I have always wanted an English kitchen.
I lived in England for a short time. While I was there, I soaked in the decor from all the wonderful places I visited. From Churches to Castles to restaurants & quaint shops & gardens..Inspiration was literally everywhere. Having my passion for design since an early age, I know right away when something is pleasing to my eye, but more importantly, pleasing to my soul.
The Theme
If you read my “where do I start” blog post, you may remember I talked about asking yourself how you want to feel in your space or design around a theme.. So when the opportunity presented itself to renovate this house I knew it had to be a Green English Kitchen!
For this particular kitchen you can say I had a theme in mind.
I Wished it Could Be Mine
As I began my search for the perfect pieces, I went online to my first stop, deVOL kitchens.
I am so so obsessed with deVOL kitchens and have been studying their English kitchens and admiring them just wishing one could be mine. Unfortunately for me they are in England and I’m in California, and at the time I was doing this project it was during the lock-down. I don’t think their NY showroom was open, but my project had to go on.
I Was Determined
I followed my RULE #1...attitude matters.
The lockdown was not going to get in the way of my vision coming to life. I started with my method of pinning images on Pinterest that I loved. When I felt like I had enough, I started going through the pins to narrow things down. Then the real wok began.
The Heart of an English Kitchen C A B I N E T S !!!
The Cabinets!
You simply cannot get the right look of a beautifully laid out English Kitchen without the right cabinets.
I called around for quotes on cabinets because I knew that would likely be my largest expense. As I got through my fourth call to a carpenter, I noticed an ongoing pattern.
Cabinet Quotes were up there in the 25K and higher range!
But I had a budget.
And we were in a lockdown.
The lockdown made certain materials more expensive and hard to come by, like wood.
I Wasn’t Giving Up That Easily
Giving up is not in my nature. I come from a long line of fighters, it is in my blood. Actually I consider my tenacity to be one of the best qualities I inherited from both my Mom & Dad. Afterall, she and my dad had to flee a wartorn country with a young child.
I finally came across a page for a company that gave me so much hope!
I was so excited after reading their story online. Their cabinets were made in America, high quality beautifully done wood cabinets, and there was a big difference in cost.
I Got a Consultation
As I researched more into this company, I had the intuitive nudge to make the decision to give it a go and sign up for a consultation online. The team was so helpful! They assigned me a designer for my project, as well as my own sales rep who did all the order placement. They were both so awesome!
As we worked together for a couple weeks, I was getting nervous about the upcoming quote they were going to give to me. I was blown away when I got the estimate, it was less than
half the quotes I had been getting. To be honest I took a chance! A $9,000 chance. I say that because I really had no clue who they were and had never seen the cabinets in person...but my intuition told me it was the right move..and I’m a bit of an intuition junkie!
Eeek Some Assembly Required!
The cabinets were going to need to be assembled. I knew that from the beginning.
I decided on the unfinished version because I wanted this particular color from my favorite paint company. I have hired out to paint kitchen cabinets before and I had a rough idea on what the cost would be, but I have never assembled cabinets before, and honestly I am very bad at assembly!
I mean really bad.
I have a hard time following rigid directions.
I have one of those art brains and we don’t like other people's rules.
Getting off topic here…
So I added an extra step to my plan and started searching for Cabinet Assembly on Yelp. I found a carpenter who was up for the challenge. I figured that if he was a carpenter, he would know how cabinets are put together, or at least how to make them fit together.
Honestly I got so lucky with him. He was SO good & nice & professional..etc.
Now if you have a handy partner around the house and you can follow directions it's definitely doable yourself so it can be a great cost savings if you do the assembly rather than hire out.
I’ll talk more about other aspects of this kitchen later, but I wanted to share this with you because I don’t want you to give up on your dreams. The kitchen I was in love with was definitely not a low cost kitchen but I managed to pull it off within my budget and I know you can too!
Delight in the Details
XOXO
-Mano at the Beach
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