Aside from some shiny new accessories and a little DIY, I haven’t really talked much about the kitchen recently despite it being on my ‘hit list’ for the year. The last time I really talked about my plans was in September when I was in two minds about going with a different dark colour in my dining room and well, we all know how that ended up working itself out – I ended up going with a much lighter colour.

grey dining room with panels and leopard print chairs

 

That original dilemma centred around the cupboard colours and tiles, stemming from the fact that my dining room and living room open to each other through a large doorway between the rooms as you can see above. Adding an architrave and skirting board to both sides has really made the opening look so much better and I adore how much more finished it seems! However, the kitchen is far from finished so there’s still lots of work to be done!

white kitchen with subway tile and colourful accents - see more at www.swoonworthy.co.uk

I’ve expounded on the myriad of issues in my kitchen plenty of times before so I won’t go to into that in this post (you can read about all the things wrong with my kitchen here and yes, quite a lot of it still needs to be addressed) but at the time, I hadn’t yet decided whether or not to re-tile while we were doing all the other work required. As a bit of explanation, we’d never installed tile trim which I sorely regret and that would have meant ripping out the entire top row as well as the sides to install it retrospectively. Can you say “ballache”, kids?

Well, happily, I’ve decided to just replace all the tiles, using the same gorgeous marble-effect porcelain tiles I picked out for the dining room fireplace from Tile Mountain and I’m SO excited about that little development.

And I know I just showed you these but LOOK HOW PRETTY THEY ARE. JUST LOOK AT THEM AGAIN.

porcelain tiles that look like carrara marble

I love them so.

One of the other things I was struggling with at the time of my last kitchen post was the colour of the cabinets. They’ll need repainting regardless once we change the handles (and having a car sprayer as a partner is a bonus) but I wanted them to tie into the colours used in the dining room. Well, now that the dining room is coming along nicely, I’ve made up my mind! Whoop!

Here’s my inspiration in terms of the cabinets. This whole kitchen is over on My Domaine as designed by H2 Design + Build and I freaking love it.

So pretty. So classic. Oh yes, I’m going with black on the lowers and leaving the top white. As the dining room will have quite a few touches of black including the fireplace mantle, it made sense to tie that into the kitchen as well. And our kitchen has always been a light bright space being southwest facing so I reckon it can take the darker colour on the lowers without feeling like a cave.

The cupboard handles I’ve chosen are the same ones I used when I did the makeover on my desk but I’m going to go for the slightly longer ones. They are just exceptional quality and at around £9 each, affordable too.

brass cupboard pulls on desk

I’m going to be trimming out all the tiles with the same brass edging that I’m using on the fireplace as well. The tiles will go all the way across the length of the kitchen and we’ll remove the current backsplash above the cooker. (If you are wondering, the reason I don’t need the backsplash is because my gas cooker has a glass top that lifts up as you can see below, protecting the wall behind. So having another backsplash is just a bit redundant and I prefer that uninterrupted look.)

white kitchen with subway tile and colourful accents - see more at www.swoonworthy.co.uk

We’ll also continue the tile to the corner, something we failed to do last time around (I honestly don’t know what we were thinking at the time because it just looks stupid that the tiles stop at the end of that row of cabinets).

DIY Faux Marble Bread bin

Now that of course leaves the countertops. As much as I love marble, it’s just not going to happen here unfortunately. First, I simply can’t justify the expense when I know we won’t be in this house for more than a few more years and second, I really just don’t want something that’s too high maintenance. I have looked at loads of different options in terms of worktops and there are some great ones on the market at the moment that mimic real marble. I’m currently waiting on samples of this one to see if it works well with the tiles I’ve chosen.

minerva carrara marble worktop

However, if it doesn’t, then the likelihood is I’m going to either go with pure white or something white with flecks of grey in it. Now that I’ve chosen the tiles, I’m slightly less fussed about a marble look worktop – as long as it’s good quality and hard-wearing and works well in terms of colour with the tiles, then I’ll be happy.

Once I decide on the worktop then I’ll choose the sink. Do I want this one? Yes, yes I do. Will I be able to swing it? I am going to try to save up enough to be able to manage it because OH MY GOD IT’S A GOLD SINK.

Overmount…

gold sink inset - see more on www.swoonworthy.co.uk

Or possibly undermount if I go for the worktop above… decisions decisions!

gold sink inset

Of course, the final flourish will be a gold tap. This one? Possibly. Again, I’m gonna be saving pennies like a mad woman in the next few months. The decision on the worktop will probably decide whether I’ll have enough to splurge on these beauties. So we’ll see.

Cascata_Satin gold tap - see more on www.swoonworthy.co.uk

So, at least *some* of the decisions have already been made and whilst the worktop decision hasn’t *quite* been made (and believe me, if you have been following my blog for a while, I have done a myriad of posts about not being able to make my mind up and I have looked at ALL THE OPTIONS). But I feel like we’re definitely getting there.

Once this dining room remodel is totally finished, the kitchen just has to happen!! I’ve been living with a half-finished kitchen for the last 5 years and it’s time, right? What do you think of the decisions I have made? Would you go for black in the kitchen?

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