Gin I had always thought was a very British thing! Whether your favourite be Gordons (London), Bombay Sapphire (Hampshire), Hendricks (Scotland) or one of the new trendies Silent Pool (Surrey), they are all distilled in Britain.
However during a recent trip to The Netherlands to visit Keller Kitchens we discovered that the original gin was in fact Dutch. The still popular Dutch digestif Jenever is a juniper based liquer and is thought to be the original gin. This was introduced to Britain by King William III better known as William of Orange. The phrase “Dutch Courage” it is believed comes either from English soldiers using Gin or Jenever to keep them warm and calm before battle in the Thirty Years war or from the English soldiers seeing the effect Jenever had on the Dutch soldiers.
The Main square in Bergen op Zoom decorated for an upcoming town festival
Not only do the Dutch produce super gin they also produce beautiful Kitchens. Again one normally thinks you need to look to Germany for high spec beautifully engineered kitchens however after our visit to the Keller factory and showroom my opinion on this was most definitely changed.
The colour range at Keller is endless. This yellow shelving with the grey cupboard door is striking
What strikes you first when you walk through the doors of the amazing Keller factory is the enormity of it all and the cleanliness! A manufacturing factory conjures up the image of dirt and grimy production lines in my head which couldn’t have been further from the reality of the Keller factories. Clean bright slick machines operated by a team of friendly and enthusiastic Keller employees who were delighted and proud to show us the efficiency of the manufacturing process and the quality of what they were producing.
The end of the production line, boxed up and ready to be loaded on to the Keller Lorries
The cupboard doors all ready to be picked and moved to the next stage of production
The Dutch efficiency was particularly evident with their tools storage stations in this photo. Also the importance placed on recycling wherever possible was really good to see.
Dutch efficiency at its best
Over all a fantastic and informative trip thanks to Nick Heater, UK Area Sales Manager for Keller Kitchens and Rob Van Steen Commercial Manager for Keller Kitchens, the Netherlands. We also had the pleasure of being introduced to Jason Hicks owner of Kitchen Creators, a Keller supplier based in Farnborough.
Regardless of the style of kitchen you are after Keller will have it! If its colour you are after they have a choice of 1950 for you to choose from! For some kitchen envy take a look at their website www.kellerkitchens.com or contact Jason from Kitchen Creators www.kitchencreators.co.uk
Jason from Kitchen Creators inspecting the quality of the Keller Kitchen units