The most irksome kitchen challenge in 2022 is not what colour to paint your cupboards but the scarcity of appliances. According to research by the trade journal KBB Review, lead times on appliances are the longest in 40 years. Richard Hibbert, managing director of the Suffolk kitchen design studio KSL Sudbury (fully installed kitchens from about £25,000; kslsudbury.co.uk), says the wait for the most popular brands of ovens, combi-microwaves and steam ovens is about 10-14 weeks, venting hobs approximately 14-16 weeks and dishwashers on average 12 weeks. So the question to ask your kitchen designer is not ‘Can you get me X?’ but ‘What have you got in the warehouse?’
If you have the counter space, there’s a new army of small appliances vying
