The details of my kitchen remodel.

Before & after shots, the biggest lesson I've learned about quartz worktops, and what I'd do differently.

A few of this months ingredient recipes have been giving me a bit of trouble, so whilst I *promise* they’ll be with you next week, today I thought I’d share a few in-depth thoughts about my recent kitchen remodel we finished in November, which I hope any of you hoping to get the most out of a small kitchen with a few less than handy features (the joys of living in a period cottage!) will find helpful!

So not to miss out on this months essay, those recipes once they’re finally perfect, plus this months Kitchen Cupboards interview which I’m STUPIDLY excited to share with you all, do be sure to hit subscribe!

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We moved into our end of terrace period cottage (it was built around 1890) in the summer of 2020, and I think you’ll be able to tell from the before pictures the kitchen was a bit of a mess; honestly, to this day I have no idea how the previous owners fed their family from it. For cooking the only option was to use the Sandyford - a cheaper, AGA-style range cooker which blasted heat even during a heatwave and had little to no temperature control, and no, it is not because I’d not figured it out yet, I grew up cooking on an oil powered AGA and the Sandyford was just useless - and there was no dishwasher and little cupboard space.

My countertop oven, and the butchered kitchen units to make way for a dishwasher!

On moving day to fit our slightly larger American-style fridge freezer (this is my main one, I have a standard British size one too in the garage) as well as a dishwasher we had to cut apart lots of the units. To hold everything back together we added pieces of worktop that had been torn out of my parents old kitchen during their period home renovation, and we placed a spare oven on top of the countertop so I could actually work in the kitchen.

My cooking setup once the blasted thing had finally given up the ghost!

A few weeks before we were due to get all the new units in, the Sandyford gave out, which is why in the pictures I have my grandparents single electric ring from the 1960’s and the portable gas burner we have for power cuts sitting out on it for cooking.

What my worktops looked like when they were tidy (!) - the bookcase came with the house, and it is now painted up nicely with books on in the conservatory.

What we got rid of

Clearing the kitchen, obviously the blasted thing had to come out first. Easier said than done, as it was bricked in. Utterly worthless for re-sale (surprise surprise) it was a struggle finding a way to be rid of it (council waste disposal is very strict on what you can get rid of without a charge) without having to pay for the privilege. J and I tried to remove it by ourselves and got rather far, before having to first video call my father (a retired house builder, to be fair) and then have him over for help. In our defence, apparently the person who installed it did so without a care to the idea it might have to come out again one day, so at least that made us feel a little better about having to call in the grown ups.

Next, it sat out on our patio in pieces for weeks until we could get a local scrap company to take it away in exchange for the metal. It took the man they sent two visits, heavy machinery and a lot of brute strength to break it down enough to fit on his truck. But, eventually, we were just left with a bit of rust on the path where it had been sitting.

We decided there was not much left of the original kitchen save the floor tiles (J hates them but I love them, though I’ll never have a tiled floor again as anything you drop on it will smash with no hope of a lucky escape) and the kitchen tap so out it all came, though we saved the custom designed wooden sink unit with a nice top to turn into a coffee table in future, and the original sink now lives outside up on bricks and has so far hosted my aubergine plants, and courgettes the year after.

Kitchen Units

Most kitchen design companies in the ‘affordable’ bracket (essentially, anything that is not bespoke) have a big issue installing them in a period cottage with uneven floors, walls and beams. You see, if you cut them at all to fit the space you void the warranty. So we had to get creative.

In the end we went for units from DIY Kitchens, who I can highly recommend; my father has used them in other houses since he was so impressed. Ordering online you can build your own kitchen out of all their different unit types to install yourself.

We were going for olive green but I threw in a blue sample (you get the cost of these off the kitchen) and I’m so glad I did as it really opens up the otherwise somewhat darker room. The only negative with DIY Kitchens are that the bins and recycling bin unit that comes with them is next to useless they’re so small and badly designed, and that they no longer sell matching paint.

Now, I see why they’ve done this. We asked for it and they sold it to us, which means all the expensive visual finishes like boarding and side panels we’ve made ourselves and painted to match. But now they’ve closed this loophole, if you get any marks and scratches in the units, you won’t be able to exact colour match for a repair.

But, overall, I’d use their kitchens again. They also supplied the Belfast-style kitchen sink, which is also of excellent quality.

So what sorts of drawers did I order?

The answer is not many standard ones! Rather than having all my helpful utensils in different places I can highly recommend getting a large flat drawer with a divider to keep everything in for ease of access, as above. Below it I have two super deep pan drawers where I can stack bowls several high.

You’ll also see in one of the pictures below I have a pull out bottle drawer which fit nicely in a bit of dead space by the sink. I used to think these were a bit tacky, but after having one on the flat we rented a few years ago in Fulham, I now think they’re a super-convenient essential as bottles otherwise take up so much space.

Inspired by my mother, the corner space is also filled with two pull out shelves which house my biggest shallow Le Creuset casserole dish, the ice cream maker, slow cooker, and my bulk buy bag of pasta shapes.

Drawer Knobs

It will take me forever to go through their site to find the right ones we used, but as I did not like any of the knobs on offer at DIY Kitchens if you’re after endless choice at good prices where they’ll do exchanges without question if any arrive damaged, you can’t go wrong with Ironmongery Direct.

Tiled Backsplash

This was one of the last things to go in as supply chain issues meant it took forever to get the tiles I’d set my heart on. As this is not our forever house I did not want anything too expensive, I wanted something traditional, and a plain colour without it being boring. As they come in so many colours I’d 100% have these Minton Hollins Country Rustic China Blue Tiles again as their unevenness gives them a very unique finish. But, my Dad did note they’re much harder to get up on the wall than regular sized ones so keep that in mind if you’re planning to DIY!

