Kitchen dramas

Last year I made the big decision that we needed a new kitchen, there were very practical reasons to needing a new kitchen. However there were very impractical consequences. We live in a lovely little Victorian terraced house that was renovated in the 1980's (read original fireplaces, windows, doors and other features removed - including we think the cellar being filled). As with all old properties this one has it's quirks - you know not quite straight walls, floors and a few small cracks here and there. After speaking to a neighbour we found out that after an investigation a structural engineer had confirmed that the terraces had moved slightly when they were first built (1890) but had since settled and were sound. It's nice to know that everything's fine.

This is what we started with (we had replaced the cupboard doors initially and kept them for a few years).

Not bad but not great and with plenty of problems (including very naughty kitty cats!). Therefore we made a start.

I call it the industrial look. What, you mean you wouldn't want to relax in this fine space? But you could bake such scrummy cakes in this oven!

High street kitchens

I had taken a good look at the handmade kitchens available to get some much needed inspiration for my own kitchen. This is my first ever kitchen of my own so I did not want to make any mistakes both practically and expensively. Now I had to get realistic and look at the high street kitchens available within my budget (which wasn't vast!). You may notice some similarities between the kitchens.


I looked at B&Q


 I looked at Wickes






I looked at Magnet
 

I looked at Howdens
 

I looked at Ikea
 
Images: B&Q, Wickes, Magnet, Howdens, Ikea

I was surprised by how nice these kitchens were and all the nifty gadgets they contain. Kitchens have come a long way! Drawer dampeners stop drawers smashing back into their units, metal basket drawers, pop up plugs, pull out larders, islands, even dishwashers and fridges that are housed in drawers! It's quite amazing really and I can understand how people can spend so much on kitchens when you look at what is available. My favourite kitchens were narrowed down to Howdens and Ikea. However as you have to use a builder to buy a Howdens kitchen and we wished to cut down costs by installing the kitchen ourselves I went with Ikea. What I have noticed about kitchens is the fact that stores are very vague with their pricing (another reason why I went with Ikea as I wanted to know exactly what everything cost). If you are considering purchasing a kitchen yourself it maybe worth getting quotes from all stores you are interested in purchasing from and then use these quotes to make the stores compete for your sale. I have heard that some people have had good reductions doing this. Also another way to reduce the cost is to offer to pay cash if a percentage is taken off the total cost of the kitchen - anything is worth a go as it's a very expensive purchase!

Kitchen inspiration

As previously stated our kitchen was in need of a complete overhaul. As this is our first house and I have never bought a kitchen before I started to browse the Internet for some inspiration. I started with handmade kitchens in order to see how the professionals design kitchens (and to see the most beautiful styles available!).

 

 

Images: freddavisjoinery.co.uk, harrisonpope.co.uk, chalon.com, handmadekitchen.co.uk, touchwoodkitchen.co.uk

These kitchens all look amazingly beautiful as well as practical. They feel homely and not severe. I can imagine baking a cake or making a cup of tea and relaxing. Of course this was all wishful thinking as everybody would love a beautiful handmade bespoke kitchen but of course that beauty costs. So I used these images as a starting point for my own kitchen. By taking ideas from the kitchens I could start to build a plan for my own. I noticed that I liked the more classic style of kitchen, the shaker style of kitchen door, deep drawers rather than cupboards, white / cream / green door fronts, double ceramic sinks with a chrome high spout tap, wooden worktops, an island and a range cooker. Now came the tricky job of finding these styles within a high street kitchen at a decent quality and a price I was willing to pay - a tall order indeed!

Old kitchen

Our kitchen was a right nightmare. It had been installed in the 80's and was in need of a complete overhaul. There was awful vinyl on the floor that was sticky to walk on and was ripped in sections so we would often trip up. The grill had stopped working, well to be honest it would set fire which meant it was too dangerous to use and then the oven only worked on the one side which meant moving our food round constantly to evenly cook it and hence doubling the cooking time. We did not have enough storage so it always looked messy and the cabinets had no backs and there were often creepy crawlies in our crockery - yuck! For a temporary measure when we first moved in we replaced the cupboard doors which were bought at a very cheap price (£1 a door!).

However this could only last so long. This year we decided that we needed a new kitchen so I started to look.......