Kitchen 4 - Worktop

We chose granite worktop(tornado grey). Installation did not go well unfortunately... After the fitter correct all mistakes (cabinet opening was opposite, cabinet was broken, the dish washer was not connected etc), finally we could proceed to install worktop. 

On the sink side, it fit smoothly. However, the hob and oven side, the stone cracked when installation. The wall seemed to be too tight. The worktop guys brought back the stone and they said they would come back in one week. Due to the hole in the middle for hob, the thin part are very fragile. 

Second time... the stone cracked again :( They tried to repair but we could see some cracks. They suggested to cut the stone to 4 pieces (thin part) then install next time. We wanted one piece smooth worktop but agreed it.
They said the stone will be ready by next Friday... we called them the day before (Thursday) they forgot to book the delivery (unbelievable!) So we needed to wait another week.

Then finally, at the third installation, the worktop was installed successfully.
The following week, gas hob was installed. Looks great.

I have never had granite worktop, I am looking forward to cooking here :)

Kitchen painting

Kitchen wall and ceiling are painted...looks nicer :)
We asked the builder to paint...
Worktop fitter came to measure, it will be installed in one week.

Dining room is still mess... :(

Kitchen - 2: Remove old kitchen

Last weekend, builders came to our house to start removing our old kitchen...
They came with drilling tools to break tiles. Bye bye, old kitchen!

This is the kitchen before started.

Then....

Then.... removed the lower ceiling as well...

To be continued...

Kitchen - 1: How did we design?

One of our biggest project for the renovation is kitchen!
Kitchen was very old and needed to replace completely. Our kitchen is quite small, galley style (like corridor, worktop on both side)

[How did we decide the kitchen design?]
It was a good timing to purchase kitchen as many kitchen shops (such as Magnet, B&Q, IKEA etc) are on sale after Christmas! We visited a couple of shops and got quotations. They draw design for us for free! (Some home visit design are not free...such as John Lewis and IKEA) We've been to John Lewis, Magnet, Betta living, IKEA, Wickes and Wren Kitchen...

We made appointment and visited the store, chat with the designer. We got rough design at the first visit. They are very helpful to decide our kitchen design. We already had some ideas before hands but it is hard to decide the details!! Such as colour of the cabinet, worktops, handles. So many choices.

As for cabinets, we decided to go Shaker style. Our house is an old house, shaker country style goes well with dining room's wooden floor :) Some store's cabinet are flat pack, some are assembled at the factory. We liked them to be assembled so that there will be less missing parts and easy to fit for the fitter.

I wanted wooden worktop at first, but my partner wanted granite worktop. Granite is beautiful and hygienic, easy to maintain. Wooden worktop is harder to maintain... so we decided to go with granite. It is expensive but it would worth it!

We agreed on the basic design, then paid the deposit. The designer came to the house to make sure the measurement. We haven't decided the height of the cabinet and some small details, we will finalise them on the next visit at the store. We'll book the next visit shortly.

Besides, we started to remove the current kitchen... I'll write about it in the next post!



This is the current kitchen... nice wooden door and handle but all wanky and half broken...