Started in Liverpool in 1925 to make Hoosier cabinets, it was bought by new investors in 1938, who after the war built modular kitchens for the new British post-war temporary prefab houses.

But mass manufacture and a change in styles meant that it ended up as an economy brand in the UK, bought out in the 1987 by the MFI Group.

[3][5] The design team realised that the post-War austerity period was over, and the 1950s kitchen needed to be bright, colourful and modern, influenced from contemporary American ideals of domesticity and good living.

Pre-war English Rose kitchens had been the living ideal, but with wood in short supply, Aluminium became the material of choice.

Worksurfaces were most often created in Formica, which available in a series of colours all with wipe-clean surfaces, reduced the amount of labour needed to prepare food.

1950s kitchens also often incorporated rounded shelves at the end of the units providing extra storage and a useful location for the bakelite radio.

But the mid-1950s F range was the company's first fully prefabricated kitchen, combining wall units with sliding doors, built-in sinks and larders with clear plastic storage bins.

At Fejer's suggestion, Arthur Webb and George Nunn invited Marshall to move to Liverpool to join them at their Kirkby factory, and henceforward he was largely responsible for their design and planning work.

At this time fitted kitchens were still beyond many people's price range, and builders still did not incorporate one into their new build houses.

John Kennedy requested George Robinson to produce a limited range of melamine faced units at a specific price level in order to provide a USP for Hygena in the market place, and to facilitate retail stock holding.

The company's TV advertising used a little girl to demonstrate simplicity of assembly, and the ease of units being carried away by customers.

By 1973 Hygena had reached a 25% share of the Fitted Kitchen market, and in that financial year contributed over one third of Norcros net profit.

The sale included the 138 wholly owned stores in its French network, the Lille headquarters of MFI's mainland European operations, and use of the Hygena brand within Europe excluding the UK.