From Outdated to Dream Kitchen: My Complete Remodel Guide

As a designer everyone expects you to have the perfectly designed home. And as much as I'd love to say yes, yes I do, I have actually been renovating my own home so initially it was difficult to answer yes to this question...

After a few yers we're nearly done updating out home but one room that bugged me and I was beyond desperate to cast my interior design wand over was my kitchen.

It was inherited with the house and for want of a better word - bloody awful. It felt drab, was too clunky, falling apart in places, it lacked any colour and was not a place I want I wanted to spend much time in. However it was still the main hub of the house with the only space to eat meals, kids to sit and do their homework etc.

So what did I do to transform the space? Well where do I start!

First feast your eyes on just how horrendous this space was...no judgements please!

Even though it was light the white and cream actually sapped any energy out of the room and made it feel drab. The top cabinets didn't help in making it feel less cluttered, quite the opposite in fact. The low ceilings did not lend well to upper cabinets. And the layout would be fine if we didn't want to have a table in the space but with small children we needed somewhere in the kitchen to eat, it just wasn't working for our family.

The main change we did was to add a small utility room at the back of the kitchen. There used to be a small pantry cupboard to one side of the chimney breast and this was opened up to make the entrance into the utility room. This made a huge difference in the fact we could relocate the washing machine to here, add extra storage space and even house all our coats and shoes (our hallway is the size of a postage stamp!).

By adding this meant we could be more playful with the layout of the kitchen and indulge our vision of a larger seating area.

Within the kitchen we opened up the chimney breast which was luckily large enough to place an oven.

This meant we could add in a large enough dining table with a banquette seat where the original oven had been positioned. As much as a I wanted a large corner bench seat we really needed to add a larder cupboard for storage so this was added in the corner.

The plan was to avoid any floor to ceiling or top cupboards as it just would make the space feel too cramped and this was what I was avoiding - but this was the exception, but being tucked in the corner it was absolutely fine!

Other big layout changes that made a huge difference for us was relocating the sink to the corner window. This meant we finally had a decent worktop space for prepping food when cooking ro baking. Previously the layout had meant any worktop space was so limited, plus the top cupboards and low ceilings meant cooking had become a really claustrophobic experience - not fun for foodies like us!

We did opt for some open shelving over the units by the doors. Before these were top cupboards and this is where it felt especially busy. With spaces like a kitchen it is a balance between aesthetics and practicality - we still needed storage so the shelving helped with smaller objects, the tea/coffee/sugar cannisters but I find open shelving means you can add some pops of colour, texture, intrerest and it makes a space feel more personal. I'm not a big fan of clutter but I also don't like total minimalism. A home needs to feel lived in and have space for those all important knock knacks that create the personal touch to our homes.

When peeling back the layers of the kitchen, we had to take it fully back to brick for new lime plaster, but we also discovered a stunning herringbone tiled floor! Sadly we couldn't leave it and work around it as underneath was just dirt! They definitely had less regulations when building over 200 years ago. The plus side meant we could dig down and add more height which was much needed for a an over 6ft husband but generally it helped with making the room feel bigger.

Colour is my thing and I had soooo much fun picking the colour scheme for this room. I must have been in some kind of holiday mode as the colour palette and final result does have a hint of mediterranean! As the neutral/white palette wasn't working and I wanted this to feel like the rest of my home - warm, cosy and a space you want to relax in for hours I opted for a warm pink for the walls. The rusty red I've become obsessed with and maybe because it's a hard colour to make my clients go for I indulged and painted my kitchen in it instead. Then this was lightened with the most gorgeous terracotta tiles laid in a herringbone pattern..

The pièce de résistance of the kitchen - and what we had to wait for, for weeks - is the worktop. It's not marble, quartz or a laminate but a new style of worktop that is both sustainable and unique looking.

With a base of plywood, left over wood chippings are used to create the design and pattern. A protective layer of resin is added to make this more robust - you sadly can't put hot pans on it so probably not the most practical for a family home - but it's worth it, I love it and it really makes the kitchen. Would I have made the same decision if I did it all again? Honestly I think probably not for people who are busy, big cooks and little time, it's not super practical but I don't regret it. Just means we have to be careful which is no bad thing.

So which change do you think is the best and makes the biggest impact?

For me it's all of it bit especially a designated seating area that we have used so much - great for entertaining and my kids love it whether it's eating, doing their homework or playing a good old fashioned board game.

I now love my kitchen and I truly know how much a well designed kitchen can make a huge difference in family life and how you feel at home. I love spending time here.

Thanks for reading

NB x