Cheadle shop opening

We opened our new branch in Cheadle today and thanks so much to all the local retailers who made us feel very welcome. Thanks also to everyone who came and enjoyed a chat and a drink with us while looking through our unique range of kitchen displays. It was a lovely day with 3 appointments made for next week. Fab! But after all the champagne has been drunk and the nibbles nibbled I thought you might like to take a sneaky behind the scenes look at what went on to open the shop on time.

We saw these premises in early March

And when we went inside this is what we found.

Not a pretty sight. A lot of hard work ahead for Darren. 5 weeks to go until opening day. Gulp! Let the rip out commence.

Opening day 21 April 2012. Thrilled with the transformation!

Big thanks to Huw, Darren, Janet and Phil Stevens, Adrian the decorator, Bob my landlord, all our neighbours for endless tea when we didn’t have any power, Dale, Jason, Asad, Sam, David, Eric, Tony of Daisy Hill Electrics, John the Glassman and Mum and Dad. Thank you all so much for all your help and support. I know it’s a cliche but without you lot this wouldn’t have been possible. I really do appreciate it. Love to you all xxxxxxx

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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?