Platform about design and technology in the kitchen, home, and bathroom industry
It's only about one thing and that's the Happy Customer, says Robert Meenink, owner of Box Studio in Amsterdam, located across from the Olympic Stadium. "Customers come to our showroom not sec for just the kitchen. In 2025 it's about much more. After all, the kitchen is the starting point for furnishing the home. Indeed: the kitchen determines the complete living experience."
That very vision was the basis for Robert and his colleagues to give direction to the current look and feel of his showroom. "If you want to give the customer a feeling about his own living environment, you should therefore not position too many kitchens in your own showroom. With us, that's why a lot of open spaces!"
Robert explains that his main aim in his Amsterdam showroom is to showcase "good taste. "We show timeless design. And, we start from the credo: 'space is luxury.' It is the reason why we have not 'filled' many square meters of floor space with kitchen arrangements, as the big kitchen specialty stores always do. Of course I understand why they do that. In the end, it's about generating sales. And so you want the incoming customer to get as much inspiration as possible. However, we are convinced that you should also want to show the living space around it. From a distance - so even at home in the living room - you should be able to see the whole object - the kitchen, that is. This is why we say emphatically that we do not sell kitchens. On the contrary. We create living spaces."
Robert acknowledges that he made this choice consciously because he is targeting the high-end segment with Box Studio. "By the way, this is a segment within which customers are very discerning. Mostly highly educated. Lawyers. Scientists. Doctors. Expats. People who know what is beautiful and are willing to pay for it. There are usually ample budgets for furnishing the living space."
That the open kitchen has meanwhile become more or less "the standard" in all "segments," by the way, Robert readily acknowledges. "We have all transformed in recent years from cubicles - the kitchen separated from the rest of the home - into one transparent space. But I see another important subsequent trend: I note that people are increasingly choosing to have a relatively small living room and, instead, giving the kitchen more space. The reason? They know that they will spend a lot of time there. That's the place where they sit with friends at a big long table with a glass of wine and a cheese board. Or, at the bar. Or ... cooking together. But, by the way, the kitchen is also where people increasingly set up their home office."
Exactly the latter is what Robert sees as an important development in interior design. "People no longer feel like sitting in a 'separate office' at home in their own home. They prefer to work at the dining table with their laptop. This means that a workplace is now also increasingly being integrated into the kitchen. The other day I had a lady in our business, a client, and she asked us very specifically if we could integrate her home office into the living space. So, into the kitchen. And yes, that means that the kitchen cabinets - where traditionally the plates and glasses were - could also start to be used to store work stuff."
"So with us in the showroom, the customer never gets the feeling that he is buying 'kitchen 38,'" Robert concludes. "Of course in a sales meeting you also talk about the technology of all the appliances, but it's mainly about experience. This is what we want the showroom to convey to our target groups. After all, for us there is only one end goal we want to achieve: the Happy Customer."
