OUR KITCHEN RENOVATION – TRENDS TO CONSIDER
For any interior design junkie, it was our ultimate dream to get to customise elements in our kitchen. Choosing all of the fixtures, cabinet placements, tiles and flooring was so much fun! This post has been a long time coming, but I must say that the kitchen has taken shape recently and, with our new herringbone tiled floor now laid I think I would even go as far as saying it’s pretty much finished!
For many, the idea of renovating your kitchen is overwhelming and extremely intimidating. Attempting to keep up to date on what trends are in or will stand the test of time can prevent many people from moving forward on redecorating. As long as you can visualise the finished big picture, then the few weeks making do without a kitchen will fly by. I’ve mentioned before that we bought our house knowing it was a fixer-upper, the kitchen was quite obviously a top priority. It was disgusting. From first glance you could see that each of the four walls had a different style of tile on it, the sink had huge scratches and some of the drawers couldnt even be opened due to poor design. We hadn’t realised just how bad our kitchen was until we looked behind the scenes after purchasing – the house had previously been tenanted, and all the DIY’s around the house were real cowboy builder fixes. The cupboards were mouldy inside and had been fixed on with nails that went into the back of the cooker!
Fortunately – we’ve now at the other end, having renovated our kitchen over several months entirely on our own! There are some significant kitchen trends and designs that we both personally loved and used ourselves when putting together our kitchen plan. When I thought about the room we were wanting, we thought of a clean, minimal space that was styled and functional but not cluttered. I loved looking at the Kitchen Warehouse for my inspiration. We wanted this to be a space where we could sit for hours over relaxed morning breakfasts, and that was homely and practical as we love to cook!
It ended up being quite white, like the rest of our house, to keep everything neutral. Yes, white kitchens have been around forever and don’t exactly seem trendy. But for us, the idea of white space, minimalism, and clean lines have taken not just our home but the whole kitchen world by storm in the past year, and it is still going strong. This soft shade creates a calming effect that is equal parts pretty and understated. As you can see white is what we went with!
Our white marble countertops create a simple, clean surface area for food preparation. Open rails have forced us as homeowners to reduce our clutter and pare back our items to keep things simple. The colour in our kitchen comes from the wood, red and copper touches as well as the plants. When we decided to get tiles we chose white subway tiles with a thick dark grout to give it a bit of an edge. I think our bright red fridge is the pièce de résistance adding a bold pop of colour!
Most people would describe our home as monochrome. We have a love for white and black simplicity. Black can be sophisticated and show-stopping and is gaining popularity in kitchen fixtures, cabinets, appliances and accessories. We embraced the black trend in small doses like our cabinets cup handles and with small accents like our fixtures. We love the sleek, bold look; the contrasting white and black gives an instant hint of sophistication to space. I love these open rails, it is such a fun way to have a very fluid room as you can change it up with minimal effort and cost.
When we renovated our kitchen everything was changed, the oven went from gas to electric, the layout was completely realtered, we lay underfloor heating and a herringbone tiled floor. We had a dishwasher plumbed in and moved the washing machine all the way into the outhouse to make a laundry room. I still love this design, it suits our kitchen so well and looks so fresh and clean. There are so many solutions, so keep an open mind and research ideas if you need a unique layout or aren’t sure which kitchen units to choose. It may take you while to think about what you want but taking this time will mean you will make the right decisions in the end. Patience certainly is a virtue! Hopefully, your refurb project won’t be as challenging as ours, but dedicate some time to planning and research. Invest in timeless kitchen cabinets, and think about what you want from your new kitchen.
My advice for anyone doing kitchen renovation work is to research and stick to your guns. You will know what you want, and it doesn’t have to suit everyone, just your home. You’re hopefully going to only do this once, so do it right.
What inspires you the most to give your kitchen a little rejig and what are your renovation concerns?
