Kind regards
What it really means
The standard polite email sign-off. Watch the temperature: "Kind regards" is normal, "Best wishes" is warm, and a sudden short "Regards" from someone who usually writes more can suggest annoyance.
Context, tips & common mistakes
"Kind regards" is the safe default sign-off for professional email in the UK — appropriate to strangers, colleagues, landlords and lecturers alike. Around it sits a temperature scale worth reading: "Best wishes" and "Best" are a touch warmer or breezier, bare "Regards" is noticeably cooler and can read as clipped, "Many thanks" works when the email asked for something, and "Yours sincerely/faithfully" belong to formal letters (sincerely when you named the recipient, faithfully after 'Dear Sir or Madam').
Brits genuinely notice shifts: dropping from "Kind regards" to "Regards" mid-thread is a legible cooling, deliberate or not. Match your correspondent's register, keep "Kind regards" as your resting state, and save kisses ('x') strictly for friends — never for anyone who marks your essays or pays your salary.
Example conversation
What you could say back
No spoken reply needed for this one.