This much is certain: this year's thirteenth trade and order fair for the European kitchen industry, ‘area30’ in Löhne/Germany, was successful and a thoroughly enjoyable event. The mood and business atmosphere in the exhibition halls stood out favourably from the - certainly not unfounded - pessimism regarding the current economic situation. Thanks to attractive offers, innovative developments in the kitchen and, last but not least, good logistical connections, this year's ‘area30’ attracted around 12,000 trade fair visitors.

The influx of visitors to the ‘World City of Kitchens’ lasted from the morning into the evening, with the Sunday and Monday's ‘Holland Day’ attracting the most visitors with over 2,600 guests each. Once again, ‘area30’ proved to be a leading international B2B event for the kitchen industry, which has long since surpassed its former European counterparts.

Martin Staaks, Head of Product Management at Naber, confirms on behalf of his company: ‘Naber has been an exhibitor at area30 since 2011. We greatly appreciate the continuous dynamic development of this trade fair. The concept (...) offers us as exhibitors the opportunity to rethink and redesign our stand every year. With new stand layouts, we can inspire our customers and visitors anew every year.’

The trade fair of the year 2024 once again presented itself as the central business platform with the most brands and market leaders in one place and, with around 12,000 industry experts present over all days of the trade fair, as the best frequented trade fair centre - with a smart mix of newcomers and start-ups on the one hand and established industry giants on the other.

‘We love area30 - we've been there since the first year and really enjoy the 6 days with our visitors. The atmosphere is outstanding and the event has become an important pillar of the kitchen industry. We are already looking forward to area30 2025!’ Daniel Hörnes, Managing Director of Quooker, emphasises the importance of the 13th event.

The highly motivated trade representatives from the retail sector and kitchen studios, from association groups and the large-scale sector as well as project planners, architects and the trade plus the media met around 200 illustrious company and brand names. And with a view to the increasingly established ‘area30 community’ - more and more one can speak of a ‘sworn fan community’ - to a successfully organised ‘innovation area’ with its exciting lectures and presentations.

As expected, trade visitors from Germany (80%) and the Benelux countries (12%) made up the largest group of visitors with around 92 per cent of visitors. Over three per cent of visitors came from the Alpine countries of Austria and Switzerland. Italy, France and Spain were also among the countries with the highest visitor numbers. Visitors from outside the EU, such as Turkey, China, Taiwan and the Ukraine, made up the majority of visitors.

On both the exhibitor and visitor side, the need for personal dialogue, discussions and negotiations, for discovering new ideas and innovative products was clearly noticeable. As a marketplace for innovations, ‘area30’ was particularly popular this year: Almost all business discussions centred on ideas and solutions that help to better position one's own company in a competitive environment and steer it into safer waters.

‘We use the trade fair to support our specialist trade customers (...) and keep them up to date - and of course to reach new customers. Nowhere else can we reach our target group from the trade in such a concentrated and high-quality way as at area30,’ emphasises founder and Küchenatlas Managing Director Sebastian Kiefer.

During the trade fair, kitchen furniture manufacturers, suppliers of sinks, taps, extraction systems and electrical appliances, software and accessories came together with industry specialists, buyers and multipliers. Just how relevant these discussions were is emphasised by the very high proportion of trade fair visitors from the top management level (over 70 percent) - owners, managing directors, sales representatives and sales managers from the companies were virtually ‘holding hands’ at the trade fair stands. In addition to the more than 60 journalists and 120 media representatives, the presence of a good 770 designers, product managers and developers was of particular interest to the exhibiting companies.

In terms of origin within the kitchen industry, most visitors came from kitchen studios of various sizes (5,080 guests). Specialist kitchen stores and the furniture trade were also well represented in Löhne/Germany with over 1,000 trade visitors each. There were 800 registered experts from the kitchen furniture industry, followed at some distance by representatives from the trade and the electrical appliance industry (367 and 290 guests respectively) and the supplier and furniture industry (210 and 150 guests respectively). The clientele of architects, interior designers and from ‘Building and Living’ represented another important visitor group with just under 400 interested parties. Somewhat surprisingly, the pure ‘onlineers’ remained so clearly in the minority with 40 sales representatives.

A special highlight this year was the ‘innovation area’, organised for the second time, where visitors and exhibitor representatives were able to exchange ideas with niche suppliers or small exhibitors in the ‘work’ area and experience the top presentations, panel discussions and ‘Future Talks’ offered there at the same time on the centrally positioned ‘stage’. The fact that ‘area30’ is increasingly developing into a top-class community area was also emphasised by high-calibre guests such as designer Katrin de Louw and trend expert Yvonne Zahn.

In this context, the award ceremony of the Anja Schaible Foundation and the renewed visit of the students of the Cologne Furniture College are worth mentioning. The community character is also noticeable here, as the successful networking of future specialists and managers is of fundamental importance for the future viability of the entire kitchen industry. Just like the successful ‘area30’ in this and the coming years.

Nikolaus Fleischhacker (Oranier) sums it up aptly: ‘The good logistical connections, the professional organisation and the wealth of interesting exhibitors have meant that practically no kitchen retailer can ignore area30. As one of the ‘founding members’, Oranier was able to observe the steady upward trend as an exhibitor. Well done - keep up the good work!’

Facts & figures

Product range
Waste systems, accessories, acoustics, worktops, fittings, bathroom furniture, benches, services, extractor hoods, electrical household appliances, dining room furniture, trade press, utility room, interior fittings, institutions / associations, cooperation partners, kitchen furniture, light, media and publishers, furniture, niche rear walls, outdoor kitchens, outdoor furniture, smart home, software / IT, sinks, chairs, tables, accessories, suppliers

Next show
20 to 25 September 2025

Image data
The link below leads to a selection of images of area30 2024. The images can be used as press photos, with the copyright notice area30 - printing is free of charge. Please send us a specimen copy.

Press images area30

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