How to choose a kitchen worktop

The range and styles of kitchen worktops out on the market at the minute can be a little overwhelming when you are starting to design your own kitchen.  Below I have broken down the most common types and discussed the pros and cons of each for you to help ease the pain.

 

Granite worktops

Granite has traditionally been the go to choice for luxurious kitchens due to its stylish markings and glossy appearance. Its popularity is in part down to its hard wearing nature, its very difficult to chip or scratch this surface and once installed requires no more maintenance than a quick wipe with a cloth. On top of this the stone has antibacterial properties and is heat resistant. All of this does, however, come at a price, its generally one of the more expensive options for a work surface as its not a material that can be cut by anyone. This material is super heavy and requires templating and fitting by professionals. Also worth noting is that the markings on granite are irregular in appearance due to it being a naturally formed material, so its no good for those who like uniformity in their design.

Quartz worktops

Quartz is a man made alternative to granite and has grown in popularity over the last decade due to its more uniform and contemporary work surface. Quartz is made by combining quartz/reconstructed stone with a resin to create an extremely hard wearing and generally stain resistant worktop. Elements such as mirrors, glass and metals can be added to the mix to create a unique pattern. One of the main benefits of quartz is the fact it's non porous and therefore resistant to staining, it does have a reasonable heat resistance and as it comes in larger slabs than other materials there are fewer joints and joins in the material. It also comes in thinner sheets so is perfect for those wanting a more modern look.

 


Wooden worktops

Wood is a very popular choice for those seeking a traditional feel in their kitchen. For some the patina it develops over time is a huge appeal to many but the maintenance that wood does require, oiling on a regular basis, cleaning up spills immediately, puts others off. If maintained properly it also has anti bacterial properties It is considerably cheaper than stone and comes in a variety of colours and grains with hardwoods being the most popular choice. Fitting of a wooden worktop can be done by a joiner or your kitchen supplier on site which also helps cut down on templating and labour costs.

 

 Laminate worktops

Laminates are a very cost effective worktop option and come in a large range of colour and styles. Its easy to maintain and clean and if not scratched or damaged can have anti bacterial properties. A laminate will suit any kind of kitchen style but you really do get what you pay for with. There is a huge variation in quality and cheaper options can peel, burn/melt and scratch easily. Where previously you could only get bull nose finish many laminate companies are now offering square edge and thinner profiled options for those that want to create a more modern look.

Concrete worktops

Concrete has become a fashionable option over the last couple of years in kitchen worktops, it suits both industrial style settings but can also look great when paired with a modern gloss and shaker style cabinets. As it is created in situ it can be seamlessly produced and there is no need for joints, as its a bespoke piece  the finished texture and dappling really is unique to each worktop. The downsides is that the concrete does require sealing as its a natural porous material and all spills need to be cleaned up asap in order to prevent staining, but a quick wipe with soapy water is all thats needed to keep it clean. Many people think of this as a cold hard material but it can look warm when used in the right setting.

 

 Stainless Steel worktops

Normally the preserve of commercial kitchens stainless steel has become a go to choice for residential kitchens over the last couple of years due to the fact its incredibly durable, naturally antibacterial, easy to clean, is waterproof and heat and acid resistant. Its a very light and modern material but could feel a little overwhelming if used over a large area, many people are therefore using it on islands or a small section of workspace to help soften what could otherwise be a cold feeling material.

 

 Composite material worktops

Composite worktops have many of the benefits of quartz and stone, cool to touch, heat and scratch resistant, stain resistant, coloured all the way through and is seamless but without the high cost. Its a seamless material so even if you need a joint it should be invisible. It can also be moulded into any shape, so is perfect for seamlessly integrated sinks and can be cut on site by a competent joiner. In terms of price it is generally cheaper than a quartz or granite and comes in standard lengths of 3000mm - 4050mm, some of the key brands to look for are Corian which is at the top end of the price bracket and Miro stone which is a very budget friendly option. Its a great alternative to stone and the style goes as well with a high gloss/matt handless design or a traditional shaker

 Hopefully I have helped clear the waters when it comes to choosing a worktop for your kitchen but if you are still unsure as to what worktop is right for you then please drop me a message on the contact page

What Kitchen style do I want?

The kitchen is probably one of the most important and hardworking multi functional spaces in the house. Its also one of the biggest expenses so you want to make sure that you choose one that is going to stand the test of time and not be bored of in a year or 2.

There are numerous kitchen styles and designs out there to choose from and it can be be a bit overwhelming when you 1st decide to re do your own space. With that in mind I thought  I would help guide you with me easy explanation of all the different kitchen styles out there and help explain what each one is. Although many of these kitchens in these images are bespoke pieces and are incredibly expensive there are many elements you can take and use in your own home, just because you have a lower budget doesn't mean you should have to compromise on style.

Many of the big kitchen companies such as Howdens, Wicks, Ikea, B&Q etc have their own versions of these and you can easily create something unique to you.

