SNEAK PEEK: MY NEW KITCHEN DESIGN

READY FOR A FIRST LOOK AT MY NEW KITCHEN DESIGN? HERE’S THE STYLE, LAYOUT AND WHO I DECIDED TO DO MY KITCHEN WITH…

(This blog post has been created as part of an on-going partnership with my kitchen provider, who I’ll reveal in this post)

If you follow me over on Instagram, you’ll probably have seen my kitchen renovation so far. It’s involved a total strip out of the poorly plastered space, re-working the shoddy electrics and knocking down the separating wall for more of an open plan space with the living and dining room. Well it’s finally at the stage where it’s now ready for a kitchen to go into it, so time to reveal some details about my new kitchen design.

First thing’s first, I better tell you who I decided to design my kitchen with. Well, it may not come as a surprise to some of you, but I went for…

*drumroll please*

Magnet Kitchens!

I’ve worked with Magnet before on a styling project, but I didn’t know too much about the kitchens before that, as I’ve only specified a small handful of kitchens in my time and not having been to one of their showrooms before. I was surprised by the quality and detailing that went into their kitchens when I got up close with one, and I was especially drawn to the range I styled up for my shoot, Soho, which is a sleek slab door front.

For full disclosure, I am working with Magnet as part of an on-going collaboration, but I’m super excited to be doing so, and my design journey with them has been nothing short of perfect so far.

While Magnet have of course been offering virtual design services over the past year and a bit, I wanted to get hands-on with samples for my kitchen, so I headed along to the Chelmsford branch where I met with our designer Felicity. Felicity has been at Magnet for a long time, and I had a flick through her design book - she’s designed a serious amount of kitchens in her time!

That came across in our design session, with her quickly coming up with a design to meet our brief and making some clever adjustments to make the range suit our space perfectly. Of course, I was very opinionated about what I wanted, but Felicity was great to work with, understood the vision I had for the space, and really let us explore what was possible with the space.

So do you fancy seeing some of the mock-ups?

Realistically, the overall layout of the space wasn’t going to change. It’s a U-shaped kitchen, that lends itself best to the layout it already has, especially since I wanted to keep a range cooker in the space, rather than going for an integrated oven. However, Felicity really worked some magic on the lower units, re-working them into much more useful spaces, compared to the awkward to access storage space I have at the moment.

While we were avoiding wall-hung units, Felicity designed us in two half size countertop units, one housing the boiler, the other offering some extra storage space.

When we decided to take out the wall between the kitchen and living room, we actually lost the radiator in this room. However, given we’ve added a new window and new door that’s a lot more thermally efficient, plus given how hot it gets in this room when the oven or hob is on, I think the space should be able to cope with the loss of this. Just for a small boost if we need it, Felicity designed in a small plinth heater on one side of the room. Plinth heaters can be expensive to use, but it’s perfect for a boost of warmth when needed in here.

Felicity also did a great job at adding some life to her rendering of the space after getting an idea of what I love (my Instagram served as a pretty good moodboard for this!), but of course, how this kitchen will really become a space unique to my home is how I add to this canvas with other textures, finishes and styling. I’ve already got some great ideas for this room!

My next kitchen post is going to be a look at just that - what I’ve chosen to compliment my Magnet designed kitchen, plus what colour I went for in the Soho range.

Stay tuned for more kitchen details, coming soon!