DE RE PODCAST

Simon Rombouts

Podcast

Episode #81

Summary

Most kitchens end up in landfill after just 15 years, fully written off and rarely reused. Simon Rombouts wanted to change that. What began as research into circular business models during an internship quickly turned into a real-world mission. Together with co-founder Jordy van Osch, he founded Chainable, a company that delivers fully circular kitchens as a service. Designed to be modular, repairable, and reusable, the kitchens are built for multiple lifecycles. Today, Chainable works with housing corporations across the Netherlands, proving that circular design can be both sustainable and scalable.
“Traditional kitchens are built to become waste, we design them for a second, third, and fourth life.” - Simon Rombouts, Chainable @ReTheAgency

Summary

Most kitchens end up in landfill after just 15 years, fully written off and rarely reused. Simon Rombouts wanted to change that. What began as research into circular business models during an internship quickly turned into a real-world mission. Together with co-founder Jordy van Osch, he founded Chainable, a company that delivers fully circular kitchens as a service. Designed to be modular, repairable, and reusable, the kitchens are built for multiple lifecycles. Today, Chainable works with housing corporations across the Netherlands, proving that circular design can be both sustainable and scalable.

About

Simon Rombouts is a Dutch entrepreneur and co-founder of Chainable, a company pioneering circular kitchens as a service. Instead of selling traditional kitchens that are discarded after a single lifecycle, Chainable designs modular kitchens that can be maintained, refurbished, and reused multiple times.

With a background in circular business research, Rombouts focuses on redesigning the entire value chain around kitchens, from materials and manufacturing to maintenance and reuse. Through partnerships with housing corporations across the Netherlands, Chainable demonstrates that circular design can be both environmentally impactful and economically scalable.

About

Simon Rombouts is a Dutch entrepreneur and co-founder of Chainable, a company pioneering circular kitchens as a service. Instead of selling traditional kitchens that are discarded after a single lifecycle, Chainable designs modular kitchens that can be maintained, refurbished, and reused multiple times.

With a background in circular business research, Rombouts focuses on redesigning the entire value chain around kitchens, from materials and manufacturing to maintenance and reuse. Through partnerships with housing corporations across the Netherlands, Chainable demonstrates that circular design can be both environmentally impactful and economically scalable.

Summary

Most kitchens end up in landfill after just 15 years, fully written off and rarely reused. Simon Rombouts wanted to change that. What began as research into circular business models during an internship quickly turned into a real-world mission. Together with co-founder Jordy van Osch, he founded Chainable, a company that delivers fully circular kitchens as a service. Designed to be modular, repairable, and reusable, the kitchens are built for multiple lifecycles. Today, Chainable works with housing corporations across the Netherlands, proving that circular design can be both sustainable and scalable.