It's finally finished! The brand new Kitchen Sanctuary Kitchen and Office!
I've only been promising to get this out for what, 2 months? So now I'm going to make you wait for extra 5 minutes for a big, long talky bit (sorry):
We finally finished the extension and remodel of the kitchen, plus the addition of an office and garage in March.
We jumped straight into using the kitchen to create recipe videos, which delayed us from doing a proper reveal, but I'm so excited to share it with you now.
It all started at the beginning of last year - the realisation that the kitchen was too small (and shabby!) and we needed space. We originally started looking at other houses, but quickly found that we couldn't find what we wanted within our price range.
I love the little close we live in - a two minute walk to the local park, just down the road from the high school that Gracey will be starting in September (gulp!) and a generally quiet area with nice neighbours.
Everywhere else we looked just didn't have that, and if it did, then it had no more space than we have now.
So we starting planning for an extension, and got the approval to start just before Summer.
Initially we considered getting a kitchen designer in, but after getting the prices back (another gulp) we decided to design everything ourselves.
We had our heart set on an industrial-style kitchen and office, so we started pinning ideas onto these Pinterest boards:
Industrial Kitchen
Industrial Office Ideas
Chris's dad agreed to do the build for us (a builder by trade, so totally awesome for us) - and it all started in mid-August.
A month or so earlier, I happened to submit a photo to the Neff NextCookaholic competition (it's now open for entries for this year - get submitting!!). I managed to get through to the second round - which involved recording a video and answering some questions.
Just a couple of days after we started the extension work, I was astonished to find out I'd made it to the final. Nine days after that, I was cooking in front of a live audience at the big Feastival, and I won! The prize of a kitchen full of Neff appliances couldn't have come at a better time - so we adjusted our plans slightly to make sure we could fit in all of our new goodies.
During the build, I was also in contact with British Ceramic Tile, and they very generously agreed to provide all the tiles we needed for the floor and the wall above the sink.
Ok, I'm going to stop waffling now, and get on with some before, during and after photos.
Right at the end you can see the full video, and a few links to where you can buy certain things. If you spot anything you like that I haven't listed, drop me a comment or send me an email and I'll try to get an answer for you.
Before (cue dull, dreary lighting and lots of clutter........)
Piles of ironing, blogging props and alcohol all stashed in my old utility room:
The oven that had been there since the house was built!
Work starting to pull up the boards in the old conservatory. A six-year-old with a crowbar. What could possibly go wrong?
The back of the house from the outside - we'd given up cutting the grass at this point - knowing the builder would soon be trampling all over it.
Work underway - this was taken just after Chris ripped out the conservatory.
First bricks in!!
Exterior bricks going up.
Outer structure, back windows and bi-fold conservatory doors in.
Chris had just finished laying the insulation and underfloor heating for the floor. At this point the living room was piled almost up to the ceiling with kitchen stuff.
First tiles down!
Flooring is down and the cabinets are going in. I finally got to start buying furniture at this point!
I painted and distressed this cabinet from Homesense, and Chris built the shelving from old scaffolding boards.
Chris built our desk using old pallets and steel.
I love these office chairs from West Elm.
Last list (of many!) before having the kitchen ready for The Telegraph to come and film (check it out here).
And it's done! All of my Neff appliances in, plus a lovely huge island to cook and record my recipe videos from (hence the lights on the right hand-side).
Love my Kitchen Sanctuary KS lights!
Ok, here's the full video>>>>>>>>
Information on stuff we have in our new kitchen (a few of these towards the end are affiliate links):
All of our big appliances are from Neff. They include:
Two Slide & Hide VarioSteam ovens
Under counter fridge (our drinks fridge :-))
Tiles:
Other Stuff:
Kitchen Units (we used two colours for the units, slate for the wall units, and bone for the island)
Small leather sofa
Bi-fold doors (the build-in blinds were an optional extra and they're brilliant!)
Boiling water tap
Dining table
Kilner Jars
I really hope you enjoyed the video. Please let me know if you have any questions!
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Julie says
Gorgeous Nicky congratulations on a beautiful kitchen and the Neff Championship!