Kitchen comments/feedback pls

[LittleMilla]

We're getting a copy of this made in light blue (hopefully):

Kitchen units

This worktop in bianco grigio DH is obsessed with only small speckled white

And then this floor

Also thinking of this grey rangemaster

Any thoughts/feedback? It's for a soon-to-be created open plan kitchen/diner/living room. Rest of the room will be light with slightly utilitarian feel - exposed brick chimney breast with wood burner, stainless steel lights. We also have a big farnhouse style table, chairs and pew already.

Want to glean everyone's collective wisdom on what I might f*ck up .

Love it all!

Beautiful! I love the flooring in particular.
I'd go for the Bianco Luminoso worktop - but that is purely a personal preference in that I'd like larger flecks in a work surface.

V . Will be trying to create a v similar feel on about 10% of what I imagine your budget is. Overall, I love it. Agree with noeyedeer that the luminoso worktop would work better - otherwise maybe a bit of a lack of contrast between units and worktops? Also, a purely personal thing, I couldn't live with the asymmetry of that model and would have to go for this Rangemaster instead. Good luck with it - pics when done please!

I bet it will be lovely, I have serious kitchen envy!

Styling is beautiful - just make sure you are 100% happy with the layout too

Beautiful!

Yay, such lovely comments, thank you. Our chimney breast only allows for the 900 range master sadly, but decided to go with it anyway.

We're really trying to do this on a reasonable budget. As I say, kitchen design is being copied by our polish builder's friend. Flooring will be bought buy our builder as part of a much bigger trade order he's placing.

Only things we'll pay full whack for are cooker and worktops.

Building work starts in feb and I will do the old before & after shots and share. In fact, I will try and take some snaps of the existing space tonight so you can all appreciate the shit scale of the project!

Love it!! I am jealous as that would be my ideal kitchen (if budget had permitted!!). I don't know if you have seen the rangemaster in a showroom but we looked at that one but preferred the Professional + which comes in 900 as well as other sizes.

Thanks yorkpud I have seen it in the flesh in our local appliances shop and the shallow part of me was drawn to the grey. So sad, but part of the rangemaster appeal is what it looks like and it seems that they only have that one in the gunmetal grey. My 18 MO puts the kibosh of stainless steel as I cannot face sticky fingers!

Love the units, worksurface and range. Am totally with your DH on the small speckled white. I think you will be much more pleased with the copies than with the real Fired Earth stuff - up close I find it a bit dollshouse and the interior shelves are veneered not solid. Our freestanding units from a nice bloke in Nottinghamshire were much better - thicker, more solid, better finish - and cheaper than anything we saw in the shops.

If I had to cavil and be very fernickety I am never sure about the "aged flagstones" look if you don't actually live in a farmhouse (which you might!) I don't think it looks quite right in Victorian terraces or similar. But that is just personal anality taste.

Thank you mulledwine we are in a Victorian semi, so think that comes under the "similar".

Reason I like a more aged look is because I am a slacker and can't be arsed to clean want something quite low maintenance. DS combined with my DH create a bloody mess and we're not the sort of people that want to ask people to leave their shoes at the door. I want someone that will be hard-wearing but also hide dirt.

Not wedded to this floor so let me know if you know of anything else (light grey-ish ) that might fit the bill!

Noo, it really is a personal thing. I'd probably do black and white or red quarry tiles, but saying that black and white might be a bit busy in a big space. So as you were!

We've got a job lot of red quarry tiles in the garden that we're planning to relay for the patio. So not sure I can get my head around having them in the kitchen!

They're quite big.

Last qu for you all. DH wants to start the tiles in the hallway, which will lead in to the open plan kitchen/diner. The doorway in to this area is going to be 1.5 width with no door.

I think we should have a different floor in hallway. DH reckons it'll 'flow' better if we have the same all the way through to the back utility area. Now i write it down I am now torn.

Lastly, I am in LOVE with these lights and want to splash out on two to go above the island.

Hi
Love the Fired Earth units. And the tiles for the floor.

If you are spending £££ on a Fired Earth solid wood kitchen, why not get granite or marble as your worktop? Not keen on that composite stuff. And it shows up dirt. We had the Coco composite (see your link). Previous owner had put it in and it was awful. Not impressed and in no way did it feel like stone. It was a happy day when it went.
I now have bianco Carrara extra marble in new kitchen and its honed so lovely and matt.
If you are going for greys and you want a pale surface why not get River White granite www.houzz.com/photos/186333/River-White-Granite-Vanity-modern-bathroom-boston ? I considered that. You can get it honed if you like. It's one of the nicest granite I have seen. Or Ivory Spice www.tomhowley.co.uk/ ? That one is hard to get hold of but I know Pisani have stock and can help you with that.

How about this range (comes in grey and white too) www.mercuryappliances.co.uk/ or this www.rangemaster.co.uk/range-cooking/elise-se.aspx

Enjoy your new kitchen

Thanks for the links skandi. We're not getting an actual FE kitchen, rather, having a copy made of the one I posted. It'll still be v.good quality but without the FE mark-up IYSWIM.

