Another kitchen refurb thread...

[smithlane]

Hello
After reading and loving many new kitchen threads over the years, it’s finally time for ours to be done!

The kitchen we have in at the moment came with the house when it was built 17 years ago and as some of you will know they’re not usually great quality in new builds so it is fairly desperate to be done.
We are going to be moving house in about 3 years so although we really wanted the kitchen redoing we didn’t want to spend a fortune (famous last words!) as it won’t be our ‘forever’ home.

We were originally going to go with an Ikea kitchen but then my Father in law who will be fitting it for us suggested Howdens as the units come fully built so one less big job for him to do.
This took quite a while to get the design right as it was all done via email as the store we would be ordering it from is in Hertfordshire and we are near Heathrow airport. I did pop in to my local showroom to see the doors and appliances in the flesh so I knew exactly what I was getting.

It’s been a bit of a logistical nightmare trying to get the different trades all in the right order, it seems plumbers and plasterers are rarer than hens teeth round my way! We’re still trying to find a tiler that won’t charge 4 figures (labour only!) to tile the kitchen floor

So without further ado I’ll finally post some photos.

This is how it was. Please excuse the excessive mugs, I have an issue in collecting the Starbucks mugs . They are unfortunately not going back in the new kitchen as our new units nearly go up to the ceiling so they are currently being stored at my parents house until we move and I can display them properly again

Boris the dog looking fed up already

Starting the dismantle

Jim and his brother in law doing all the electrics and lifting up the tiles floor last Friday

Boris still not happy!

The plumber has been and channelled the pipes behind the wall ready for a new vertical radiator to be fitted

The plasterer came yesterday so this is where we are up to at the mo. Just got to wait for it to fully dry then it’s time for my part in painting. Hoping to get it all done by Sunday as my FIL is starting to fit it next Monday. The heating is on at all times so hopefully will be dry by Wednesday or Thursday!

These are the plans from Howdens for the new kitchen. We have gone with handleless white matte units with a cement grey compact laminate, AEG oven, microwave oven, induction hob and Bosch integrated dishwasher and washing machine

The space we have on the opposite side of the kitchen for eating isn’t huge, we used to have a chunky oak dining table that took up a lot of room so we decided that as we don’t ever host big dinner parties we would opt for a bar table that seats 4 to free up some room.
I found this reclaimed wood and metal table that I really like and was thinking it might break up the sterile white and grey of the kitchen area as our floor tiles are grey too. I’m still not 100% decided yet though as Jim thinks it will look completely out of place! I quite like different textures and tones to balance the room out though.

I have ordered this pendant light to go above the dining table too

So that’s it for now, I’ll post any further updates as and when they happen. I’m hoping by the end of next week we’ll have something that resembles a new kitchen, I’m already sick of soup, microwave dinners and takeaways so cannot wait for my new oven to be installed

Thank you for reading if you’ve got this far!

[Gryff]

We put in a new kitchen 3 years ago this week but we put it in a room that never was a kitchen
I feel your pain dust dirt eating dust for weeks and the whole house is a tip
You need one of those wall mounted mug display racks you get in Walmart holds about
24 mugs friend has all her Rae Dunn mugs on hers looks great and easy to get them off to wash them heaven help you if you use one for coffee

[ClaireNJ]

It’s going to look FAB love the pendant lights 💕
Good luck with it all can’t wait to see it all done 😀

[mitch84]

Ooh I love a kitchen thread, Max my lab hates anything strange going on in his house too

[smithlane]

Originally Posted by Gryff

We put in a new kitchen 3 years ago this week but we put it in a room that never was a kitchen
I feel your pain dust dirt eating dust for weeks and the whole house is a tip
You need one of those wall mounted mug display racks you get in Walmart holds about
24 mugs friend has all her Rae Dunn mugs on hers looks great and easy to get them off to wash them heaven help you if you use one for coffee

See more...

Thanks Helen. I think I’d need about 10 of those wall racks for all of mine 😂, although I could choose my absolute faves and display just those 🤔

[smithlane]

Originally Posted by ClaireNJ

It’s going to look FAB love the pendant lights 💕
Good luck with it all can’t wait to see it all done 😀

See more...

