Kitchen Things tipped into liquidation as creditor claims swell past $23m

Thursday, 2 October 2025

Creditors have voted to put Kitchen Things and its subsidiaries into liquidation to wind down the business, as liquidators find unsecured creditor claims across the group have climbed to more than $23 million.

It comes after the company’s first receivers’ report valued total claims at just $16.6m last month.

BDO liquidators George Bannerman and Rees Logan were appointed after a watershed creditors meeting last week, when creditors voted to place Kitchen Things and its associated companies in liquidation in a move to wind down the remaining business and recover any funds to pay back outstanding creditor claims.

Meanwhile, the receivership worked to keep the company trading during its insolvency.

Any recovered funds would go back to creditors based on priority, with secured creditors and preferential creditors paid first. But unsecured creditors be paid back last, including outstanding customer claims in that category.

According to Bannerman and Logan, unsecured creditor claims stood at $23.1m, including any payments owed to customers who had made purchases before the receivership. Those claims were across Jones Family Investments, Kitchen Things NZ Ltd, Applico and Appliance Works.

Last month, the receivers report showed Kitchen Things creditors were claiming $16.6m in total, with just $980,000 in unsecured claims.

But liquidators also found the company had about $25m in surplus assets at the end of July that could be distributed to creditors. Receivers also confirmed this week that all employee claims had been paid out in full.

Total unpaid employee claims across the group at the end of July came in at about $884,000 and had been paid in full by September 25. Receivers had previously found employee claims were at just $57,000.

With liquidation now under way, the focus shifted from managing ongoing operations to winding up the companies. Liquidators would assess creditor claims and transactions.

Bannerman and Logan said receivers are continuing to sell off remaining stock and “see if some or all of the businesses can be sold as going concerns”. That meant selling the business as a whole including the brand, assets and staff.

Receivers had been looking for a buyer for the business since the receivership was announced, but Bannerman and Logan did not confirm if any interested parties had bought the business.

Existing employment agreements were terminated and some employees were rehired to sell off remaining stock, they said.