RESTON, VA — The COVID-19 pandemic may have had a profound impact on the housing, residential remodeling and kitchen/bath markets in 2020, but sales of cabinets by the industry’s leading domestic suppliers nevertheless posted a modest gain from the previous year, the Kitchen Cabinet Manufacturers reported this week.
According to the results of the KCMA’s monthly Trend of Business Survey for December 2020, overall cabinet sales rose 2% in 2020, compared to the same 12-month period in 2019. Stock cabinet sales led the annual gain, rising 5.1% over the previous year, the KCMA reported. Custom cabinet sales increased 0.4% for the month, while semi-custom sales posted a 1.9% decline, the Reston, VA-based association noted.
The 2020 cabinet sales increases were fueled in large part by a significant gain in sales during the months of November and December, as housing and related markets continued to recover from the shock of a public-health crisis that led earlier in the year to widespread business and factory closures, supply chain disruptions, significant homeowner uncertainty, and delays in housing starts, home sales and kitchen/bath remodeling projects. However, a wide range of virus-mitigation strategies coupled with increased vaccine rollout, high demand and other positive fundamentals have since contributed to market growth that is expected to continue in 2021.
Participating cabinet manufacturers in the KCMA’s monthly surveys reported an increase in overall cabinet sales of 11.6% for December 2020 compared to the same month in 2019. Custom sales for the month were up 19.3%, semi-custom rose 12.5%, and stock sales increased 9.6%, the KCMA said. Overall cabinet sales were up 8.3% in November over the same month the previous year, the association reported.
Survey participants include stock, semi-custom and custom companies whose combined sales represent approximately 75 % of the U.S. kitchen cabinet and bath vanity market, according to the KCMA.