MILESTONE Design Ltd in Ilkley - T&A Trader of the Week - makes kitchens from recycled materials.
Founder Julian Richards tells us about the business:
We’re proud to be the UK’s first producer of totally green kitchens made from recycled content.
In fact, we offer the largest choice of British-made kitchens made from recycled content, sustainably built kitchens, recycled worktops and recycled tiles anywhere in the UK or online.
The business was first started by me back in 1988 and we moved into our current Leeds Road premises in 1991. However, it was in 2006 that we first started our journey towards full eco and sustainable kitchens.
I now run my business with showroom manager Simon Carter, who’s been with me for five years, and skilled kitchen fitter Jake Mourton Drury, who joined the company in 2023.
During that time, we’re proud to boast clients from all across the country who actively seek the business out because of its strong eco-credentials - something that is quite unusual for a kitchen company. We have even negotiated the tides and installed a kitchen on the Holy Island of Lindisfarne!
Our first faltering steps into eco design began in 2006 when my wife and I were sat at home treating ourselves to the odd gin and tonic or two, and at some point during the evening one of us said: “Go on then, we’ve been recycling for ages and I’ve never seen a thing in the shops that’s made from the things we recycle. What CAN we buy that’s recycled?”
We struggled - the best thing we could come up with, at that time, was recycled toilet rolls from the supermarket.
We felt this was really poor and so started our journey to try and source recycled materials in the UK to build kitchens and built-in furniture from. We wanted to give some reward for effort to help encourage people to recycle more and try to promote the message that we can use these materials efficiently, rather than just keep digging massive holes in the countryside to bury the problem, ruining our planet.
There began probably the hardest year I’ve had in business so far as we, as a nation, still don’t seem to embrace the use of recycled materials in this country as much as I believe we should.
Cutting out all the positive thinking clichés that kept me going, I felt like I was wading through mud trying to navigate the eco apathy in our wonderful country. But a year later we had a smart new totally recycled content kitchen display sat in our showroom!
We believe it to be the first time it had ever been successfully completed in a retail kitchen showroom ever. And I’m very proud to say that everything in it was ‘Made in Britain.’
Our original Kitchens of Recycled Content were fitted with doors made from our 100per cent recycled Yoghurt Pots material, and worktops from our 100per cent recycled content Coffee Cup material (100per cent recycled content made predominantly from recycled vending machine coffee cups), both totally recycled materials which behave very much like Corian but are a lot more environmentally friendly. Both can be infinitely refurbished and refinished and are once more totally recyclable at the end of their life in a kitchen.
These days, both our Yoghurt Pot and Coffee Cup materials tend to be used only for worktops, with doors now being manufactured in alternative recycled materials.
To build on the back of the first successful kitchen, it soon became obvious that more colour choices would be needed to widen appeal, so using the carcassing material to make cabs and doors, our Eco² range was created to fill that need.
Eco² being the grown up kitchen featuring full customisation, soft close everything and an initial choice of 16 colours.
Eco² cabinets are now the foundation block for every single kitchen that we install, and still have the best eco credentials of any timber board material in the industry (minimum 75per cent recycled timber, 20per cent FSC certified).
We’re proud to have won many awards over the years. These include 2023 Eco Business of the Year at the Ilkley Business Awards, Winner of the 2015 Scoot Headline Awards, which recognise companies for their success stories, and Winner of the 2014 P.E.A (People, Environment, Achievement) Awards, which honour the individuals and teams behind the products, services and businesses that are changing the face of our planet.
And we were double finalists in the 2019 Blue Patch Sustainable Business Awards which recognise the work of ethical and sustainable businesses in the UK.
As part of our commitment to local sustainability, we offer a well utilised Terracyle collection point in our showroom and have raised over £700 towards the Bradford Dragons Basketball club, a community venture close to our hearts.
We are also part of the Refill free tap water initiative, designed to reduce pollution and promote healthy hydration, whereby anyone can come into our showroom to refill their water bottle.
We continue to seek new ways of incorporating recycled materials into our product range, with zero compromise on the quality of our kitchens.
And of course, we are aware that not only do the kitchens have to be eco-friendly, functional and beautiful to look at, they need to be affordable too. In fact, making your kitchen more eco-friendly and sustainable doesn’t have to be expensive or difficult. By making a few simple changes, you can make a big difference for the environment.
*Milestone Design Ltd is based at 24 Leeds Road, Ilkley. Visit milestone.uk.net or call (01943) 817153.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here