The end of Anthracite Grey?

Anthracite Grey has dominated the colour foil window market for the last few years, with thousands of homeowners opting for the blue-hued dark grey for their window frames – but will it date in the same way as stone-cladding, or mock Tudor styling on homes? RegaLead’s joint MD, Guy Hubble, explores the Anthracite Grey avalanche and where the grey trend is going in 2022.

There is absolutely no doubt that Anthracite Grey has been the domineering colour for home improvements over the last few years.

From kitchens and flooring to designer radiators and, of course, windows, Anthracite Grey has been so popular that it’s even started to pip traditional woodgrain finishes like Rosewood to the post of most popular colour foils.

But is the Anthracite bubble ready to burst?

Anthracite Grey windows look sensational against white or cream render on ultra-modern homes, paired with a widespan bi-fold or sliding door at the rear and a chic aluminium-look grey composite entrance door. However, with the colour making its way onto brick homes, 1930s semis and pebble-dashed properties, is it starting to lose its high-end contemporary feel?

Will Anthracite become the stone cladding of the 2020s – a trend that may quickly date homes, rather than standing the test of time and offering classic style in the years to come. Perhaps there’s a reason it’s even being referred to as ‘Council House Grey’ on installer online forums…

The Anthracite Grey boom

So, what happened to make Anthracite Grey the leading grey colour foil option? Driven by the systems houses, Anthracite became the colour foil that was easy to buy.

From personal experience, I know it’s difficult to get suited windows and doors for an entire home in any grey other than Anthracite.

Anthracite quickly became a stock colour option, with all profiles for all products available fast, or even as standard, whilst other grey tones had longer lead times, or were only available in stock for certain products but not others, and usually at a premium price.

Pre-pandemic, we saw systems companies reacting to the expanding grey trend and adding new shades to their colour foil options, but as the industry supply chain challenges hit with the pandemic, supply was restricted, and they receded back to the simplified option – which was Anthracite.

Grey is here to stay

I think it’s safe to say that grey won’t be going away any time soon, but at RegaLead, we have seen the start of a shift in the grey market, with homeowners opting for warmer, softer grey hues that keep the modern appeal but do away with the cooler, blue tone of Anthracite.

As the composite door companies have expanded their grey color options, we have seen up take in the warmer greys from our paint range, such as French Grey, Slate and Shadow, as well as more subtle greys like Agate Grey, Silver Grey and Light Grey to match these ‘new’ grey composite door slabs.

Window colour trends are following suit to remove the harshness from frames and deliver more timeless style. Plus, as heritage aesthetics are tipped to continue to be popular throughout 2022, there’s a renewed uptake on black frames as homeowners seek to replicate steel window, art-deco and industrial styling.

The end of Anthracite?

So will Anthracite disappear, fade into the background? Of course not! It’s still an incredibly popular colour and as Anthracite continues to be readily available, it’s likely that installers will upsell it as the easiest grey option for homeowners.

For those that want to differentiate themselves with a plethora of grey shades, without relying on supply from systems houses, there is a wider network of trade sprayers who can help, if you don’t have space or capacity for spray paint lines in your factory.

But in-house spraying can be set-up for relatively low-cost, giving fabricators the option to offer an incredible number of colour options. It also gives installers the chance to really upsell on colour and give homeowners the choice to have something truly bespoke for their properties – which is exactly what they want in the new ‘replacement of replacements’ era.

Whatever the shade and however it’s coloured, I say that grey is here to stay.