Arguably best known for its Second Nature kitchen doors and furniture components, national distributor PWS also provides retailers with bespoke worksurfaces.

Although the worktop division, established at its Newton Aycliffe-based headquarters in 2009, has had “multi-million pound” investments, and is the company’s second largest category in terms of turnover, head of sales for PWS Worksurfaces James Archer admits it is still a lesser-known part of the business.

But he has plans to change all that, not least with the launch of a new ceramic collection.

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New ceramic surfacing

PWS has introduced Strata Ceramic,  a six-strong collection of ceramic worksurfaces, reflecting the trends in the market.

“The market is moving towards ceramic and we felt it was prudent, and the time was right for us to launch a ceramics collection” James Archer says.

After a year in development, Archer details the range: “We’ve got six new colours which will be part of the PWS product launch for 2025.”

And he adds all are available in stock. “We don’t launch a product unless we’ve got it available. There is a full set of samples available in stock.

“We’ve got around 20 slabs per colour, to start with, and we’ve sourced this in Europe so it’s on a fairly short lead time.”

But how does PWS plan to stand out in a market with specialised suppliers of ceramic surfaces?

Archer explains, like the rest of the company’s worksurface portfolio, Strata Ceramic surfaces are created to complement its furniture.

“Our greatest asset is that our products are not created as standalone worktop, but designed to go into a PWS kitchen”, he explains.

Worktop investments

Ceramic adds to the group’s business, where 20-25% of sales are already attributed to kitchen worktops.

“Around 35 kitchens’ worth of worktops are going out the door every day”, Archer adds.

Providing timber, natural and engineered stone, he reports the most popular material remains quartz.

It reflects the 2025 Houzz UK Kitchen Trends report which revealed engineered stone as the most sought-after worktop choice.

PWS has not only spent money on making the “bespoke process as automated as possible” to ensure consistent product quality, but also to ensure the safety of employees fabricating stone.

The company has invested in water suppression, dust extraction and full respiratory protective equipment.

James Archer adds: “We’ve recently engaged with the Health & Safety Executive (HSE), inviting them into our premises to work with them and ensure we’re at the forefront of safety standards.”

And he believes it is the responsibility of retailers to make sure they are buying quartz worktops from reputable suppliers who abide to HSE regulations, adding: “We all need to take some degree of responsibility.”

Popular marble-effects

Servicing the independent retailer with its exclusive Strata ceramic and Strata quartz brand, as well as national retail, contract and DIY sector, PWS offers a wide choice of colours across materials.

Archer reports there has been growing interest in green worksurface finishes, but the most popular engineered stone remains a variety of marble patterns with a white background.

It has seen both trends combined in its latest Strata Ceramic range, with Verde.

“The marble veining can be quite subtle to something that is very striking”, he explains adding: “We’ve seen more detail coming through in the patterns and certainly as the technology is getting better the imitation of natural stone is getting better.”

Bespoke service

Its natural and engineered stone worktops are custom-made to order, which includes visiting customer’s home to measure, cutting and shaping the surface following the retailer’s design, and then installing the worktop.

“It’s a full service of a bespoke worksurface”, James Archer adds. 

He continues saying it offers kitchen specialists a design advantage, as he explains: “Some design features we can produce in our factory, I believe, are fairly unique to us. These are things like floating shelves and breakfast bars.

“So, the look an independent retailer can achieve with a Second Nature kitchen and worksurface is going to be something hard to replicate by high street competitors.”

And this can be achieved within two-week lead time for the majority of its bespoke kitchen worktop orders.

“If you’ve got the manufacturing right, which we have because of the money we’ve invested, giving the customer what they expect in a timely manner is probably as important as the quality”, says James Archer.

While retailers may know about the breadth of the product and design offer, he adds they may still not be aware its bespoke worktop surface is also ‘competitively priced’.

“I think people maybe believe, as a big business, we won’t be necessarily as competitive as a local fabricator, but our investment into efficiencies tend to make sure we are.”

Growth target

With a “fairly ambitious” growth target of 15-20% this year, James Archer says in a challenging market it will be achieved through taking market share.