I can see why you wanted a new kitchen

Just kidding It looks very nice. But its always fun for an update

Thinking on that alcove space - is it not possible to knock that out somehow to gain more space instead of just using it as it is? The washing machine idea is good, and you can always stand a tumble dryer on top of the washing machine, maybe put some sort of door effort back on it, and voila, it's out of the way?! Alternatively, what about one of those new super duper types of fridge/freezers that they have now, one of those might just fit in there perfectly? I'm lucky, o/h built me a big boot room off the new kitchen, so he had the washing machine and tumble dryer, fridges etc. put out there (I still have one fridge in the kitchen next to that big drawer unit though) - we eat a lot!! Also, coz I have a dishwasher, I didn't want a big sink and drainer (unnecessary with a dishwasher!) so I went for one of those small round s/s sinks with no drainer, and that gives me a lot more worksurface.

I'd love to see your plans! I love things like this!

Wish I was good at this sort of stuff. Our kitchen needs serious gutting. It works - just - but that's about it! It was in the hands of Mr LS before I married him. My friend paid 14K :smt103 :smt103 :smt103 for her new kitchen and to have it fitted too.

Wow! That must be some kitchen then Lucky I had mine for 15 years before we gutted it, so I know how you feel I even took all the doors off and painted them white and bought new handles just to give it a facelift, but nothing can compare to my sparkly new one! Start leaving some kitchen brochures dotted around the place Lucky, maybe that might work?

Bizarrely it's actually built into the external wall of the house, and as we're seeing how far we can take the original make-up of the house, we're reluctant to mess with that (never mind the fact that we can't afford structural changes )

We are lucky enough that some genius previous resident opened-up the space under the stairs from the kitchen, offering a space to fit a fridge. One of the things we'll invest in with the new kitchen is the biggest fridge/freezer we can fit in there (185 cm tall ) That's going to give us loads of space for food storage, even for us fatsos!

On the plans I've also marked the location of the old larder, also built into the external wall. It's a great feature, and dead useful for storing things like fruit and veg, beer and white wine, that you want cool, but not necessarily fridge-cold. You can see the door of it in photo 4. We are going to tidy it up a bit - new grille and paint to tie it in with the cupboards.

Sketch floor-plan:



Scale drawings of the two runs of cabinets:



And, just for fun, a picture of some of those tiles :



n.b. My scanner's playing silly-beggars at the moment

If you want to send me and Helena some photos and measurements we can come up with a design for you. Looks like we're going to be all out of our own kitchens to play with

ps. The materials for mine are costing just over £2K, inclusing solid oak worktops and polished stone tiles, so you don't have to spend a fortune if you shop around (just ask Helena )

I'm not! I hate it!!!

Hate the colour, hate the open shelves, hate the worksurfaces, hate the way the handles catch on my pockets all the time when I'm cooking! In fact, the only things I like about it are the quarry-tiled floor and the larder

I hate my kitchen too - its absolutely horrible thats why I hate cooking because I can't stand being in there any longer than I have to.

I know that feeling. Thing is, I really love cooking, but don't spend half as much time at it now, so getting the kitchen sorted is a real priority for me!

Bet you can't wait to get it done Duboing.

Helen your kitchen is gorgeous