The Kitchen is Painted.

Our kitchen is painted thanks to my father-in-law, Keith, who came down and did it for us! Nigel painted the cooker surround (the cream thing).

Our Kitchen is Done!

Our kitchen is now done minus some painting. The units all go in. I love the 4 drawers and the wall cabinets. The awkward cupboard that is put in to balance out the big beam is fitted with 4 shelves so that it can be used for spices. We choose a hand made looking brick tile in "cottage cream". Above the white grout still has to go in. We like the definition so much of the shadow between the tiles that we opt for a darker grout. Here is the finished grout which should also be a bit easier to keep clean. Then our cooker and fridge are fitted into place and the cardboard is removed from the floor boards. WOW! We really do love the look of the kitchen. The cooker has an old Victorian/Edwardian look to it. It has 3 ovens: a broiler, regular oven and roaster. We move in our dishes and pots and pans. The trick is to get all our plates, bowls and glasses in the glass cabinet. If you remember, a lot of the cupboards are occupied with the boiler, water softener, washing machine, dishwasher...and maybe water filter at that point. I love cooking on this. It is a gas top and electric ovens. Our retro fridge came fitted with a European fridge plug to our surprise, not a UK one. We called the company and found that because we ordered a rare left hinge fridge they were still accidentally being shipped with the wrong plug. Here is the kitchen view from the fridge. Our washing machine is in the kitchen as they are in the UK. We have a laundry line outside and indoor drying racks for the winter. To the right of that is the integrated dishwasher (looking like a cupboard). You can get integrated anything including fridge, freezer, and washing machine. It is quite a light area at the end of the kitchen with the skylights. Bliss. Our floor really matches the counter tops. And our chandelier (this is the one that Nigel chose second hand) looks great. (my choice will go in the living room). I fill the cupboard up with spices and the deep back bits on the right have the refills stuffed into them. The hidden cupboards to the left of the fake chimney hold all the cookbooks. One of our favourite features is our large Belfast sink that we scrounged from a property that it was being ripped out of. Bill our kitchen fitter/ joiner made this unit especially for us. It may look small in the photo, but that is a very large sink. The view from the French doors. We love it. Next the stove surround feature will be painted and the walls will be green. After that the only thing left in this room is the ceiling rose and the fire place/ pot bellied stove installation.

Kitchen Installation is Half Done

Our kitchen installation started last week and is more than half done. Here the units are being placed in the right position and while it is decided that they aren't quite right, we add an extra unit to balance the sink out. What will be the glass wall units start to go up in the corner. I am really impressed with the saw that our kitchen installer/joiner, Bill, has. He calls it flippy because it flips between a table saw... ...and a mitre saw. Here Bill is demonstrating the "flip". Our specially made unit for our extra large Belfast sink. Our wooden Iroko counter tops get fitted into place. Our sink is slotted in and gets reinforced. Two people can barely lift that thing. Okay, Nigel and I can barely lift it. Looking in the other direction. Bill begins to build a fake chimney breast to house our cooker and extractor fan and to balance out the big beam on the right hand side. In the hollow side he puts two units facing left. If you are wondering why they don't face out...just wait! Our wall units start to come together. As you can see our beam cuts drastically into the cupboard on the left. But there is a plan to it all! Bill fits our window sill out of the counter top too. The top trim gets put on the cupboard and the giant cupboard on the right houses our combination boiler which must be on an outside wall (there are pipes running outside from that cupboard). We have an excellent plumber, Les Ward, who put in a whole new boiler system. The fake chimney breast is drywalled... ...and plastered (pink). Then our feature is made. This was the sketch I handed Bill. What he made was clever, simple and extremely effective. Here is a photo tonight in the kitchen. A lot of the cupboard doors are on...we are still awaiting the handles and some missing doors/shelves/kickboards. The electrician has to come before we move appliances into place. Wow. We do love it already! The general feeling we want is emerging. Electricians, plumber, tiler, and painting next. Our kitchen fitter, Bill, with his friend Dave are doing an excellent job. http://www.billskitchens.co.uk