Design Plans: The Kitchen

Part 1. All of my ideas and plans for the kitchen in our new Victorian terraced home, from colours and textures through to vintage finds and lighting quandaries.

So I thought I’d start this whole renovation project write up with the Big One. The room that I have spent more hours than I would care to tot up thinking about, saving photos for, considering, designing and planning. The place where I most probably spend more time than any other room in the house and mostly, the room that I CARE the most about. The most functional area of the house, but the one that I have striven for years and years to look LESS functional than it actually is. Ha. I have lost count of the times I have said the words ‘just because it’s a utilitarian space, doesn’t mean that it needs to LOOK that way’. I even wrote it in a book. Yes, we’re starting with the kitchen.

I have never once installed a kitchen of my own. Not ever. If you’re a regular reader, you’ll know that Joe and I have lived in a ridiculous amount of houses (you can read about them here) in the last 25 years but we have never been able to afford to install a new one. Because, you know, kitchens are expensive. We once ‘almost’ had a new kitchen, in the Edwardian semi in Caversham (my fave house of all that we have owned). It had the tiniest of kitchen spaces, about 8ft x 8ft, with an attached outbuilding housing a downstairs loo and a utility room (an exceptionally extravagant word for what was a non heated, painted rough brick room with the fridge and washing machine in). This array of rooms sat next to the built on conservatory and our plan was to knock the whole thing in together to create a huge and glorious kitchen opening on to the garden, with not a non heated loo seat nor a crawling damp wall to be seen.

I was convinced it was going to happen. I told everyone of my exposed brick plans (this was the year 2009 and exposed brick kitchens were what the cool gang had). I had an entire plastic file filled with ideas, we had met with a builder who had planned in to start; the only thing between me and my kitchen dreams was a bank loan. Unfortunately, it was at this point that my culinary aspirations were dashed as when we went to apply, it appeared that I had a County Court Judgement dating back to 1995 for (accidental due to moving house, I’d like to add) non payment of a £25 to The Book Club and my credit rating was so low that it was almost horizontal. Sigh. Bye, kitchen. You were good whilst you lasted.

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