See below for the 4 most common kitchen styles out there: 

 

Contemporary Kitchen

Contemporary Kitchens are characterised by their sleek, clean lines in modern materials such as concrete, gloss, steel and laminate. A minimal colour palette is used and they are generally neutral in colour, most colour is brought in by the use of artwork or carefully placed accessories.

They are un cluttured and minimalist in their design and feature high functioning and modern gadgets such as induction cooktops, built in coffee makers and minimalist cooker hoods.

The lighting is also either of the very discreet variety, hidden underneath hung cabinets and lots of spots or they feature architectural lighting fixtures.

Contemporary kitchens don't have to be cold white spaces, by introducing warm materials such as wood and metal you can create a very inviting but also practical space.

 

 

Traditional Kitchens

Traditional styles such as this ‘Shaker’ Kitchens, have traditional elements such as Belfast sinks, wooden worktops and inset paneled painted cabinets and are characterised by their clean simple lines. This style is unpretentious with all the emphasis on the quality craftmanship rather than elaborate decoration or fussy detailing

This style of kitchen suits any type of property, from country cottages through to grand houses and have a resemblance to many of the traditional working kitchens found in large country homes.

A shaker kitchen is very versatile and with the right accessories and hardware can also have an industrial or modern feel and the main bonus about a painted kitchen such as this is if you eventually get bored of it you can easily paint the cabinet fronts

 

 

Freestanding Kitchens

Freestanding kitchens are essentially ones that are made up of lots of Independent fixtures, it can create an eclectic look and is easy to create an Individual kitchen. Freestanding kitchens give you the opportunity to move pieces about if needed and to add on extra storage or replace elements on an ad hoc basis.

This sort of style would suit a house that has wonky walls in which fitting cabinetry would be difficult.

Freestanding kitchens can be a cost effective way to create a kitchen as it can be sourced from flea markets or through upcycling old bits of furniture. 

 

 Country Kitchens

A country style kitchen is one that represents a rural farmhouse type design. There are lots of traditional elements within this kitchen such as panelled wooden doors, wooden worktops and many will feature  classic components such as AGA’s, Islands and Dressers on which crockery is displayed.

They usually come in a muted palette of creams, pastels, blues and soft greys along side wood. The cabinet fronts are quite often panelled and feature simple door handles in turned wood or simple hardware

All the elements that make up a country kitchen are warm, tactile and inviting where the kitchen is seen as the heart of the home and take their inspiration from English style kitchens, French farmhouse and rustic Tuscan kitchens

 

 

This list of kitchen styles is by no means exhaustive and within each style you can get further categories such as, modern industrial, modern rustic, eclectic, Scandi, modern country etc etc. the list goes on but these are a good starting point for when you are wanting to research your own kitchen design . 

If you are considering a new kitchen and would like some help with your designs or just helping you decide which style you would like then please feel free to contact me.

Scandinavian Style Interiors

I love Scandinavian style interiors, its all about functionality, simplicity and beauty, with its clean lines simple design and understated elegance.

This style of decorating our home is becoming more and more fashionable with many remembering the hype surrounding 'Hygge' back in 2016 and our love for Ikea. But there are easy ways of incorporating this look into your home without going for a full blown Ikea makeover.

There isn't one specific Scandinavian style interior but there are elements that make up and help define Scandinavian Interiors. These include mixing vintage and traditional pieces with modern furniture with clean and simple lines. Using materials that add texture into our homes and provide a feeling of warmth, such as wood, fur, linen, velvet, metallics. Layering all these textures in one scheme in complementary shades creates depth and adds interest to what could be an otherwise bland scheme.

One of the key elements to the Scandinavian look is the use of mirrors to reflect light around the room and the use of furniture that has reflective properties, such as gloss cabinets. Alongside this the use of greenery and foliage within the interior space is extremely important and you will find many of the homes will have both large scale plants and small succulents scattered around. 

In terms of colour white is a key component to Scandinavian style interiors and works particularly well in South facing rooms where there is lots of daylight, the sun warms the colour up and the bright white walls helps bounce this sunlight around the room creating the feeling of airiness and spaciousness.

In North facing rooms you would need to add in warmer whites that have a touch of grey as their base colour, Farrow and Ball colours such as Cornforth White or Ammonite that would be perfect for this.

The white base used in many Scandinavian schemes acts as a great base for pops of colour, including black which adds a bit of drama to any scheme. 

And last point to bear in mind, don't over decorate! Scandinavian interior design is about keeping things simple and not cluttered. Easier said than done for many of us, no matter how much we love the aesthetic!

Buying Affordable Art

Your home should be a curation of pieces that you love and items that speak to you, by doing this you will create a home that is truly a reflection of your personality and life experiences. One way to help create a home that is unique to you and shows your personality is to fill it with artwork that you love. 

Many believe that buying art is completely out of their reach or didn't even realise that buying artwork was an option for them, but this couldn't be further from the truth. Rather than picking up something generic and mundane from the high street which you could find in hundreds of other homes, why not pick up some art that is affordable, distinctive and goes someway to help support artists worldwide?

