Back in January, when we had the heat pump installed, we had the gas boiler removed. That freed up a space in the corner of the kitchen. At that point we still had a gas hob, which meant we were still paying a standing charge for gas we were barely using. We’ve lived in this house for over 20 years, and the kitchen was the one that was here when we moved in. It owed us nothing.

So we took the opportunity to have a new kitchen fitted.

We visited lots of showrooms, Richard made use of the library’s Which? subscription, and we took advantage of Howden’s service to measure up and put together some designs based on our brief. We knew we wanted to move the oven, which would give us space for a larder cupboard. We also knew the space can feel a bit dark, so we wanted better lighting and probably lighter surfaces and flooring. After visiting different showrooms, we realised we wanted something that looked textured, not just flat colours.

During the research phase, we also discovered that fridges can be taller than our previous one. As we’d already decided not to go for an integrated fridge-freezer, that gave us a chance to increase our storage there too. So we ordered that separately.

We chose Howden’s in the end, and went back a couple of times to decide on doors, the worktop, back board, and floor. We also got the integrated appliances from them. Then we just needed to find a fitter. Our contact at Howden’s gave us a list of people they work with regularly, and after a few quotes, we went with one of them, Ryan.

Ryan started in early April. It took him one day to strip out the old kitchen.

And around 13 days to put the new one in. There weren’t any major problems and it all went pretty smoothly. We managed with our old microwave, plus a toaster and kettle set up in the living room. Thankfully we had access to the old fridge for most of the time, so it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. We even created a washing-up zone outside, which actually worked quite well.

We’ve now had the new kitchen for a week and it’s working really well. Most things have found new homes, and I haven’t spun around opening the wrong cupboard too many times, so I think we’ve got the layout mostly right. It still feels a bit like being in a luxury holiday rental, which is a lovely feeling. We’re really pleased with how it’s turned out.