MY DH is weirdly anal about flecks/colouration etc on worktops and also floor, which is why we've ruled out proper granite/stone. I'd love it personally, but he's very determined about it. Quite like the limestone from your first link and I might be able to sway him on that?

The Tom Howley link is super. I really love the blue in the contemporary shaker and also those silver cup handle thingies. I shall add to my Pin interest board!!

Final snag for us is that we can only fit a small range in our fireplace and so we're limited on options. Mercury ones are too wide...although I am going to ask the builder if there is ANY way we might be able to eeek out another 10cm as it'd be super to have a full-sized one if possible.

Thank you again for links, v.handy x

Hi

The mercury range comes as. 90cm wide option as does the Elise. The Elise is half the price of mercury btw. I have seen both in the flesh and really like both. The Mercury is lovely but not sure it's worth the extra cash.

The River White is granite and has very few flecks compared to most. The bianco composite you are looking at has far more in terms of flecks etc than say Carrara marble has. I would venture that honed river white would be less busy to look at than the stone composite. They are very shiny and flecky. And the crystally bits are so annoying because they look like dents and dirt and light catches it constantly. It's also far more expensive than granite.

If you get granite honed it will look paler and show flecks much less.

I like the lights. I have seen similar in Heals and John Lewis but sadly not any cheaper than the ones you linked. They will look lovely with your choice of kitchen.

For the tiles. I have done my kitchen and two bathrooms this summer. And I used Manderin Stone for some of it. Great quality tiles btw. And prices are competitive. They have a sale every January and July with 20% off everything. So hang on for that!
And a tip. Don't get the grout from Manderin Stone, they sold me this beige stuff for Dijon Limestone which wasn't perfect but I found via another stone mason who did my limestone shower trays, something called Mapei Grout in Limestone. It's perfect and will be bang on for the tiles you are looking at.
If you did decide to get granite worktops, look at getting either St Abois Limestone or Dijon tumbled for your floor. I think it would really compliment.

Skandi you are a star, thank you so much. Will sit down with DH over the weekend and try and find a showroom to look at properly.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

LittleMilla
Not sure where you are in the country but if you are near London, I would go straight to Pisani out near heathrow. They are open till noon on a Saturday but yoi cant bring DC under 16 for safety reasons. They are importers and don't sell to you directly but you can go and look at the many hundreds of slabs of granite and marble they have and even choose one. You can then ask them for details of stone masons they know of in your area.

That way you are most likely to get what you want. Stone masons have a habit of trying to palm you off with whatever they have laying around in their yard so stand firm on your choice and find another stone mason if you don't get any joy.

I think Graham and Green have lights similar to what you were after but may be more £££.

This from habitat at £80 www.habitat.co.uk/industry-pendant/pendantsfcp-product/26061 or www.habitat.co.uk/emmanuelle-pendant-light/pendantsfcp-product/28011 for £50. I know habitat isn't as cool as it once was (20 years ago ahem). But still these are nice for a great price

Pisani: www.pisanigroup.com/index.php/showrooms.html

love it all but i wonder with blue /grey combo it might be a bit cold?

LittleMilla. I saw that the Mandarin Stone sale starts today so I thought of you. I PMd you as well.

Not quite the same but they have others on their website

www.gardentrading.co.uk/lighting/indoor/pendant-fishing-light-clay.html

I love you all - preggersbycheggers they are gorgeous. I am holding out for my dream ones, but just totted up appliances to £2.5k so there might need to be some compromises. Creating a reserve list as I suspect I might get what I'm after .

Skandi again, thank you so much. Spoken to my builder who has suggested we wait until January before ordering as the sale is on until end-Jan. I am thinking that if we can get everything else totted up we'll know how much we can stretch to on the floor. Big unknown is what the floor below our existing one looks like - we would like underfloor heating but cost will vary hugely which will obvs impact budget.

Thinking we ought to pull it up sooner rather than later to check the lay of the land!

LM. You will need to lay some sort of sub flooring for your tiles anyway. Otherwise they will crack with movement. Even if its concrete below as thermal movement in concrete can cause tiles to crack.

You will need tile backer boards possibly insulated (its relatively cheap. Around £8psqm). And you may need ditra matting. Don't let builder talk you out of sorting the substrate or you will have cracked tiles within 6 months of laying.

So as you need to do the above anyway, adding u/f heating isn't a massive cost. You don't need very powerful matting as it isn't going to heat the kitchen just background heat for the tiles. So 150kw should do. The mat for this will cost you circa £80 - £100 for 2sqm and the thermostat is circa £150 if you get a digital programmable one.

Installation cost for the above should only be £400 to £500 extra and most of that is for getting a qualified electrician to test the matting and probe and hook up the electrics.

Don't know how large the floor area is but you can easily estimate it.

If you want more detail on it you can always ask PigletJohn here on MN.

Hi hopefully you can answer my question . I went Tom Howley's show room in alderleyedge I love the stone floor Do you know where it is from ?
Thanks