The Institute of Kitchen, Bedroom and Bathroom Installers, the iKBBI, has signed up with its first retail partner - John Lewis of Hungerford.

The iKBBI was launched in November to boost the image and standards of the installation side of the kbb sector and since work began with John Lewis of Hungerford in February it has performed a full review of the retailer's installation operation. All installation teams have been assessed to ensure they qualify with the membership criteria and procedures put in place to guarantee the same is true for all installers recruited in the future.

"We are very proud to be the first national independent kitchen retailer to achieve institute membership," said Jon Rosby, md for John Lewis of Hungerford . "Our industry iften suffer from a poor reputation, especially when it comes to installations. We believe the iKBBI can be a massive aid in helping to address this problem, which is why all our installers are now members."

The iKBBI has also created a strategy for the retailer to follow, designed to improve sales and service while reducing costs.

"John Lewis of Hungerford is the perfect choice to be our first retail partner," said iKBBI director Damian Walters. "They have demonstrated a clear commitment to installation excellence and customer satisfaction and we will be working with them closely to strengthen this in the future. Customers that buy from John Lewis of Hungerford will have the added assurance of quality, knowing that it will be installed by the very best kbb installers."

John Lewis of Hungerford is set to open two new showrooms this year in Oxford and Cambridge and in its last annual results for the year up to 31 August 2007, it had increased year-on-year sales by 13% to £4.5m and pre-tax profits from £63,500 to an impressive £310,000.