How is the kitchen market performing today? Are you seeing any significant changes in volumes and demand in a still-challenging real estate environment?

After a correction phase in 2023-2024, the French real estate market appears to be beginning to stabilize. Borrowing conditions are improving—rates have fallen from 4.2% in 2023 to 3.62% at the end of 2024—and inflation is contained below 2%. However, household consumption remains cautious, and sales volumes in the kitchen sector are struggling to return to their pre-crisis levels. Household confidence remains fragile, hampering the prospects for a strong recovery. In this context, renovation could play a key role. Many homeowners, by forgoing moving, prefer to invest in improving their existing homes. This paves the way for a more qualitative demand, with a growing interest in sustainable, aesthetic and eco-designed kitchens.

Have cost pressures, budgetary decisions, or economic uncertainties changed the customer-supplier relationship? How does this translate into your business?

The economic climate is forcing everyone to review their priorities and incorporate new selection criteria. On the environmental front, for example, sustainability expectations are growing: kitchen brands are increasingly seeking to offer eco-friendly panels—low formaldehyde emissions, FSC certification, etc. These solutions sometimes represent an additional cost, but they meet regulatory requirements and growing consumer awareness. Furthermore, customization remains strong: customers expect tailor-made, carefully designed solutions. However, in a context of tighter margins, this represents a challenge. We continue to invest to remain agile and offer distinctive products, without sacrificing our quality standards. Finally, we are seeing a strong resurgence in local sourcing: favoring products made in Europe is becoming a strategic choice, both safer and more environmentally friendly.

What levers can we use to differentiate ourselves in a market that is both competitive and demanding?

Three main areas guide our response to demand: design, sustainability, and flexibility. In terms of design, we invest heavily in developing decors, textures, and finishes that anticipate trends. The Master Oak finish is a prime example: it perfectly recreates the look and feel of solid oak, while offering the technical performance of a melamine or HPL panel—scratch and UV resistance, easy maintenance, and more. Sustainability is also a real differentiator for us. We produce our particleboard from 95% recycled wood and were the first to develop 100% recyclable MDF and truly bio-sourced HPL. We also adapt to our customers' new logistical constraints by offering flexible minimum order quantities and reduced delivery times. In a more volatile market, this agility is essential.

What are the major trends you're currently seeing in decor, colors, textures, and finishes?

Kitchens are moving away from uniformity to assert more personality. After years of white dominating the kitchen, we're seeing a marked return to more expressive and organic hues, such as warm beiges, deep greens, and muted blues. At the same time, natural materials like wood and stone are regaining a central role, with textured finishes that evoke authenticity: marbled or veined decors are gaining popularity. Finally, so-called "transitional" styles—at the crossroads of tradition and modernity—are making their mark in residential interiors, combining different aesthetics.

With the rise of open spaces and the disappearance of clear separations between kitchen and living room, how are aesthetic requirements influencing your product development?

This shift toward open-plan spaces is redefining expectations: the kitchen is becoming a living space in its own right and must visually coordinate with the living room, bookcases, storage units, and even the walls. This requires harmonized decor, warm hues, and consistent textures across all furniture. We are therefore developing panels capable of meeting these cross-disciplinary requirements, with matte finishes that are soft to the touch, fingerprint-resistant, and available in several product types (melamine, HPL, compact MDF, etc.). Sensory appeal is also becoming a key criterion: our structured wood finishes, such as Master Oak, reproduce the texture of solid oak. In addition, tactile surfaces inspired by textiles or stone create a warmer, more natural atmosphere. All of this, of course, meets essential technical requirements such as resistance to heat, humidity, and scratches.

"Customers expect tailor-made solutions, carefully designed."

Environmental issues are now unavoidable. Are eco-design requirements becoming a mandatory requirement in the kitchen industry? And how does your company integrate sustainability criteria into its products?

Sustainability is now a key factor in the choice of materials. At Unilin Panels, we integrate these requirements from the design phase. We use 95% recycled wood for the production of our particleboard. We have also developed a unique process for recycling MDF on an industrial scale, with a new unit currently under construction at our Bazeilles site [Editor's note: Ardennes]. In terms of innovation, we are focusing on bio-sourced glues made from rapeseed and sunflower, and on sustainable finishes such as Master Oak. Our certifications (FSC/PEFC, EPD, Cradle to Cradle) guarantee this transparency, which is essential to avoid greenwashing. And we cover 75% of our energy needs for panel production sites from renewable sources.

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