Practice what you preach!

After advising customers on the design and installation of numerous kitchens, I thought it was about time to sort mine out. Here’s the existing kitchen. Cupboards were fifteen years old and we’d put new doors and worktops on around five years ago.

So far so good. We managed to sell this kitchen for £500 on ebay so well worth thinking about if you are looking to replace a kitchen that’s not too ancient!

The two pictures above show the problem I wanted to sort out. An existing cupboard under the stairs and the position of the door from the hallway as well as the rad on the wall meant that a big chunk of space was being wasted in the kitchen. It also meant that we had to have an under the counter fridge which isn’t the best solution for a family of 5! I wanted to work out a way to make more of this space and I also really, really wanted to have a double fronted fridge freezer in the kitchen. So when I designed and planned the new kitchen I thought I just might get one in this space with a bit of crafty door shifting. First job was to block up the cupboard under the stairs and cut a new door under the side of the stairs in the hall. So builders in, Huw and the kids down to their uncles for the week! Time to get busy. Next job was to breeze block the existing kitchen door and cut a new doorway. This would let us use the space at the end of the kitchen more effectively and get the double fronted fridge freezer in that we really needed.

From this.

To this. Pull out larders either side of the new fridge freezer gave us bags of new storage and the wine rack gives Huw somewhere to stash his favourite Rioja. Not that it lasts very long : )

And here’s the rest of the kitchen. The lighter floor, worktops and walnut cupboard fronts work together with a beautiful handleless walnut door and purple glass splashback. I love it! What do you think?