Rich and I currently have a bet on. He doesn’t think I can makeover the kitchen by the end of the year. And considering we are nearly halfway through 2018 I need to get my skates on if I don’t want to end up £50 down come Christmas.

The ‘look’ I’m going for is traditional meets contemporary. I would love the finished result to be elegant, timeless, and classic, and modern yet rustic. This may sound ridiculous but the inspiration for the kitchen is the TV cupboard in the below photo, which is in the open-plan section of the other end of the room to the kitchen. The TV cupboard has a Shaker-style frame, simple black knobs and manages to be contemporary but rustic all at the same time: I don’t even mind that the paint is chipping off the top, thanks to all the plastic toys that get flung at it. I’m hoping that if I keep this piece of furniture in mind when making decisions about the makeover I will end up with a kitchen that I love as much as the other end of the room.

Read on to hear about all of the different components of the kitchen and my grand plans…

The Worktops

Back in January I blogged about whether oak worktops were worth the hassle. Well after months of deliberating and taking into account all your comments I decided that…dun dun dunnnn….oak worktops are NOT worth the hassle and that silestone worktops (a type of quartz) in ‘Lagoon’ are the way forward. It’s beautiful, stylish, and practical. The Amtico tiles which currently adorn our kitchen floor aren’t dissimilar to the appearance of Lagoon silestone so I’m assured that the colour and pattern will work in the space.

The Flooring

Seeing as I’ve decided against oak worktops, I’m going to need to add warmth into the room elsewhere, and one of the ways I’m hoping to achieve this is by replacing our current ‘ceramic frost’ Amtico tiles with some different Amtico floor tiles in an oak shade, laid in a herringbone pattern. We’ve got Amtico Spacia in American Oak in our hallway, so if we use similar floor tiles in the kitchen this should create a nice sense of flow from room to room.

The Window Dressing

Another way of adding warmth will be through the window dressing…and because of the busy-ness of the parquet and the marble-like features of silestone I’m thinking something very simple and unfussy and neutral. I like the look of rattan blinds but Rich tells me they remind him of the kitchen blinds he had when he was a student, so we may just go for simple linen roman blinds.

The Kitchen Hardware

This is the one area where I’m still undecided. Which I guess is good, because it’s a relatively simple one to change? The instagrammer in me is very taken by the matte black hardware and taps that are all the rage at the moment, particularly in bathrooms, but the traditionalist in me is saying, “Don’t give in to the trend! You’ll be kicking yourself a couple of years down the line! Stick to nickel or brass or something timeless!”. I’m also slightly concerned that matte black taps will be hard to keep clean from watermarks.

All I do know is that the shiny silver bar handles are going to be replaced with something simple, understated and matte/brushed.

The Kitchen Cupboards

To save on costs we’re going to paint our existing cupboards. As you can see from the header image of Wit and Delight’s fabulous kitchen and the deVOL Coach House kitchen I’d love a two-tone kitchen, with either navy and white, or navy and grey, (see my Howdens post for even more inspo of the navy variety), but as the room is too blinking dark to be able to handle the likes of Pantry Blue and Manor House Gray I’m going to have to stick with white. The little TV cupboard I mentioned above was painted in F&B All White, so I reckon it’s a shade that’ll work well in the space.

The Splashbacks

We’ve been in our house three years now and STILL haven’t got splashback tiles. This kills me daily and I’ve been tempted to tile the whole area myself just so I’m no longer scrubbing grease splatters off the white walls! I’m going to go for simple white subway tiles and grey grout.

The Accessories

I know what you’re thinking…there’s a whole lotta white going on in this kitchen. Which is where the accessories, plants and cookbooks come in. I’m going to put up a couple of shelves in the spot where the larder is now (the larder is going to be re-homed in our garage), and upon those shelves I will be propping all the pretty teapots, chopping boards, kitchen scales, glassware, stoneware, books, plants, and of course my black watering can (which H&M now do in sage green peeps!).

As ever, I’d love to hear your thoughts, advice and stories about your own room makeovers. What are your projects for summer 2018?

Do you have matte black hardware/taps and is it hard to keep clean?

Does anyone have silestone in ‘Lagoon’ and would you recommend?