If you saw my ‘before’ post, then you’ll know that we had a lack of space in terms of storage and worktops. Not anymore! We’ve probably got more workspace next to our new cooker than we had in the whole of the previous kitchen – it’s mad but brilliant! The kitchen we chose is from Howdens (who were brilliant) and it’s Glendevon in flint grey. We loved the curved corners and I’m so pleased that we decided to splurge on getting these, as it works particularly well on the bit that goes around the corner from the ‘old’ kitchen to the new bit.

I’m really pleased that we chose to match the floor with the worktops – it works so well. This is American pecan wood-effect laminate flooring and worktop. I love the look of real wood but we couldn’t afford real wood flooring! But it doesn’t matter at all – this looks just as good. We’ve got an area where we’ll put a table, and it will be really good to be able to eat in the kitchen. When it arrives we’ll be living in here I think! This is where it will go (you can just about see it – the light wasn’t great today as it’s pretty gloomy outside!):

I’m standing at the front window looking at where the garage used to be for this next photo. You can get a sense of how the old garage and old kitchen have been combined – it’s such a big space!

It’s lovely and light with the window and door. We haven’t got blinds for the back windows yet, mainly because we couldn’t find what we were looking for. We’ll have to get them put up soonish though, because it’s a real sun trap at the back! In the old bit of the kitchen, the sink has stayed in the same place, but the washing machine has been moved in there and we also have a dishwasher (yay!). Not that we’ve worked out how to use it yet, because we keep forgetting to buy some dishwasher salt…anyway, this is working out well in this area. We’ve got our cutlery canteen over here because it didn’t open fully where the upper units are. We got one of those pull-out larders, which we would highly recommend if you’re redesigning your own kitchen! The boiler has been boxed in here too, so it looks much neater.

Please excuse all my washing up here!

The units are really good quality, and it’s so lovely to have more storage space. We had forgotten about so many things that we had for our kitchen, and it was great to unpack them all. We also discovered that we have quite a mug collection!

Although I love so many things about our new kitchen, our cooker has to be my favourite part. I have dreamed of having a range cooker for so long, and it’s amazing. We chose a Cookmaster by Leisure and it’s really easy to use, and with 7 burners we should have enough cooking space now! It took us a while to decide what to do about tiles, as we had seen these lovely mosaic tiles that we wanted to have. After much thought and discussion, we decided to have an upstand around all the worktops, with the tiles as a splash back only. This was a good decision – having these tiles all around the kitchen would have looked a bit weird, especially in places where the space isn’t very deep (like around the sink). I think the tiler was pleased too – it would have been a nightmare job for him!

We are so lucky to have been able to complete this project, and are so pleased with how it has turned out. It still feels really surreal to be honest! I can’t wait to get trying out new recipes and to get the final touches done. Here’s to fun times in our new kitchen!

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There were so many people working on our kitchen that day – the plasterers and electricians were here in addition to the usual team working on it. The tiler came over to discuss what we’re having and the cooker was delivered too. And in the middle of that I was doing my marking…crazy!

We took some photos on Tuesday after the builders had gone and it was brilliant to see the size of the new kitchen. I’m fairly good at imagining things, but the space feels much bigger than I thought it would. It’s so light with the big windows too – our front window is 182cm wide!

Since then it has been all go – the plasterers and electricians were even here yesterday (Saturday)! Our kitchen was delivered yesterday too, so that is going to be fitted this week. There are so many boxes in the kitchen now! We also have lights, which is just amazing – it means I can take better photos after they have finished for the day too haha

I spotted this on the box of handles – this is a musician’s joke, haha!

The rendering has been finished outside too. Pebble dash isn’t the prettiest thing in the world, but we had to have it so that it matched the rest of the house. As much as I’d like to paint it, I know that once we do it’s a job we’ll have to do every other year or so and I’d rather spend the money on something else to be quite honest! So this matches the house perfectly.

So, all of the construction side of things is complete now and there’s just a week to go! Can you believe it?! The kitchen will be fitted from tomorrow and the decorator is coming on Thursday. There’s just one thing that will have to wait until the week after, and that’s the tiling (because the tiler was fully booked this week). We’ve decided that we’re just going to have tiles for a splash back now, so it’s a small-ish job for the week after. I can’t actually believe we’ve got to this point! I’ll share some more photos with you next week…exciting!

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The floor joists went in last week too, again with lots of insulation between them. It felt really good to walk on the floor of the new bit of the kitchen – I know that might be weird, but it was!

