The Kitchen Makeover

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Fliegenmong
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The Kitchen Makeover

#1 Post by Fliegenmong » Mon Apr 22, 2019 4:09 am

So...after 16 years of a Salmon Pink kitchen, and understanding that late 70s early 80s Salmon pink Kitchens were not coming back into fashion, we finally bit the bullet and put in a new kitchen. Does it look awesome!. Stone benchtops (todays laminates are literally paper thin!), Granite sink, 2 x self cleaning Bosch ovens, bosh cooktop, pendant lights , 2 x feature glass cupboards complete with LED downlights, all white & grey tones, with a new set of bright colorful Scanpan knives on a magnetic strip.

But it didn't stop there, we chucked the old timber 'sideboard' (?) in the dining room, and replaced it with a large Black and White 'Hamptons' style sideboard / buffet (?), Topiary feature plants and a very large ceramic vase resplendant with 24 plum coloured roses, crisp white damask table cloth, and finely polished Royal selangor Pewter 2 arm candleabra. All new Scanpan pots oven tray and frypansthe 'Little book of Hygge' on a bookstand in the glass cabinet....alll looks so very spectacular!, subway tiles to be fitted tomorrow, and then it is all done!...oh, and the old bricks that form one side of the bench, and the tower that hoses the ovens have been whitewashed in a 'Shabby-Chic' look

An eye wateringly expensive renovation, and we're now too scared to use it all, @-) ...save for boiling an egg & making a piece of toast.....new metalic plum coloured retro style toaster and Kettle as well... :-bd
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Re: The Kitchen Makeover

#2 Post by OFSO » Mon Apr 22, 2019 6:07 am

Wow, sounds amazing. Too good to use. Camp out in garden...

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Re: The Kitchen Makeover

#3 Post by Sisemen » Mon Apr 22, 2019 6:11 am

IKEA know where you live. They'll be coming after you :-ss

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Re: The Kitchen Makeover

#4 Post by Fliegenmong » Mon Apr 22, 2019 6:27 am

16 years was well long enough, it had literally worn out....and the colour was horrendous....and the old hotplates were untterly f&*ked, as awas the oven....so beautiful now, so happy with it...I have some IKEA stuff Sisemen! Actually the whole kitchen is a kinda Scandi theme, with all the Scanpan cookwear & knives, even a BIG colourful picture of 'Nyhavn' in Copenhagen on the wall for a big splash of colour! :)
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Re: The Kitchen Makeover

#5 Post by unifoxos » Mon Apr 22, 2019 6:58 am

16 years was well long enough, it had literally worn out

The one I built here is still going strong after 30 years. Just looks a bit outdated. 16 years is lightweight.
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Re: The Kitchen Makeover

#6 Post by Fliegenmong » Mon Apr 22, 2019 7:46 am

OK, but you should have seen the last one!, drawers falling out, broken everything, really should have done it years ago.....but it's done now and now it may outlive me! :)
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Re: The Kitchen Makeover

#7 Post by Ex-Ascot » Mon Apr 22, 2019 8:34 am

Here our kitchen is a corner of the living room. Marble sink (no drain) marble draining boards and a small gas cooker. A water container on the wall with small brass tap filled with a bucket from the well. Our lighting is oil lamps and candles. It is only 300 hrs old so should last a few more years.
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Re: The Kitchen Makeover

#8 Post by Sisemen » Mon Apr 22, 2019 8:37 am

When we sold our unit in Cottesloe there were no takers. Then I decided to spend a bit of dough having the kitchen re-done (only a small kitchen so not hugely expensive). Sold within a fortnight after that :-bd

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Re: The Kitchen Makeover

#9 Post by Slasher » Mon Apr 22, 2019 8:52 am

Living in Oz it must've cost you a bloody fortune Fliegs. Still, your woman must be really ecstatic about it.

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Re: The Kitchen Makeover

#10 Post by ian16th » Mon Apr 22, 2019 9:15 am

Sisemen wrote:
Mon Apr 22, 2019 8:37 am
When we sold our unit in Cottesloe there were no takers. Then I decided to spend a bit of dough having the kitchen re-done (only a small kitchen so not hugely expensive). Sold within a fortnight after that :-bd
We didn't try selling with the old kitchen, but when we did market the house, the still new kitchen 'sold' it.

We were in the house 28 years, did both bathrooms up, one of them twice and the kitchen had a slight upgrade, to make room for a new fridge and a new sink, and then one major refurbishment.
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Re: The Kitchen Makeover

#11 Post by Fliegenmong » Mon Apr 22, 2019 9:32 am

Living in Oz it must've cost you a bloody fortune Fliegs. Still, your woman must be really ecstatic about it.

Yeah.....somewhere about 32k ...... :(( :(( :(( :(( ...... can only afford vegemite sandwiches now!

Yes!..She IS ecstatic!, I cook just as much and I am ecstatic!, Jnr Fliegs loves it as well.....no one in the family knows about it yet, so a big 'unveiling' will occur shortly.

The best, and unexpected thing was spending some good $$$ on some very classy furniture...while we still have the old wine cabinet / glass cabinet thingy, it all looks like something out of a magazine!!!, (There is actually a publication here called "Gold Coast Kitchens"!!!!....anyway a very formal and classic looking room that ties in with the new Kitchen very very well indeed!....we are soooo happy!!...BUT we DID pay for it!!!!, but don't expect to do anything with it now for at least 30 years.....whites and grey tones don't really age...salmon pink fish guts colour was never coming back!! :))
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Re: The Kitchen Makeover

#12 Post by Slasher » Mon Apr 22, 2019 9:45 am

So the Fliegses home centre showpiece is now the kitchen? At our digs it's the large downstairs guest bathroom complete with huge bath, huge fancy shower and exquisite dunny. Both the King of Thailand and Liz Windsor would feel completely at home taking a dump on it.

