The kitchen was at the top of out ‘to do’ list when we moved in. It was by far the most dated room in the house and needed a lot of attention. I have seen people completely transform their kitchens just by painting cabinets and updating handles, and if your units are still in good shape then lucky you – go get the paint out! Unfortunately there was no saving ours so our only option was to rip it all out and start again.
OUT WITH THE OLD…
…AND IN WITH THE NEW
As it’s a fairly small kitchen we decided that we would knock down the wall separating it from the dining room to create an open-plan and more sociable space . If you have been considering doing this but are worried about the level of work involved, I really recommend going for it. We popped out for the day and by the time we got home the wall was gone. Already we could see that it made such a difference, the kitchen felt so much lighter and both spaces seemed bigger than they had as two separate rooms. (Sorry about the poor quality image)
Over the next few days all of the units were ripped out, as well as the hideous built in extractor fan. Every night we got home from work, we couldn’t believe how much had been done – it seemed to be moving so quickly.
Before we knew it the new units were going in and our kitchen was starting to take shape.
I had originally decided on the Metod kitchen from Ikea and in the weeks leading up to the work I spent every spare minute using their online 3D kitchen planner – but I found it impossible. I couldn’t measure anything before the wall had been knocked down and none of the units seemed to fit where I wanted them. By the time the builder was ready to start I had made no progress at all – thankfully he recommended we take a trip to Howdens.
They had a fairly similar design, albeit in a lighter grey but I was willing to make the compromise knowing that at least everything would fit. Or even if it didn’t- it wouldn’t be down to my dodgy measuring! We were really impressed with their service, we went back and forth with the (very patient) designer several times until we were completely happy. Eventually we chose Burford Stone which we paired with oak worktops, and I finally got the belfast sink that Ikea wouldn’t let me have in the corner! The hardest decision I found was choosing handles – I couldn’t believe how much they could change the look of the kitchen.
Before we decided on anything else, we knew we wanted a Rangemaster and so treated ourselves to one of their smaller models the Elan 90. It is definitely the feature of the room. Just incase it didn’t stand out enough already we choose to back it with dark blue/grey tiles which matched the colour of the dining room.
I decided to leave one corner free of units and have some open shelving, which our builder very cleverly made from the leftover wood from our worktop. I bought some iron brackets from eBay to use with them. Although I’m still searching for the perfect bits and pieces to display on them as I don’t feel they look quite right just yet.
Overall we’re pleased with the final look. I was quite nervous throughout as this was by far the most major bit of work we had ever done – and there are just so many decisions to make. But our builders did a great job and we were very lucky that the whole project turned out to be completely stress free, everything was completed in just over three weeks.
Have any of you completed a kitchen makeover, how did you find it? I hope you found it as stress free as we did! I’m also really interested to know whether any of you managed to have any success with the Ikea kitchen planner, was it just me that found that impossible?
What a transformation! I particularly love that you’ve used a different coloured tile behind the cooker, a small but lovely tweak there. The whole room is beautiful!.
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Thank you so much! X
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Oh not a problem, I’m so excited to read more of your posts. x
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Any chance you could provide a link to those handles? look fantastic with the cupboards
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They were just from Howdens, I’ll see if I can find them on their site! x
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Here you go, I found them! https://www.howdens.com/kitchen-collection/kitchen-handles/d-handles/antique-pewter-effect-d-handle/
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great thank you!
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I LOVE this kitchen, love the blog, keep more posts coming, love to read them :)
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Thank you so much Cat – that means so much to me :) xx
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I love your kitchen x
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Thank you! X
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Looks so smart I bet you love chilling in there! I’m in the middle of our extension & 3months in still hadn’t decided what kitchen to have! But we have now finally decided on howdens too. Unfortunately to my partner and builders annoyance I’m having it sprayed grey. I can’t believe howdens didn’t do just a standard grey! We had to order stone. Can we see some pics from your kitchen facing into the dining room? Be lovely to see the whole room from all angels. IG account beforeduringandeverafter
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Thank you so much Hannah, we are really pleased with it! I know what you mean it’s a shame Howdens didn’t do a proper grey! I’ll tag you in some pics of the other direction, I think I have some on Instagram xx
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Great blog Kate. I live in a Victorian terrace so the kitchen has built into the old part of the building that would have been an outside toilet and coal shed. The bathroom was since added on the end of the kitchen. So it’s a very small and narrow galley kitchen with the dining room and bathroom either side. Myself and hubby are seriously considering extending into the side return of the back garden and open up dining room and kitchen area which would widen the space by nearly 3 meters! It all seems quite daunting and will involve a LOT of disruption but it would be SO worth all of that in the end. I have an architect friend drawing up plans for us then it’s (hopefully) all systems go!. Fingers crossed. :) xx
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Sounds like it will be amazing! Definitely worth the work! Wishing you lots of luck with everything, hope you find the whole process stress free! xx
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Hi,
Just read your comment… Do it!! We did the same to our kitchen sounds like the same Victorian design. We knocked through from dining room window and extended width wise from kitchen out to boundary fence. We were lucky enough to be able to put bathroom upstairs so have extended what would be your bathroom to the same boundary width and made the whole space open plan! You will love all the extra space! Go for it!!