Thanks Claire, I’m so hoping it will look as good as I envisage!

[cheekydeeky]

Looking forward to this p. I love a renovation thread .

Those mugs on top of the units would give me palpitations though - I’m surprised the cupboard hasn’t collapsed .

You need something like this

[Sparksy72]

Originally Posted by smithlane

Hello
After reading and loving many new kitchen threads over the years, it’s finally time for ours to be done!

The kitchen we have in at the moment came with the house when it was built 17 years ago and as some of you will know they’re not usually great quality in new builds so it is fairly desperate to be done.
We are going to be moving house in about 3 years so although we really wanted the kitchen redoing we didn’t want to spend a fortune (famous last words!) as it won’t be our ‘forever’ home.

We were originally going to go with an Ikea kitchen but then my Father in law who will be fitting it for us suggested Howdens as the units come fully built so one less big job for him to do.
This took quite a while to get the design right as it was all done via email as the store we would be ordering it from is in Hertfordshire and we are near Heathrow airport. I did pop in to my local showroom to see the doors and appliances in the flesh so I knew exactly what I was getting.

It’s been a bit of a logistical nightmare trying to get the different trades all in the right order, it seems plumbers and plasterers are rarer than hens teeth round my way! We’re still trying to find a tiler that won’t charge 4 figures (labour only!) to tile the kitchen floor

So without further ado I’ll finally post some photos.

This is how it was. Please excuse the excessive mugs, I have an issue in collecting the Starbucks mugs . They are unfortunately not going back in the new kitchen as our new units nearly go up to the ceiling so they are currently being stored at my parents house until we move and I can display them properly again

Boris the dog looking fed up already

Starting the dismantle

Jim and his brother in law doing all the electrics and lifting up the tiles floor last Friday

Boris still not happy!

The plumber has been and channelled the pipes behind the wall ready for a new vertical radiator to be fitted

The plasterer came yesterday so this is where we are up to at the mo. Just got to wait for it to fully dry then it’s time for my part in painting. Hoping to get it all done by Sunday as my FIL is starting to fit it next Monday. The heating is on at all times so hopefully will be dry by Wednesday or Thursday!

These are the plans from Howdens for the new kitchen. We have gone with handleless white matte units with a cement grey compact laminate, AEG oven, microwave oven, induction hob and Bosch integrated dishwasher and washing machine

The space we have on the opposite side of the kitchen for eating isn’t huge, we used to have a chunky oak dining table that took up a lot of room so we decided that as we don’t ever host big dinner parties we would opt for a bar table that seats 4 to free up some room.
I found this reclaimed wood and metal table that I really like and was thinking it might break up the sterile white and grey of the kitchen area as our floor tiles are grey too. I’m still not 100% decided yet though as Jim thinks it will look completely out of place! I quite like different textures and tones to balance the room out though.

I have ordered this pendant light to go above the dining table too

So that’s it for now, I’ll post any further updates as and when they happen. I’m hoping by the end of next week we’ll have something that resembles a new kitchen, I’m already sick of soup, microwave dinners and takeaways so cannot wait for my new oven to be installed

Thank you for reading if you’ve got this far!

See more...

So yay Alicia, this is super exciting. I love the cabinets and the wooden table and chairs are fab too!

[smithlane]

Originally Posted by mitch84

Ooh I love a kitchen thread, Max my lab hates anything strange going on in his house too

See more...

Thanks Mitch. Boris is not a happy bunny at the moment, he’s not impressed with all these strangers coming and going. Will be great when it’s all done and he’s settled again

[smithlane]

Originally Posted by cheekydeeky

Looking forward to this p. I love a renovation thread .

Those mugs on top of the units would give me palpitations though - I’m surprised the cupboard hasn’t collapsed .

You need something like this

See more...

Thank you.
😂 I know what you mean! I did sometimes wonder if I’d wake up in the middle of the night to an almighty crash!

Now that would be perfect!