Two months ago Alemnesh Eshetu, 33, a mother of two and a nurse, working in a private hospital, bought a kitchen cabinet appliance for her two-bedroom condo flat around Gotera condominium site, in Wereda Four. She paid around 2,900 Br for upper and lower kitchen cabinets, which are 120cm tall.
Alemnesh is part of a new class of people with increasing demand for kitchen appliances to meet the rise in housing expansions, such as condominiums and residential apartments. Almnesh sees kitchen cabinets as useful and reliable.
‘‘Kitchen cabinets ease the task of cooking, especially if you live in condominium housing, or above the second floors,’’ Alemnesh told Fortune.
One of the major suppliers of household furniture to the capital’s market, including kitchen cabinets, is Finfine Furniture Factory Plc, or 3F as it is commonly known. A member of a network of family businesses of the late Yirga Haile, 3F is headquartered in Saris area, but has its assembly plant in Alemgena, in the outskirts of Addis Abeba, 20Km west. It is where furniture is built from start to finish, according to Amha Abyu, designer at the company.
In the workshop, workers assemble lower kitchen from imported High Density Fiber (HDF) and Medium Density Fiber (MDF), while surface granite is a material they use to stick in to the lower cabinet. Zekolo, light shield, and decoration are other materials used for upper kitchen cabinets.
3F imports these materials from Malaysia and occasionally from China.
Customers such as Alemnesh pay depending on the design and the kind of home it is to be installed. Prices of imported raw materials for kitchen appliances from countries such as China and Spain differ in quality too. For Melese Menge, owner of Yebeker Kitchen, located off Olympia, near Meskel Flower Hotel, most clients are individuals. But sometimes he takes orders from institutions as well.
Although demand is increasing for kitchen cabinets, unfortunately they are not affordable for many.
For instance, prices on offer at Unique Furniture, located in front of Agona Cinema, for imported kitchen cabinets from Malaysia, are 6,000 to 6,500 Br for 120cm cabinets. One metre cabinet are priced at 4,500 Br and a two metre cabinet costs 9,000 Br.
Yet, Melese sees modernisation and improved standards of living influence the way people live, including the tools and household appliances they use at home. Kitchen cabinets, in such high demand due to the rise in condominiums and upscale homes, help keep homes organised and can be fitted in various parts of a house.
Around 65 general cabinet raw materials have been imported to the country in 2013/14, by 10 officially registered importers, mostly from Turkey and China, as data from Ethiopian Revenue & Customs Authority (ERCA) shows.
One of these companies is Kitchen World Plc. But the imports and assemblies are not only for high-end homes, says Feven Brehane, its manager.
Kitchen World runs a workshop in Gurd Shola area, from where it can build a complete kitchen cabinet in a month and half for anything between 18,000 to 100,000 Br and above, for bigger homes. It imports its electrical appliances and equipment from Germany, and other raw materials from China, as well as European countries.
Feven sees slow but noticeable progress in peoples’ desire for kitchen cabinets. Citing the growth of the company she works for, Kitchen World, which has grown from a two-employee company five years ago, to having over 110 employees across four branches currently.
Even though architects and designers have historically marginalised its significance, the kitchen is the heart of the home. Feven argues that kitchen cabinets are equally important and as useful as other household furniture items, and deserve equal consideration when building new homes or when remodeling a home.
A complete kitchen cabinet usually consists of an oven, a stove, a micro-wave, hood, shaker and refrigerator, according to Feven. And it takes almost a month and half, to deliver on an order.
“A kitchen is not just a place for cooking food,” says Feven. “It brings families closer.”
Sara Tulu, who bought a 150,000 Br kitchen cabinet set six years ago, agrees with Feven, citing her own personal experience. Besides its functionality for food preparation, kitchen cabinets also provide safety for families with children, because cabinets provide space for storing away things that are dangerous for children.
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