Furniture giant MFI has been re-launched as an online retailer, but says kitchens will no longer be part of its product offering.

Instead, the brand - which was bought by plumbing company the Walker Group in September of last year for a reported £250,000 - will concentrate on bathrooms, bedrooms and living room furniture.

"MFI will be selling everything bar kitchens," a company spokesman confirmed. "There are lots of reasons for that. The main one is that they're confident of certain service levels with everything else but with the kitchens it's too difficult. They're not ruling it out long term but won't have kitchens to start with. You've got to make sure you've got everything together, and if things go wrong with kitchens it's an absolute disaster."

MFI went into administration two years ago following several years of turmoil. At its peak it boasted nearly 200 stores, selling more than 50 million items a year to 2.5 million households. It ceased trading in December 2008 after failing to secure rental relief from its landlords but the new owner of the brand insists it is now well positioned to repair its tarnished reputation.

"What people have to remember is that it was a hell of a success story for quite a long time," the spokesman explained. "It was only in the last couple of years it went horribly wrong. But if you're starting up with a new brand that nobody has heard of it's really expensive and difficult to get that into the consciousness; it costs a hell of a lot in advertising and all the rest of it. But if you've got a brand that's recognisable all you have to do is ensure there's no tarnish, or to improve any tarnish it has."

Aware of its poor record on installation, the new owner of the MFI brand is also keen to assure consumers that customer service will be its number one priority.  

"MFI had large out of town stores, this is completely different to all that," the spokesman continued. "With the re-launch of the brand, one of the things they've really focused on is that customer service is going to be first class. They've really put a lot of effort into that aspect, which is why there are no kitchens at this stage. They want to make absolutely sure they can deliver, that they've go the right production and all the promises on delivery dates etc will be kept."