Custom Shelves & Spice Rack

My Substack did not exist at the time of the great crash, so here goes:

One night in our last London rental flat in East Dulwich J and I were watching television and there was an almighty crash. We went running to find the fitted wall cabinet with all of our glasses and crockery in had crashed off the wall, onto the worktop, and then onto the floor, and about 85% of it was smashed and broken on the floor. Inspection of where it was fixed to the wall showed it, like most of the things in that flat it turns out (#londonrentalmarket) was a bodge job so it was not attached properly. Happily the cat was not squashed.

I’m still angry about what was broken beyond repair thanks to someone else cutting corners (but not of enough value to pay the insurance excess) to this day. But this, aside from the fact I genuinely believe open shelves fit more and are more practical for keen cooks, is why I’ll never choose to fit cupboards to the walls in a kitchen ever again.

I’m very lucky that my father actually started out as a carpenter, and he built me these open shelves out of reclaimed wood he had hanging around his workshop and fitted them around the existing beams. I kid you not it took longer to fit them than the whole rest of the kitchen, but once I’d got the closest match to the doors and windows in wood stain and given them three coats one summer afternoon when I could have the door flung open against the fumes I think they’re fantastic and look brilliant.

The spice rack was something for that last London flat to be freestanding my father and I made together one afternoon from more wood kicking around his workshop (okay, he made it and I held pieces) designed to fit the different size jars of tubs and spices I buy. We mounted it on the brick wall slightly crooked to make the oven unit look less drunk - in such an old cottage, the walls are not level!

Appliances

Now, let me preface this part with because I knew what I wanted with ovens for my space saving kitchen, I was left with little choice in what I could have. What I wanted was a pair of ovens like my mother has, a usual combination regular / fan oven on the bottom with an in-built grill and all those other bells and whistles, and another with what my American readers would call 'toaster oven’ functionality on top, but most importantly, an integrated microwave. Space saving and very practical.

As far as I’m aware, the only companies who make these at the moment in Britain as they’re quite a niche product are Neff and Hotpoint. My mother has the Neff, which you’ll recognise from the Great British Bake Off tent with the doors that slide away inside. Not an option for me not just because I don’t particularly enjoy cooking in the ones in my parents kitchen (funnily we had them at the last house and the earlier models were much better), but because they’re one of the most expensive electric ovens on the British market.

So, obviously I ordered the Hotpoint. Which I love, but because of the issues we’ve had with them, I wish we’d dug deep for the Neff ovens. Honestly, after this experience I won’t ever buy another Hotpoint product ever again. First I discovered they fitted a faulty grill area in the oven which fell down and burnt my arm one day and which it took them two visits to put right, eventually replacing the oven. And then the transistor in the microwave blew. After the oven incident we paid for their out of warranty insurance, which it turns out is so complicated and there are so few engineers it took me an hour and a half and three different customer service people to get some one to come and fix it. I got the same engineer who fixed the oven and he felt very, very sorry for me that he’d had to come to my house again.

I love them now, but don’t make the mistake of buying Hotpoint appliances.

Moving on, I’ve never been much fussed about hobs (or stovetops as my American friends call it) except for we don’t have gas in the village, and I don’t like induction (why can’t I use all my pans? Why did I manage to set fire to one that one time in front of loads of people at a cookery school?) so I wanted the cheapest electric one that had touch buttons, and where the largest ring was at the front not the back because I’m short and having to stretch would just lead to more accidents.

With all this in mind I selected the AEG Competence HK624010FB 59cm Ceramic Hob which I love and would highly recommend if it comes back in stock as this website claims, or a very similar slightly updated model. The only thing I’d change is detritus when cleaning the worktops gets stuck under the rim and has to be carefully cleaned out with the tip of a sharp knife quite regularly if you mount it into quartz worktops.

Worktops

J calls my worktops my money slabs. Yes, they cost almost the same as the rest of the kitchen put together, but I have zero regrets.

I knew I wanted as pale as possible, and with slight grey veining. I also quickly discovered that in granite this would be out of our price range, and I did not want marble as I know how easily it stains.

Because they were local and their quote was good I went with Aviva Stone, just outside Canterbury - I found them because I’m a big fan of the ribs and lamb chops from Worgan’s Farm Shop butchers counter opposite! I’d recommend them both for customer service in the showroom and the quality of their finished product, but you have to keep on top of them as they’re not great at communication. We were just very lucky we rang to chase the day before they were due to arrive to fit the worktops without telling us!

I’d have quartz again if I still can’t afford granite in the colours I want in future, but I have a bit of care advice for people considering them. Yes whilst a big downside of granite is citrus juice can ruin it’s sheen (I had this drummed into me growing up, you can see what the kitchen I grew up in looked like here) most people will tell you quartz does not stain. But, if you have a pale colour, this is (almost) a lie. You’ll need to be careful with red wine, coffee, green tea, and Biro pen (don’t ask!) all of which will stain and will not come out with any normal cleaner (I use Cif cream on them which the woman at Aviva recommended) but will fade slightly with time.

Enter The Pink Stuff cleaning cream which happily with a little elbow grease is the only thing I’ve tried that will remove stains from white quartz without damaging it (I’ve tested a lot on my sample I’ve still got from when I chose the worktops!) Hat tip to Alice Fevronia for sharing this miracle cleaning tip with me (because yes, these are the exciting topics food people talk about at garden parties!)

And, there we have it! If any of you are planning a new kitchen any time soon and you’ve got any questions, let me know in the comments!