31 July 2015

Kitchen Planning

OK, so I know long term we'd talked about extending/changing/knocking through walls in the kitchen and back of the house...but in the meantime it has come to my attention that not only does my oven only ever reach 150'C (useless!) but that the layout and space doesn't work for me. Not one jot. I have started to hate teatimes and couldn't really figure out why. It took me a few weeks but I finally realised, it's because I hate the space. I have little to no worktop space to actually prepare the food, I hate the electric hob with a passion and the dishwasher is in the next room which is absolutely farcical!
So, the question is, do we make do and leave it until we can afford the big project? Or do we just replace the oven? Or do we re-do the kitchen in the space that we've got? I'm inclined to say the latter. I can't see us coping with this kitchen for the next 4/5 months let along 4/5 years until we can afford a massive building project and I'm loathed to spend any money at all replacing the crappy little wall oven when we know that we will eventually want to rip it out...That leaves me with option C!
My current thinking is...take out the old, crappy wall oven and rip out the cupboards below it and, because they all currently sit inside a chimney breast, open it up properly (praying that there is already a RSJ holding the whole shebang up!) and install a range cooker. The rest of the kitchen is still shit and not our style, but it can wait. And when the rest does need doing, Husband is more than capable of sourcing and installing most of it. It's the gas line for the new oven we'll need doing properly, obviously.
Anyway, a girlfriend came over for coffee on Wednesday and was listening to me chunter about the oven and how, if I wanted to rip it out I would probably need to ring a builder because of the chimney breast tra la la and she took one look at it and said 'I don't think so?' Cue one phonecall to the local kitchen suppliers and the man is coming out this morning to gauge exactly what needs to be done.
My pinterest board currently looks like this:
Am thinking dark grey units look amazing, and I love the wooden top, but kitchen-man tells me that's an expensive choice??
 This is Courtney Adamo's kitchen which is my total dream design and inspiration!!
 Slightly lighter grey used on the walls instead??
 Definitely want some open shelving in the new design
 And I am in love with the tiled splash back they've put inside this chimney breast!
 Definitely want white subway tiles everywhere else and I also really like these lights?!
Another splashback option, sticking with the grey/white combo...?? Am thinking this might be slightly better than the first image with grey walls as the space is so small and cramped?
Hmm, so many ideas buzzing around my head, and Husband will probably weigh in with something totally different and random that I'll hate (like French country kitchen with painted pine doors, gak!) and then I'll have to spend days and days convincing him that MY idea is actually the way to go and that it was, in fact, all HIS idea in the first place, you know how it goes with menfolk.
In the meantime, it is now almost 1pm (I had to leave this post mid-flow at 11am and return to it so apologies if it feels disjointed!) and I am running terribly late to pick up said Husband and get on the road for the races. Boys are safely ensconced at the Big House with their godparents, our bags are packed and in the car, just need to get to Bath safely and order some champagne. Will attempt not to spend the entire child-free time worrying about aforementioned minors or wittering on endlessly about the new kitchen. Have a great Friday night everyone, will be back over the weekend with some more thoughts on Positive Parenting and hopefully an update on the kitchen (see if I can nag him into submission on the M5!!) x

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