Albert Northdurft, the founder of ALNO kitchens, was initially a shopfitter. With time, many people learnt about his first-class quality and the demand for his services increased which motivated him to start a formal business. In 1927, he established a company which he named selbstständige Schreinerei Albert Nothdurft. It was situated in Wangen, which is near Göppingen.
1956, Albert decided to transition from being a trade and manufacturing company to being an industrial enterprise. He, therefore, shifted to Pfullendorf in Baden.
In 1958, he renamed his company to ALNO Möbelwerke GmbH & Co. KG. Albert Northdurft derived the name from the first two letters of each of his names. 'AL' from Albert and 'NO' from Northdurft.
The company produced its first made-to-fit kitchens in 1960. Within its first ten years of operation, the workforce grew exponentially as well as its space. Between 1969 and 1984, ALNO started exporting its kitchens to other countries and even set up subsidiaries in some of them. Their first subsidiary was in France in 1969, followed by Belgium in 1970, Italy in 1972, Switzerland in 1974, the United kingdom in 1980 and finally the Netherlands in 1984.
In 1987, they established a subsidiary in the United States and New York, they set up a kitchen studio. In 1990 they introduced Impuls Kuchen GmbH, which was a multi¬brand strategy. ALNO received its green certificate in 1992 after its certification as a "GREEN" company.
In 1995, ALNO Möbelwerke GmbH & Co. KG changed its name to ALNO AG. In Palo Alto, California, European Kitchen Design established its first showroom in 2003. However, in 2008 the showroom was relocated to San Francisco.
In 2010, one of their innovations, known as the ALNOSTAR SATINA, won ALNO the iF product design award and the coveted reddot design award. The same year, the "ALNOSTAR SATINA" kitchen won ALNO the coveted reddot design award, as well as the iF product design. Still, in 2010, ALNOMERECUCINA was introduced in Milan at the kitchen furniture exhibition.
ALNO AG celebrated its 85th anniversary in 2012, and in 2013, one of its innovations known as ALNOSTAR CERA won the interior innovation award. They also got a nomination for the German Design Award for 2013 and 2014.
In 2013, another one of their design concepts, known as Vintucina, won the interior innovation award.
These, however, are not the only achievements that ALNO kitchens have made. Currently, they are among the top-ranked kitchen manufacturers in the world. They bring together current trends and new technologies to achieve top-notch kitchen designs.