This week, we were hoping that the windows would be fitted. A different company is fitting them, and despite our best efforts to get things scheduled in advance, they are delayed until next week. This doesn’t seem like a huge setback, but we were ahead on the build (!!) so it is a little frustrating. There is plenty to get on with though, so this week some plasterboard has been fitted in the new bit, and our old kitchen units have started to disappear!

The other bit of steel is now on the inside as you can see! It is definitely out of action now, so it’s a good job we moved everything out last weekend. We even have a little tea corner in our living room now – this is the most important area as far as I’m concerned!

The way through to our hallway has been knocked through this week too. It feels so much bigger in the hall now, which I didn’t really expect! The stud wall has been removed and we have gained a couple of extra feet of space, but it feels like so much more than that. Maybe it’s the light? Who knows?! We’ll have a proper cupboard under the stairs here too, which will be great. I should point out that the horrid saloon doors will be gone soon too – yay! Here’s a ‘before’ shot:

And a ‘during’ shot:

An ‘after’ shot will follow over the next couple of weeks!

So we are ready and waiting for the windows, and it’s all systems go next week. The construction should be finished by next Friday, and the new units should arrive a week on Monday…so it should all be complete by the end of the month! Yippee!

We’re choosing tiles, paint and lights this weekend – I’m probably more excited about this than I should be haha! Hope you have a great weekend, whatever you’re up to

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I am SO excited that our latest project is finally happening – it has been well over a year in the making, but this week we are finally starting our kitchen renovation! I can’t believe we are starting really, although having spent most of this weekend packing up our kitchen, I really should by now… 

Let me tell you a bit about how we got started with this project. When we bought our house (which we have now been in for almost 5 years) we had intentions to reconfigure some bits of it, starting with the kitchen. At the end of last year we had our plans drawn up and submitted to the council, and planning was approved early this year. Then it took us ages to find a builder – have you ever tried to find one?! You’d think that it would be relatively straightforward, but no. We were let down by several at the quote stage (never a good sign!) but had been told that getting 3-4 quotes would be a good idea. This is right of course, but it was slightly frustrating to have watched several months pass by waiting to hear back from various people, only to choose the first one! Hindsight is a wonderful thing! But this way we have chosen a builder who we are very happy with, so it was worth it.

We were hoping to start the work over the summer, but by the time we had chosen our builder he was booked up into early autumn. The weather has delayed things slightly, but we are just so happy to be starting! Although we have got planning permission for a two-storey extension, our budget only allows us to do the ground floor at the moment. We currently have a garage at the side of the house, which will be knocked down and rebuilt with sturdier foundations, and then one of the walls in the current kitchen will be knocked through.

Our kitchen renovation: a few ‘before’ photos

I thought I would take some ‘before’ shots to show you – this was the kitchen yesterday as we started to pack things up:

As you can see, we don’t currently have much workspace…or cupboard space – this is it. We’ll be doubling the number of cupboards we have, which will mean no more keeping loads of stuff on the worktops – yay! We were trying to work out how old these units are, and we think they might be the original ones. They are Schreiber units and have obviously lasted a long time, and we think they must be at least 20-25 years old. So they have served the house well! I remember when we moved in we were really hoping that the previous owners would leave the cooker (because we didn’t have any money left to buy one), and thankfully they did! I have often wondered if it would last long, but it has kept going for us. We’ll be very glad to have a new one with a fully-functioning grill though – the one in our previous rented flat didn’t work either, so we haven’t had one for about 8 years!

This is the door to the garage, and it is this wall (the one with the wall units) that will be demolished to make one big kitchen. You may be wondering why we have got our fridge freezer squashed in here – it is because we used to have it in the garage, but one really cold winter it stopped working because it was too cold out there! There is a cupboard behind the fridge freezer, which will be knocked through so that the kitchen can be accessed from the hall as well as the living room.

The garage currently has a downstairs toilet, but as it is generally inhabited by spiders and woodlice we’re getting rid of it (and also because we never really use it, and the space for the kitchen would be more practical really).

So, that’s the ‘before’ tour done! Hopefully I’ll be able to share some progress photos of our kitchen renovation with you soon…please pray/keep your fingers crossed/make a wish (delete as applicable!) for dry weather as we get started and for a smooth build overall. We have 5 weeks before Christmas and hopefully, the garage will be demolished and will be up again and water tight before then…that’s a big ‘hopefully’! I know that for our builders this is a relatively easy job, but for us it’s like our very own Grand Design and we can’t wait

Post updated 17th February 2020.

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