Love Your Little Home: The Finished Kitchen

I know, I know, how long has it taken us to get this kitchen post up. Since re-decorating the kitchen in November we found that the main pantry cupboard took longer than expected to finish meaning that we have only actually completed the kitchen in the last month. It was funny as Rob and I just couldn't get motivated over the Christmas/winter period and found that actually, as it was so cold and wet it was impossible to be able to build and paint cupboard doors. In fact, we started on an evening sitting in front of the fire and painting all the small single parts and letting them dry in the heat of the house rather than doing it all in the shed as it was too damp. However, they are finished and we have mirrored doors to finish the kitchen off. 

I previously posted on what we had done and you can read all about it in our Love Your Little Home; The Kitchen Post which has descriptions and links of everything we did. The only thing missing was these doors really and as they have been an absolute pain to make, Rob and I decided we were not going to write in depth about them as they were just so complicated and to be honest, Rob worked an absolute miracle to get them up, but he is good like that. However, as an idea to share I wanted to show you all as they look great. 

So these doors were originally full of panes of glass, actually more than we have made them into but instead of the glass, I wanted mirror to reflect light and help the room look bigger. We opted for acrylic mirror sheeting as it was cheaper and lighter meaning that there would be minimal if any damage should a child knock something into it. In fact the mirror is shatterproof so for a family home it is a perfect alternative. However we have found that each pane isn't distorted, but when placed together this way, they do cause some bent reflections. I am disappointed about this, but that is all I am disappointed about and as it isn't a mirror for looking in. It does the job of making the room larger and reflecting light. It is a perfect alternative to plain cupboards and if you wanted something different I would honestly recommend it! 

For its opening we have it on a slider at the top so it concertinas to reveal the worktop inside. I LOVE THIS FEATURE! Everything is hidden away, all our food is in one place so this door is only really opened during food prep times. It is great and has massively assisted in us having clean worktops.

As far as the work surfaces go, they are still amazing. This B&Q Veneto worktop hasn't a single scratch. It cleans up easily and I am sure will last fantastically.

The painted cupboards are showing no signs of wear and I find they wipe down really well. The Ronseal Paint is great and we use it for so many things. All our tips are in the other post so head THERE for any other thoughts of ours. I suppose the point of this post was to show you the doors and the final look of the kitchen which we are so pleased with!

This whole project cost less than a full kitchen refit, but that's because we worked hard on it ourselves. What we learnt was that kitchens are expensive whatever you do, but we have done it to the cheapest we could and have made a huge difference still. Sometimes you just need the confidence to go for it and do some studying to make sure you know what you are doing.

Emily