‘our room Feels twice the size’
Elisha’s Edwardian home in Brighton has benefitted from a light and bright kitchen extension
Our previous home in Bristol had a reception room knocked through to the kitchen to create an L-shaped open-plan space, so my husband Russell and i knew it would work for us,’ says elisha.
Budget was the biggest factor and we had to price up the plans carefully to check we could afford to build and furnish the space in one go. We wanted to create that same feeling of light and space, as well as fit in a dining table.
Getting started
Our first step was to get quotes. We were horrified to find that the architect’s design and build quote was double our budget. We discovered it would be cheaper to manage the build ourselves and employ our own builder, an engineer to advise the builder and an architectural technician to do the drawings.
The kitchen used to be a separate room, accessed from the hall. By extending the second reception room three metres forward into the garden side return and knocking through, we could create an L-shaped kitchen-diner with French doors to the garden. Replacing the back door with a window allowed us to fit more units and closing off the old kitchen entrance gave us a corner to put the dining table. It also freed up the second reception room to become a TV room and play area.
A challenging build
We found a builder whose quote was within our budget, but so many things cropped up that we ended up borrowing money to buy the kitchen. What was meant to be a three-month build starting in May 2015 wasn’t finished until well into 2016. The builder kept disappearing so we had a tarpaulin over the back door and a plank from the dining room to the kitchen. We wish we’d agreed a finish date from the start with penalties in
the contract. The delays did mean i had plenty of time to think about the kitchen! We settled on a U-shape with a peninsular unit – i laid card on the floor to check the layout, then used an online design service to draw up the final plan.
The look
We chose solid wood cabinets, which were painted in Blackened by Farrow & Ball, and i personalised them with copper handles. We added colour to the front of the peninsular unit and the feature wall, and off-white textured brick floor tiles to give the room some pattern and texture.
The kitchen was finally finished in June 2017. The ground floor feels so much bigger. When you open the doors between the reception rooms, you can see all the way from the kitchen to the front of the house. it’s lovely being able to chat to Frankie while i cook.
‘paint the walls and kitchen units the same colour so they almost blend in. losing the contrast between them makes the room feel bigger’