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Great blog Kate. I live in a Victorian terrace so the kitchen has built into the old part of the building that would have been an outside toilet and coal shed. The bathroom was since added on the end of the kitchen. So it’s a very small and narrow galley kitchen with the dining room and bathroom either side. Myself and hubby are seriously considering extending into the side return of the back garden and open up dining room and kitchen area which would widen the space by nearly 3 meters! It all seems quite daunting and will involve a LOT of disruption but it would be SO worth all of that in the end. I have an architect friend drawing up plans for us then it’s (hopefully) all systems go!. Fingers crossed. :) xx
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Oh it’s Dazzle P by the way! haha
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Ha it’s you! Good luck with everything Darren, can’t wait to see it finished, and lots of updates in between please! x
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Thank you. Of course I will! I have to remain patient though as it could either be this year or next. This year is of course my preference. But I want it NOOOOOWWWWWW!!!! haha x
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I know the feeling!! I’m the most impatient person alive! It will be worth the wait when it’s done though! xx
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Really love this transformation Kate, very inspirational! I love it all. We’re looking at doing something similar in our galley kitchen/dining room and using Howdens but don’t know where to start or what to budget! Do you mind me asking is Howdens very expensive in comparison to IKEA and roughly how much did the building work cost in total on top?
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Thank you so much! If you want to drop me an email (kate.rogers14@aol.co.uk) I’d be happy to share costs with you :) xx
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Thanks so much Kate, I will do!
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Beautiful kitchen. I really want to change ours. Can I ask where your scales are from and is there much space in the cupboard under the Belfast sink?
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Thank you Kerry! The scales are from cox and cox. Yes the cupboard under the sink is a decent enough size, it’s quite deep which makes up for it being a bit shorter xx
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This is just stunning!
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Thank you so much! x
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hey Kate, Just stumbled across your home from Instagram so I’m excited to see you’re blogging! Kitchen is on my summer to do list so I just wondered if you’ve done any special treating/oiling on your work top? I want real wood but husband thinks it will be too much upkeep… Thanks x
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Ah thank you so much Jen! That’s so nice of you! You do have to oil the wood worktops (although I’ve only done it once in the 6 months we’ve had it!) They’re wearing better than I thought, I was a bit concerned too. I make sure I wipe them down as they don’t like getting wet but other than that they’ve been quite easy to look after xx
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Thanks for replying! The other half does most of the cooking so he’d be in charge of not f*cking them up :)
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Ha ha seems fair enough! He wouldn’t I’m sure :) xx
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Hi Kate , love your Instagram and now just discovered your blog and love that too .Afraid I might spend my day off reading it instead of doing some housework ! Keep posting and inspiring x
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Ah thank you so much Teresa – that’s so sweet of you :) xx
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Hello, just discovered your blog via Instagram and loving it! Your house is beautiful and looking forward to seeing more! xx
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Thank you so much Claire – that’s so lovely of you to say!! Xxx
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Hi Kate, love your IG feed & now really enjoying your blog….so inspiring, was just wondering where your wall tiles are from? Also are they white white or slightly cream/ grey hard to tell …. It all looks heavenly we are going to be building a house in Ireland this year and I cannot decide if to go for a white Scandinavian feel with an Ikea Voxtorp kitchen or a slightly more country/ traditional style and use Howdens… Your kitchen has thrown me into a turmoil of decision making ! Xx
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Ah thank you so much Laura – that’s so sweet! The tiles were from wallsandfloors.co.uk – it’s a great sire! They’re white but not a bright white I would say. Wow how exciting building a house! I bet that involves a lot of decisions!!! Your ideas sound lovely! xxx
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Thanks Kate, will look at that website and start ordering some samples !! Keep up the good work love your blog & IG feed xxx
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Hope you find some you like! Thank you lovely. Have a great weekend! xxx
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Beautiful kitchen , such a lovely design you should feel very proud of yourselves and your builder , smashing job ! Looks absolutely stunning .
