This kitchen renovation began with a fairly common layout problem: the kitchen and dining room were two separate rooms, divided by a wall, with neither room feeling quite big enough on its own. Our client wanted one large family area where they could cook, eat and spend time together without being shut off from whoever else was in the house.
Opening Up the Ground Floor
The first job was structural. We removed the wall between the kitchen and the dining room, which gave us the footprint we needed to design a proper run of units alongside a comfortable living and dining area. With the wall gone, the room reads as one cohesive area rather than two cramped ones.
While we were already pulling the ground floor apart, the client decided to extend the work to the utility room and the downstairs cloakroom so everything matched. We also lifted the existing floor across the whole downstairs and fitted Karndean Golden Brushed Oak glue-down LVT throughout, which ties all three rooms together visually and is a lot more practical than what was there before.
Two-Tone Sheraton Kitchen
For the cabinetry, the client wanted a two-tone scheme. We specified Sheraton In-Line in Painted Botanical with a J-Pull profile for the main run, paired with a Woodgrain Medium Oak with an inset handle as the secondary door. The painted finish and the oak balance each other out, and the J-Pull keeps the painted doors looking clean without the clutter of separate handles.
Carcases were specified to match each door: Medium Oak behind the In-Line Botanical, and Light Grey behind the Woodgrain Medium Oak.
Worktops and Sinks
The worktops are Silestone Ethereal Glow quartz, chosen to sit well alongside both the painted and oak doors. Being quartz, it’s also low maintenance, which mattered for a busy family kitchen.
In the main kitchen we fitted a Caple ZERO150R undermount sink with a right-hand small bowl, paired with the Caple Ardor Puriti three-lever filter tap in polished chrome. The Ardor gives hot, cold and filtered drinking water from one tap, which keeps the worktop tidy.
For the utility room, we went with a Caple Form33 single bowl in brushed stainless steel and the Caple RAW2/CH professional-style tap with a push-button spray head. That setup is better suited to the heavier washing and rinsing jobs that tend to end up in the utility rather than the kitchen.
Appliance Specification
This kitchen renovation included a full appliance package:
- NEFF B6ACH7HH0B Slide&Hide single oven – eight functions including grill and rapid heat, pyrolytic self-cleaning, and the Slide&Hide door which tucks under the cavity so nobody knocks into it when it’s open
- NEFF C1AMG84N0B combination microwave oven – 900W microwave that can run alongside the oven function, so it works as a second oven for bigger meals
- Caple C897i induction hob – frameless so it sits flush in the quartz, with five zones, bridgeable left and right pairs, a booster on each zone, pan detection, and anti-overflow and anti-overheat
- Elica Thin 90cm extractor hood – handles up to 680 m³/h of extraction at 52 dB on the highest setting, with touch controls and an integrated LED working light
- NEFF KI7861SE0G integrated fridge freezer – NoFrost, four shelves in total with three adjustable in the fridge compartment, and ten hours of safe time if the power goes out
- NEFF S153HTX02G integrated dishwasher – Home Connect for remote monitoring, Aquastop leak protection, cutlery basket, 13 place settings, and the projected floor light that tells you when it’s running
- Lighting and Finishing Details
Under the wall units we fitted dimmable Slim Tablet lights, which give a clean, even wash across the worktops without any visible fixings. Being dimmable, the kitchen can shift from working light during prep to something softer in the evenings.
Project Delivery
The full kitchen renovation took roughly seven weeks from first day on site to handover. As with every project we run, the whole job was managed by us in-house, including the plastering, decorating, electrical work and the new flooring across all three rooms.
Tom was the kitchen designer on this one, and the installation was carried out by Tony Rossi, who has been fitting kitchens with us for over fifteen years.
The Result
The Lee kitchen renovation gave the client what they originally asked for: one large, connected family room instead of two divided ones, with a kitchen that handles real cooking and a finish that works for everyday family life. The two-tone Sheraton doors, the Silestone worktops, the Karndean flooring carrying through into the utility and cloakroom, and the full NEFF and Caple appliance package all pull in the same direction. Seven weeks of work, one team, and a downstairs that now fits how the family lives.
If you’re thinking about a similar project, whether it’s knocking through to open up the downstairs, fitting a new kitchen, or both, get in touch with our team and we’ll talk it through with you.