It was Sir Isaac Newton who famously uttered the phrase that has become the acceptance speech of choice for begrudgingly humble award winners ever since:

"If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants"

A fantastic bit of prose that actually first appeared, trivia fans, in a letter Newton wrote to his great rival Robert Hooke. What many don't know is that while Newton was indeed a superlative genius, he was also a sarky old sod and several historians have concluded that this famous phrase was actually a thinly disguised insult in response to some faint praise  from Hooke - who was well known at the time for being tall in intellect, but physically would've made Tom Cruise look lanky.

Anyway, with that useless fact stored somewhere for your next pub quiz, I'm asking a question today - who do you think are the giants of our industry?

In a forthcoming issue of kbbreview we're going to be counting down the most influential and powerful people in the UK kitchen, bedroom and bathroom industry as it stands in 2008. This power list isn't necessarily about who is the richest, or who runs the biggest companies, it's also asking who is setting the agenda for the future, who are the players to look out for and who is changing the industry for the future?

There may also be some surprises in there from outside the industry, for example, are certain celebrity chefs influencing the buying habits of kitchen consumers more than some of the brands? Are government ministers and bodies shaping this industry with legislation while the companies within it sit by helpless?

Are distributors more powerful than the brands they sell, do they have more influence on the retailer? How about the big multiples like Magnet, MFI, Bathstore and Ikea, where do they sit in the industry as a whole?

We also very deliberately mixing kitchens, bedrooms and bathrooms all up into one list - so who'll come out top?

And, perhaps most importantly, how many actual retailers will feature and where?

So, we need your help. The list will be decided by the kbbreview team and some special invited panelists, but we need your suggestions for the shortlist. Who do you think should be on it and why? Where do you think they sit within the industry? Who influences you?

We're hoping to make this an annual thing, so we can see who's moving up, moving down, dropping out and entering with a bullet so this first 2008 list is incredibly important. Some might say it's a giant task...

Email me with your suggestions

Andrew Davies, editor

andrew@kbbreview.com