false economy, because you either have to repeat the work again (and again) or - if you're in business - you're quite likely to lose a customer and gain a bad reputation.

Customer services is in a poor state of repair in this country at present and it positively boils my blood. I was that insane looking woman with steam gushing from her ears and a temperature gauge exploding above her head when I was served under-cooked food in a restaurant for the second time, in one evening! Oh yes, this actually happened to me and I'm stunned the establishment in question continues to trade. Why do people seem to take so little pride in their work? Why don't people care about the products and service they provide? By serving two under-cooked meals, the restaurant lost not only the food on my plate, but the sales and profit value of my entire meal - not to mention my eventual custom. How many times might I have returned, had the food been edible? How many of my friends have avoided the restaurant based on my experiences?

There's an old adage I learnt many years ago when Ian and I started trading as IKD: a satisfied customer will tell five friends about you, but a dissatisfied customer will tell 15! There is simply no point being in business - any business - unless you endeavour to do your best, all the time, every time.

SYMPATHY LAUGHS NEEDED...

[Ian]: Police are seeking a man who has so far stabbed six people to death with knitting needles, all in the same area ... he seems to be following some sort of pattern!

[Karan]: Oh dear. Sorry about this folks - they really don't get any better. Try not to laugh, it only encourages him!

HELL'S ANGEL-LITES

[Karan]: During the school run this afternoon I almost drove over a Hell's Angel wannabe - a Hell's Angel-Lite if you will. There he was on a tiny under-powered motorised tricycle, all moustachioed and (very) distressed leather jacket - humming along almost imperceptibly, no higher than an inch off the road! Clearly too cool for a crash helmet, I braked hard as he careered around the corner and stopped short of blending his backside into the tarmac. I was flipped a one-fingered salute for my trouble. Charming.

Same time, same place tomorrow dude?!

WELCOME TO OUR NEW BLOG!

Hello and welcome to the brand new IKD Kitchens Bedrooms Bathrooms blog, we hope you find all that is about to follow as fascinating as we do. We really do love our kitchens, bedrooms and bathrooms - but we love en suites, cloakrooms, home offices and utility rooms just as much.

We began in September 1992 and, following a strict policy of constant reinvestment and continuous improvement, have built IKD into a strong and respected design and installation company, who trade almost entirely upon reputation and the word-of-mouth recommendations of our entirely satisfied customers.

IKD Kitchens Bedrooms and Bathrooms is family-run business based in Kettering, Northamptonshire with Ian and Karan Dennis at the helm. Please feel free to add your own blog comments here, email us, join our Facebook group or contact us via Twitter - we'd love to hear from you!