“Premiere exceeds all expectations – full aisles, full booths, brisk business.”

The white goods giants of Europe, hosted by Köln Messe Domotechnica Fair for many years, come together at the Living Kitchen Fair held simultaneously with the IMM Cologne Furniture Fair. Hosting the exhibitors in the white goods sector and visitors for the first time this year, the Living Kitchen Fair was held between 18-23 January 2011. Living Kitchen International Kitchen Furniture and Accessories Fair brought together the largest white goods manufacturers of Europe. 

It was told in the final report of the fair that “Things were definitely cooking in Cologne – it’s hard to think of a more apt description for what took place in the halls of Koelnmesse and the

nearby city in the seven days of LivingKitchen. The trade visitors and consumers from all over the world evidently had a huge appetite for new kitchens, appliances and fixtures. Complemented by an excellent supporting programme of famous chefs, celebrities and shows, the kitchen – the focal point of our modern lives – has found a new home in Cologne.” 

“The kitchen has returned to Cologne with a first-rate performance,” says Gerald Böse, CEO of Koelnmesse. “After this spectacular premiere, I’m already looking forward to the sequel in 2013,”

adds the chief executive. 

The unique combination of furnishing and kitchen worlds convinced both trade visitors and consumers. In particular, the mix of innovative manufacturers’ presentations, spectacular cooking shows and an attractive audience participation programme proved to be a huge hit. The excellent response from visitors during the entire week of the fair ensured beaming faces on the

manufacturers’ side. The high quality of the trade visitors was particularly commended. Around 82 percent of the international visitors were involved in their companies’ decision-making process. 138,000 professional buyers and private visitors from 128 countries flocked to the exhibition halls of the imm cologne // LivingKitchen. 

Termikel exhibits at the fair, too, with its 2011 standalone and built-in series.

Increasing its production capacity six times with its new plant, Termikel is not solely focusing on its manufacturing processes, but also carries out an intense R&D programme in order to be able to catch up with future trends today. Finalizing its products that are result of this intense activity in early 2011, Termikel exhibited them at the Living Kitchen Fair, the first event of the year with a promising future. 

Ahmet Kaya, Chairman of Board of Directors of Termikel, stated the following as regards the fair:“The Living Kitchen Fair, where kitchen furniture and other fixtures were mostly displayed, was a good opportunity for us to introduce our new built-in products to kitchen manufacturers. Germany hosts the largest kitchen manufacturers of the world. Therefore, we were expecting to meet the officials of these manufacturer firms and I can say we have met almost all of them. As the fair lasted six days, in the first couple of days of the fair kitchen manufacturers and complementary accessories and appliance manufacturers, including Termikel, made a number of useful meetings. End consumers visited the fair in large groups on later days. Thus, we were able to learn the opinions of end users in relation to our new products.”  

imm cologne // LivingKitchen in figures:

1,213 companies from 48 countries participated in the imm cologne // LivingKitchen 2011 (LivingKitchen: 178 companies). They included 521 exhibitors and 32 additionally represented companies from Germany as well as 614 exhibitors and 46 additionally represented companies from abroad. Foreign companies accounted for 54 percent of exhibitors.* 

* All figures are calculated according to the guidelines of the Society for the Voluntary Control of Fair and Exhibition Statistics (Gesellschaft zur Freiwilligen Kontrolle von Messe- und Ausstellungszahlen, FKM).