Room Tour: Kitchen (Buying my First Home)

I am so excited to share my finished kitchen and share another room tour in my new house. I am really pleased with how the finished kitchen looks, despite not being 100% my style. When I bought the house, I was informed the kitchen was newly completed and it had been fully painted navy blue walls, alongside the kitchen. My kitchen colour scheme was already navy blue, but I wanted to open the room up, so it was freshly painted with Blue Tang on the panelling and below, with the same colour on the rest of the walls in Tottington White. 

I knew straight away that I wanted to have an integrated fridge-freezer so I went to Wren, who previously fit the kitchen, to get a quote for this and options available. The price was extortionate which was very upsetting, however with my dad's opinion also, he thought it looked great and was worth the money. With Wren, you get 50% off for life if you buy 5 units or more, so it ended up being cheaper to get 3 additional units also, which luckily I could use in the utility room. When I went, I also learnt that the kitchen was actually fitted in 2017 and not 2021. I've shared my Wren kitchen experience early this week, so head over to read the full story. 

With the kitchen, it looks very similar to previous but slightly more modern and obviously furnished. I don't love clutter, so I've kept the room as simple as possible. I started by getting some new tea towels and oven gloves from Dunelm. Both in black and grey to match the units. For items on the sides, I bought a new set of knives and a new set of utensils from Amazon. The knives I keep in the corner, whist the utensils are up on the oak shelf. Also on the oak shelf is my spoon rest, free rubber oven gloves and a set of grey chopping boards. 

Onto the sink, this ended up being the most troublesome piece to get items for. I've personally never liked this style of sink. I think they're too big, not ideal for actually washing up and difficult to keep clean. I wanted to get a drying rack to ideally fit over the top of the sink so that I didn't have more things on the worktop, but ultimately after many a trial and error, there was none that would fit. I ended up buying a foldable extendable material drying rack which I think doesn't look quite as big of an eye sore, but also I can fit it in the cupboard when not in use. I was getting increasingly frustrated by the water stains around the tap, so I ended up buying a grey mat to fit around this sink. This keeps water from splashing and dripping down the side, and can also hold the soap and washing up liquid. I found the cutest amber glass and antique copper dispensers which couldn't match the tap better. It looks so good next to each other. Finally, the finish the sink, I bought a suction cup copper sponge holder, that hides perfectly opposite the sink. Above, I have a blind in navy blue from Dunelm. 

The other side of the kitchen has my microwave and kettle at present. I don't love the look of the white appliances so at some point I would like to upgrade these. At the moment I have my eye on a navy blue and copper set, however I am tempted to keep it simple with silver to make sure it can be used for a long period of time. I did have a fruit bowl in the corner too, but I personally found it didn't get used as most of my fruit is kept in the fridge. 

With open cabinets, I wanted to semi-utilise the space, without it appearing cluttered or not matching with the colour scheme. I put my cream coffee, tea and sugar pots, along with the matching bread bin on the bottom shelves. I've had these for years and really like having them off the worktops, so this is a great middle ground. On the middle shelf, I have my placemats and coasters, as well as napkin rings which are hidden. The other side is currently mainly for decor purposes with some special keepsake mugs from both family, friends and a patient I looked after. The top shelf is a little of a leftover space. I have my panini press on one side as it's easily accessible and fills the space perfectly, and then my aunt got be the navy blue bowl for a house warming gift. 

The last units in the kitchen is integrated fridge-freezer and full length oak wine rack. I love how it finishes off the units so that they wrap the whole way around and that the awkward half length space is now filled. The fitter did sadly end up slightly damaging both my worktop and the backsplash, but people who have visited have said that they haven't noticed until it's pointed out to them which is good. He also left quite a messy finish so I've ended up putting some filler in and then painting over it, so now it doesn't look anywhere near as noticeable and blends surprisingly well into the wall. 

In terms of the table, I did have a dining room table and benches at my old rental which I loved, but unfortunately, it didn't fit in the space, so I ended up getting a new table and chair set. I bought a glass one to keep the space looking bigger, although I do now somewhat regret it because the marks are very noticeable, despite loving the way it looks when clean. I also got grey chairs which are super comfortable, all with oak legs to match. Above the table, I originally wanted an antique style clock, but the round nature looked awkward against the round table, so I've got a potentially temporary "let's eat" sign up for now, which I actually think it really quite cute. 

That's pretty much it for kitchen. What do you think?