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Thank you so much – that’s so lovely of you to say! x
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Hi Kate. Love the blog! Can I ask what flooring you have used in your kitchen? Xx
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Thank you so much Beth! Of course, the flooring is just a white laminate from Homebase – it was a bargain! xxx
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wow !
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Thank you!! Xx
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Such a beautiful kitchen diner. I was wondering ( sorryto be a pain) whether you have got a photograph of the doorway into the kitchen/diner and the kitchen area. We are trying to work out where your picture rail and blue paint ends and the white paint and kitchen begins. Thank you.
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Hi Frances, I’ll see if I have one and if not will take one 😊 are you on Instagram? I’ll tag you in it / send it to you xxx
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Hi Kate, your kitchen is lovely – I found the pics by doing a Google search for ‘Howdens Burford Stone’ because we’ve just had the same kitchen cabinets installed, and I’m now looking for a paint colour for the walls. Initially I wanted something bold/vibrant, but now I see your cool tones I’ve changed my mind – could you let me know what make/colour you used, it looks wonderful? Many thanks, Annie
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Hi Annie,
Thank you so much for your lovely comment! We used Albany Vinyl Matt Brilliant White on the kitchen walls and Little Greene Juniper Ash in the dining room xx
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Terrific, thanks so much, all the best with your continuing makeovers!
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You too Annie! Hope you love your new kitchen! x
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Hi Annie,
I am in the same situation can I ask what wall paint you went for in the end ?
Many thanks
Alison
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Gorgeous kitchen !
We are just about to have the Burford Stone with wooden oak block work tops . I have been drawn to white ones but seeing yours has reassured me.
Can you send me a photo of your flooring please ?
Many thanks
Alison
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Hi Kate!
Love your kitchen! Would you recommend whoever did the tiling in your kitchen? If so, please could you share their details with me? We’ve had tilers do work before and it was terrible- so we are in need of recommendations!
Thank you,
Charlotte
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Hi Kate!
Love your kitchen! Would you recommend whoever did the tiling in your kitchen? If so, please could you share their details with me? We’ve used tilers before and they were terrible- so in need of some recommendations!!
Thank you,
Charlotte
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So sorry for the delay Charlotte! I’ve only just seen this comment! I absolutely would recommend the tiler, are you in the south east too? xx
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Could I also please have the details of the tiler? Looking at getting some metro tiling done in our new house :)
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I’m really sorry he’s not working anymore. We’re gutted as wanted him to do our bathroom! If I find another good one I’ll let you know xx
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also, completely love your entire house!!!!! xxx
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Hi Kate!
We’ve just bought this exact kitchen but really struggling to find the right colour tiles. We’ve been hunting for an off white colour – similar to how yours look here – but we’ve only been able to find pure white or a creamy/almost yellow white. Just had a look on the tile website you recommended but there’s so many I have no idea where to start! :-s Could you let me know which make/size you went for? Your kitchen is absolutely is stunning! Needless to say I now was a range cooker…. I might have to treat myself for Christmas!
Thank you, Helen x
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Hi Helen,
Ours are actually the pure white ones. I just looked them up and they are called white chapel brick gloss tiles in size 150 x 75.
Thank you so much that’s so lovely of you to say! I definitely recommend the range – we love ours!! xx
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Amazing, thanks. Just ordered a few samples so fingers crossed we’ll find something :-) Thanks again xx
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Would you mind me asking what flooring you have? We have exactly the same howdens kitchen with wood worktops just struggling with what to pick for flooring!!
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Of course, it’s a white laminate from Homebase – it was actually a real bargain! Only thing I would say is that it does show up all spills and marks! :( xx
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Thanks, I have 2 little ones so might try a laminate with more grey in so the marks are not so obvious! I wondered if a laminate pale wood floor would look odd with oak worktops but yours looks fab.
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