Kitchen's Kitchen

what philips hue bits did you go for ? I'm tempted to get some for my living room which I'm in the course of doing up but not quite sure where to start...

Three of these light strips for under cupboard lighting: https://www.philips-hue.com/en-gb/p/hue-white-and-colour-ambiance-lightstrip-plus-base-v4-2-metre/8718699703424

They will be cut to size and mounted under the cabinet within a diffuser like this https://www.theledstore.co/led-profile-slim-decorative-wide-philips-hue

And then this for over the sink area https://www.philips-hue.com/en-gb/p/hue-white-and-colour-ambiance-centris-3-spot-ceiling-light/5060930P7

I wanted the asymmetric fitting as the window above the sink is off centre, and this perfectly fits to be central with the end of the kitchen, and the strip part of the light to be central to the window.

I'm not particularly pleased that these all only come with colour... I prefer white ambiance lights for Philips Hue.

The table pendant I'm just going to put a white ambiance bulb into.

Might be worth mentioning that the dark wood, the black worktop, the dark floor tiles, the black around the lighting, the black on the tap...

My kitchen has a huge sky light and most of the year you need sunglasses in the kitchen when prepping food.

The skylight was added when the existing kitchen was put in, and I've seen old pictures and it was dark before the skylight was in or the kitchen changed... but they solved the problem twice over resulting in it being blindingly bright.

I'm trying to make it all feel earthier, darker, more luxurious... and far more pleasing on the eyes. So the primary surfaces where light hits (all the flats: worktop, floor, table) are dark... but where light merely reflect (all the verticals: cabinets, walls, appliances) I'm keeping those on the lighter side of things but complementing the darks.

Why don't you tint the glass on it? Use a very light tint to take the edge off the sun.

What? Get out of here... clearly the answer is to tear the kitchen down and build it up again.

Obvs.

Good thread.

I sourced my latest rads from these guys. Exellent service.

http://www.beaumontcastiron.com/

Weirdly I ended up ordering an alu radiator.

The problem was one of size... couldn't fit the trad ones I loved the look of, and once I had to look at others I realised that alu heats up quicker, produces more heat, and are way more available (sourcing and supply issues are very real right now - combination of Christmas, COVID and Brexit).

Have ordered an alu one that fits the dimensions well, and is in a gun metal grey, which in its position under a shaded sideboard should render it unnoticeable.

This has changed from making it a statement thing (and removing the side board above it) to making it a hidden thing.

Supply issues have left me wondering about the sink and tap, but I still have time to panic about those.

Alu also easily recyclable so bonus. Could come back as a Bowman or a Condor Italia.

Is that next step for bike manufacturers. Recycled metals ?

Franke is good. Don’t skimp on tap. You touch it every day innit.

Sink and tap are on their way... dispatched today and should arrive tomorrow.

I think my sink company are trolling me.

They're using a service called Overnight for the delivery and I've just received a message saying delivery estimated between 00:46 and 02:46.

Yay... I have a tap and sink.

Weird that I couldn't really know how the tap would feel, look until it arrived. But it's ace, I love it.

What did you go for?

Sink: https://professional.dornbrachtgroup.com/products/en-GB/GB/Dornbracht-38550003-85-Single-sink---polished-high-grade-steel-polished-high-grade-steel

Tap: https://professional.dornbrachtgroup.com/products/en-GB/GB/Dornbracht-33865895-00-Profi-single-lever-mixer---polished-chrome-polished-chrome

Yeah very nice.

We thought about stainless for the sink but we have a lot of stainless going into the kitchen already

Looking good DK

It begins!

Later today I'll clear everything out and will take the first photo of daily progress, the last photo of the kitchen as it is.

Day Zero

4 Attachments

Looks like a nice kitchen.

It's not bad. Quite liked it.

It's hiding all of the problems though... the fire risk electrics, the boiler needing replacing, and to address those, well, the quality and fitting of the cabinets and worktop mean it all gets destroyed.

If I didn't have to deal with the major problems, I would've just updated a few white goods and sanded and resealed the worktop.

Ho hum, it's started now... and once done it will be good for a long time.

If you are so inclined, keep some of the work top and turn it into a big chopping block. Easy to sand and re-oil periodically and really useful.

I thought that was the new kitchen till I saw 'Liked'.

I've kept the tap.

It was a good tap, I'm sure I can fit it elsewhere (recycle it)... I've asked them to look at recycling opportunities, I'm happy to do the legwork to offload them. It's a tiny gesture towards it not being an entirely wasteful process.

Crikey. That kitchen looks lush as it is.
Some of that worktop would make an excellent workbench also