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Re: The Kitchen Makeover

#13 Post by Fliegenmong » Mon Apr 22, 2019 10:12 am

Well...yes it is now.....though I do like to retreat to the very dimly lit 'Bar' with a glass or 20 of red and a good book, the 'bar' being a converted garage, but with a very lovely solid timber bar 'top', very old fashioned, and 'sunken' from the living room being a 1970.s garage conversion...

But yes the centrepiece is now the gleaming new immaculate Kitchen, and adjoining dining room, that for a relativley small house is actually rather large...so a lovely sense of 'Space'....

Australia though...so it's all $$$$$$$$$$!!!!!!!!
Some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go... Oscar Wilde

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Re: The Kitchen Makeover

#14 Post by Pontius Navigator » Mon Apr 22, 2019 10:27 am

What sort of stove? Only way to go is induction.

When we sold last year kitchen was 15 years old but good choice when we put it in, still looked like new but big drawers were a pain!

We had had tall wall units down to worktop and blocked off a serving hatch. This cost us work space and light, reinstated with glass cabinets and hatch.

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Re: The Kitchen Makeover

#15 Post by ricardian » Mon Apr 22, 2019 10:54 am

Fliegenmong wrote:
Mon Apr 22, 2019 4:09 am
So...after 16 years of a Salmon Pink kitchen, and understanding that late 70s early 80s Salmon pink Kitchens were not coming back into fashion, we finally bit the bullet and put in a new kitchen.
One of the great advantages of being red/green colour blind is that colour schemes which other folk describe as "dreadful", "dazzling" or "appalling" look quite OK to me. My late wife did insist upon choosing the domestic decoration and, when I was working, my shirts & ties.
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Re: The Kitchen Makeover

#16 Post by Fox3WheresMyBanana » Mon Apr 22, 2019 11:26 am

My next kitchen will be French bistro style, with black cabinets, marble (effect) countertops, and copper accents, including pendant lights over the breakfast bar. It's art deco style. I am also keen on downlit glass cabinets and under the wall unit LED lighting.
The kitchen will cost around a quarter of Flieg's, but I do all the work except for the cabinet doors myself (I get those from IKEA). Making the cabinets is straightforward; they are identical to IKEA in size and construction. I get the connectors in bulk from Screwfix in the UK, then cut up the laminate myself. One needs a drill press, doweling jig and $100 table saw blade to do it well, but the cost comes in at at about a quarter of what even IKEA charge (and that's including the cost of the tools). The IKEA doors are basically cost price - you can't buy the materials for much less - they make all their money on the cabinets and appliances. I get my appliances and sinks (also granite for me) from local dealers in their sales. It does mean one has boxes of wall ovens and sinks lying around the place for quite a while, since the desired items are never on sale at the same times, but the local guys are happy to store the stuff for free for about half the time.
Actually much of the work and cost in kitchens is all the services, and the necessary rebuilding work to accommodate that. However, my last house I built myself, and I will be stripping this one back to the studs. This means all the services go to the right places (because I designed the kitchen and house together), and the walls/floors are all plumb, square and level before starting, plus the dimensions are controlled so that standard units fit exactly with no custom pieces needed. I do all my own wiring and plumbing.
I agree with all the points others have made - I will be making lots of smaller/shallower drawers rather than big ones, for example. The reason the manufacturers do big ones is because of the cost in labour of good drawer construction, plus the cost of good soft-close drawer slides. However, since I am hand-making the drawers anyway, it costs little more to do them well, and I get the drawer slides in bulk from a maker of industrial tool cabinets.
If I want a change in the future, then I will just have to replace the doors and four end cover panels

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Re: The Kitchen Makeover

#17 Post by Sisemen » Mon Apr 22, 2019 11:29 am

Pontius Navigator wrote:
Mon Apr 22, 2019 10:27 am
What sort of stove? Only way to go is induction.
Hmm! In the house we’ve just built I had an induction top put in because it was “cutting edge technology”. The bloody thing beeps at me if I even so dare as look at it; it refuses to play if there is any kind of liquid on the top; and you have to get your head round an instruction manual which wouldn’t look out of place on the International Space Station!

We had a BBQ tonight. ;)))

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Re: The Kitchen Makeover

#18 Post by k3k3 » Mon Apr 22, 2019 11:51 am

We went for quartz work surfaces rather than granite as there is no possibility of a split developing in years to come.

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Re: The Kitchen Makeover

#19 Post by Fox3WheresMyBanana » Mon Apr 22, 2019 12:01 pm

The latest laminates come with the same thickness and edge profile as stone now (round here, anyway), and the large scale imaging they now use looks a lot more convincing than it used to. From 3 feet away, everyone says "Oh, marble!"; it's only standing next to it that one can tell the difference.

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Re: The Kitchen Makeover

#20 Post by Pontius Navigator » Mon Apr 22, 2019 12:21 pm

Sise, we got a new range with induction top, brilliant. Previous home we fitted induction. New home had gas. After cooking we had 27 bits of top, burners, stands, rings etc to clean, and the top.

Induction, wipe clean, job done. The new one beeps but what I love is I can put a pan on, low heat, set timer and it switches off the hob the same way ovens do.

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