The popularity of TV cookery shows has elevated the image of home cooking from a chore to a pleasurable pastime, especially at weekends. People want to be more creative in the kitchen and aspire to present restaurant quality meals for their friends and families. So they are on the lookout for cookware and bakeware that can help them achieve the results they want. The affordable nature of many items of cookware means that the products are within reach of most people and buying a new cake tin or baking tray for a specific dish does not seem overly extravagant. Mintel’s Consumer Attitudes Towards Cooking in the Home – UK, December 2013 report, finds that 22% of people agree that watching TV food shows such as Master Chef and the Great British Bake Off inspires them to cook.

And people understand that presentation of the dinner table also affects their enjoyment of the food and enhances the sense of occasion. So we are seeing those people who are using a dining table being more creative in their choice of tablewares, mixing and matching from different sets to create the look they want. Countering this trend we believe that in many homes meal times have become fragmented, with families eating at times to suit the individual or in front of the TV. This is precipitated by busy lifestyles as well as personal circumstances.

Where once the kitchen was the domain of the housewife things have changed. ‘Man cooking’ has become more fashionable, helped by role models from celebrity chefs to contestants on TV cooking shows. Today’s men are becoming more engaged in creating main meals and with baking.

This report examines the markets for cookware, bakeware and tableware and looks at the factors that are influencing consumer spending.

This report excludes electrical goods. Therefore small kitchen appliances or any electrical goods for the table such as electric lamps or electric servers are not included.

The following definitions give examples of the products within each category but are not fully comprehensive.

• Drinkware (eg glasses, jugs and decanters)

• Crockery and china (eg plates, dessert bowls, serving bowls, platters, mugs, cups and saucers)

• Oven-to-tableware

• Table accessories (eg salt/pepper sets)

• Cutlery (flatware).

• Pans, frying pans, stewpots, casserole dishes

• Utensils and kitchen knives

• Baking tins, oven tins etc

• Kitchen accessories (eg storage jars, chopping boards).

For the broader definitions of homewares the government’s consumer spending data tackles the following categories.

• Glassware, crystal ware, ceramic ware and china ware of the kind used for table, kitchen, bathroom, toilet, office and indoor decoration

• Cutlery, flatware and silverware

• Non-electric kitchen utensils of all materials such as saucepans, stewpots, pressure cookers, frying pans, coffee mills, purée makers, mincers, hotplates, household scales and other such mechanical devices

• Non-electric household articles of all materials such as containers for bread, coffee, spices, etc., waste bins, waste-paper baskets, laundry baskets, portable money boxes and strongboxes, towel rails, bottle racks, irons and ironing boards, letter boxes, feeding bottles, vacuum flasks and iceboxes

• Repair of such articles.

Crown copyright material is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO and the Queen’s Printer for Scotland.

Value figures throughout this report are at retail selling prices unless otherwise stated. Market sizes at 2014 prices are calculated using Mintel’s Household Goods deflator.