There are many online galleries where you can by affordable art for all budgets and tastes, these are a pick of my favourite online galleries:

 

Artfinder- Has artwork ranging in price from £10 - £50,000 and with 10,000 artists worldwide to choose from there is definitely something to suit every budget and taste. You can pick from different media, styles, subject, price range and colour to help find something that suits your own home. A great website for a browse if you aren't sure exactly what you are after.

 

Degree art - This is a great website for discovering and buying artwork from students and recent graduates. The artwork not only has the potential to become a valuable investment but you are helping to support emerging talent. Again with artwork ranging from£10-£10,000 you can definitely find something to suit your own taste.

 

art republic - This website offers a great collection of artwork and prints from well known artists such as Picasso, Andy Warhol and Damien Hirst to less known and emerging talent who are just starting their careers. Again the prices range from £20 - £10,000 and you can browse artwork by Subject, Art movement, Colour and Celebrity, if you wish. 

 

King & McGaw - Offer prints of some of the most famous artworks in the world. They also stock ranges of posters and prints from the V&A, British Transport Museum, Vogue, Penguin Books alongside many others. Again prices are incredibly reasonable and you can shop the collection by choosing what room you want the artwork for. Their website is great for advice if you aren't sure what you want.

 

This is not an exhaustive list of all the online galleries the internet has to offer and there are many more notable ones including desenio, Print club London, Nickie Kelly, Rise Art, The Contemporary Chester, Lumitrix, Etsy to name a few. The key is to really buy something that you love, there is no right or wrong to buying art and it is a very subjective thing. Just buy what you love and will be happy to look at every day and you can't go wrong.

If you need any help picking or styling your artwork give me a shout, I'd be happy to help you wade through all the options.

 

Colour Theory: How to use paint to create visual effects in your home

Not everyone is lucky enough to live in houses that are in proportion, Do you have awkward shaped ceilings, low ceilings? Small narrow hallways and tiny little box rooms you don't know what to do with?

If this sounds like your place then don't worry, there is a paint technique that can help minimise all the awkward spaces that we all have in our homes. Let me show you how....

 

Using Colour to make a tall ceiling appear lower

 

Using a darker tone on the ceilings and by bringing the colour slightly down the wall, as demonstrated in these pics, helps visually lower the height of a space and also creates a feeling of intimacy. You don't have to go for black, as these pictures show, just use a colour that is slightly darker than your wall paint to achieve the same effect.  

 

Using Colour to make a low ceiling appear taller

There are a few ways to help make a low ceiling appear taller. One of these is to paint vertical stripes on the wall, but that's quite a statement and not to everyones taste!

A simpler way is to paint the ceiling lighter than the walls, the ceiling will appear to float above the walls and give you the perceived height you are after. 

Another option, if you have any moulding or cornice, is to paint this the same colour as the walls and again paint the ceiling a lighter shade than the walls.

The last option, and my particular favourite, is to paint everything the same colour, your skirting, walls and ceiling all one colour! Your traditional painter and decorator may have kittens when you ask them to do this but trust me this is the best way to make your room appear bigger. The boundaries of where the wall ends and the ceiling begins are blurred and without this definition of the boundaries between wall and ceiling the eye will read it as one thus giving you the height you want.

 

Using Colour to make a small room appear bigger

I imagine this is probably one of the key problems many of you face as not many of us are blessed with massive rooms. One of the most commonly held beliefs about how the best way to make your room feel larger is to paint everything in similar tonal light colours. When there isn't a huge variation in colour between the floor, walls and ceiling you create a feeling of space as your eye can't detect any definite edges, I appreciate that not everyone wants to rip up the carpets that they have and paint the floorboards a colour to match the walls and ceilings to help create that feeling of space, but what you can easily do is paint the walls and ceiling the same colour, this alone will help make the space feel airier and grander instantly. The use of lots of reflective surfaces, i.e mirrors and the like also help bounce light around the room, but more of that later! 

I believe and many others do too, that if you have a really small box like room or hallways with not much natural light the best thing to do is not fight it and to embrace the darkness and paint everything in a dark colour. This has the same effect of blurring the boundaries of where the the floor finishes, the walls finish and the ceiling starts. If painting your room a really dark colour is a little frightening then another quick and easy way to make your room feel bigger is by painting your hallway in a dark colour so all the rooms leading off it will feel large and brighter and airier by comparison. You don't have to go really dark, just a couple of tones darker than any of the other rooms will give you the desired effect.

 

Using Colour to make a floor area seem bigger

 

 

An easy way to make the floor area seem bigger is to paint the skirting boards the same colour as the floor, again this helps blur the boundaries of where the floor finishes and the skirting begins and gives the illusion that its all one expanse.

If this isn't possible in your house the use of one single colour or material on the floor will help create a seamless transition through the rooms of your house and will help make the floor area seem bigger as there isn't any break point. You can do this by having one single colour carpet or tiles run throughout your home or you if you have wooden floor boards you can choose skirting boards in the same colour to achieve the same effect.

 

I hope this helps give you an idea as to how you can use colour to create visual effects in your own house, If you have any other queries about how to decorate your room in order to maximise the feeling of space or help hide any awkward small spaces then please get in touch, I would love to help