The Lima Kitchens Story

“We didn’t set out to build a kitchen company. We set out to build the kind of company we’d want to deal with ourselves.”

Lima Kitchens is an independent kitchen design and installation company in Milton Keynes. It began in 2006, after Matt and Elizabeth were both made redundant from a national retail concession.

For six months they worked elsewhere – Matt in mortgages, Elizabeth in recruitment, but neither of them settled. Both found themselves drawn back to kitchens, taking roles with a direct sales company.

It didn’t last long. They both felt a moral conflict with the way they were being asked to sell and with the way they believed customers should be treated. Eventually it led to a conversation around Matt’s dining table one evening.

“If these guys can have a company, then why can’t we?”

They were already self-employed. How much more of a risk could it really be?

So Lima Kitchens began, with a simple mission: to provide excellent products, a personal service and superb value for money.

It sounded simple. Building it wasn’t.

Independent by choice

They spent time researching how to start a kitchen company, which included looking hard at franchises.

There were genuine advantages. A franchise would offer:

• Help setting up
• Marketing strength
• Community
• Established brand
• Proven structure

But it came with limits:

• Less say over the products they could offer
• Less flexibility in how they worked
• Restrictions on showroom size and location
• Overheads that would weigh heavily on a young business.

It wasn’t a simple decision, and it wasn’t until the final hour that they chose to go it alone.

Not because they thought they knew everything, far from it.

They chose independence because they wanted the freedom to make decisions based on what was right for the customer in front of them, not what an agreement required. It still works that way today. When Lima specifies something for a kitchen, it’s because it’s the right answer for that home.

It took around 18 months from that decision to getting the keys to their Milton Keynes showroom in October 2008.

Learning to survive

Then came the financial crisis.

2009 was one of the hardest years. There were times when the business simply wasn’t bringing in enough to cover everything. Elizabeth took another job to subsidise the bills, building Lima Kitchens around evenings and weekends while Matt stayed at the helm.

It was exhausting.

But difficult circumstances teach you things success can’t. They learned to adapt, to make things work, and never to take anything for granted. The crisis gave Lima a resilience it might not have developed for years otherwise.

By 2013 the start-up loans were paid off and Lima became a cash business. It was a significant milestone, and it gave them something they had always valued: the freedom to make their own decisions and build sustainably, on their own terms.

As Lima grew, Matt’s team had to grow with it to provide the level of technical and installation service they wanted to offer. It took until 2016 to settle into what that new structure could look like, and by 2018 it had grown again.

Seeing potential, not just CVs

In 2020, Alex came to interview for a design position.

During the interview it became clear to everyone that designing kitchens wasn’t the right role for her. But something else was immediately obvious: her attitude, her approach and the way she thought fitted Lima extremely well.

Matt and Elizabeth already knew that growth meant they needed more strength on the technical and operational side. So rather than fitting Alex into the job she’d applied for, they built a role around what they could see she would bring.

It proved to be one of the best decisions they’ve made. Alex’s approach has shaped and strengthened the way the whole business runs today, and they’ve never looked back.

It also reinforced something they still believe:

The right person doesn’t always fit the job description. Sometimes the job needs to evolve around the right person.

Developing the Lima Kitchens’ style

In 2021, Andreya joined the team after gaining experience with a national retailer.

There was much for her to learn, but she brought experience of her own – new ways of refining systems and communication, and a determination to build stability into the business.

Over time, Andreya became an important part of shaping the Lima style people recognise today, contributing not only to the designs but to the strength of the brand with customers and within the wider industry.

Lima’s first design award, in 2022, was a huge moment for the team. See the project →

Andreya’s Designerati win was particularly special. Recognition was reaching beyond the founders now, earned by members of the team on their own merits, in front of the whole industry.

It was a proud moment – and a sign of how far Lima had come.

Some of the biggest achievements happen during the hardest times

2024 was a complicated year.

Alongside winning Installation Project of the Year, Elizabeth’s mum became very ill. It was a difficult period for the whole family, and ultimately Elizabeth lost her mum.

At the same time the business was managing maternity leave and continued growth. It was a year of celebration and sadness, often in the same week.

A year like that, shows you what’s holding and what isn’t. When they came to look again at how Lima Kitchens operated, they weren’t looking to fill positions – they needed people who genuinely understood the Lima Kitchens ethos and could carry it forward.

That proved harder than expected.

Towards the end of 2025, conversations reopened with Vicky – for many years a design competitor in Milton Keynes, who was looking for a new challenge. Her skills and experience aligned closely with where Lima was heading.

Within a few months another opportunity arose with Imogen, who brought more than a decade of experience across both independent and national businesses in the area. The reputation Lima Kitchens had built made joining an attractive prospect.

The Lima Kitchens team were delighted to bring both Vicky and Imogen into the team. Within weeks it felt as though they had always been there.

After nearly twenty years of learning how to build a team, Lima Kitchens had reached the point where experienced people in the industry wanted to join them, because they liked what had been built.

Installation Project of the Year – was a project that mattered, because it showed what Lima Kitchens believes it does best: taking a considered design and delivering it properly. See the winning project →

The people behind Lima Kitchens

Lima Kitchens has changed enormously since 2006, but one thing hasn’t: it has always been about the people.

From the team Matt built to strengthen the technical and installation service, to the designers and operational team shaping how Lima Kitchesn works today, every person has added something.

Different strengths, different experience, different perspectives — and a shared view on how customers and each other should be treated.

Meet the full Lima team →

Beyond the showroom

Somewhere along the way, Lima Kitchens stopped being only about the kitchens in front of them.

In 2024, Elizabeth and Andreya launched The Home Improvement Podcast — a show for homeowners planning work on their homes, covering the questions people are often too embarrassed to ask and the mistakes that cost the most to undo.

The podcast has since grown to more than 7,500 subscribers, supported by Blum, Siemens, the KBSA and other independents and home improvement specialists.

Elizabeth also judges the KBSA Awards and appears regularly on the kbbreview podcast panel, discussing the kitchen/home improvement? industry with people running businesses across the country.

None of these activities sell kitchens directly. That isn’t why they do it.

It matters, because an industry that holds itself to a higher standard is better for everyone in it. And judging other people’s work, and saying out loud what the industry gets wrong, keeps Lima Kitchens honest about its own business.

Listen to The Home Improvement Podcast →

The next chapter

In June 2026, Lima Kitchens was named Independent Kitchen Retailer of the Year at the BIFIS Awards – the British Institute of Fitted Interiors Specialists. It’s a category voted for by installation professionals, which makes it a very special compliment: the people who fit kitchens for a living, choose Lima Kitchens. See all awards and accreditations →

In the same year, Matt and Elizabeth bought a small retail premises in Towcester, which will become Lima Kitchens’ second showroom, opening in 2027.

It’s exciting. It’s a little daunting and there’s a great deal still to do.

Twenty years after that conversation around the dining table, Lima Kitchens is growing again – taking what they’ve learned, the team they’ve built, and the way they believe kitchens should be designed and delivered, to a new community.

The principles haven’t changed.

The same independence. The same belief in doing things properly.

Independent by choice. Designed around you.