My Kitchen

In this kitchen, I have experimented with my cooking abilities and tried out lots of new recipes for dinners and cakes. Most of them have been successful but I have had a few disastrous failures too. Though it's not one of my favourite things to do, I really do like to cook and when I get into it and discover what I can and cannot make.

It came to my thoughts that though having almost been here a year, I haven't posted about my kitchen or many of the other rooms in my house for that matter. I posted about the living room back in December but not much else before or after. I did think by this point I would have blogged more about our home, but I never got around to it really. Nevertheless, I thought it would be nice to finally write about my kitchen and how we styled it to our taste.

The Kitchen Space

When we moved in the kitchen was sage green. I thought I loved it until John floated the idea of painting it admiral blue. I really wasn't sure but after being inspired by other kitchens on Pinterest, I braved the idea and have never looked back. We painted just two walls blue and balanced it out with the door wall and window wall white. The white units balanced it out and with wooden counter tops, it balanced the blue and white. It already had lights built in under the units too which look lovely at night and the big clock was the finishing touch in here. It's my favourite thing in this room.

Cooking in my kitchen

Fruit bowl - The Range

Crock-Pot - Tesco

Kenwood Smoothie Maker - Gifted (years ago now)

I was a bit wary of the stove when we first moved in because I'd never used electric cooker tops before. My mum always had gas cookers and so that's what I was used to. I still take extra care when I use it but I'm more used to it now than before.
We also have two built-in electric ovens too. They are odd because we replaced one of the old ones which we were really concerned about electrically with a new one which we now use all the time. I don't ever use both unless I have people coming over and I'm making a variety of dishes, but that's only happened a total of three times. Otherwise, I'd rather just have one and the extra storage space.

Despite having the cooker and oven, I much prefer the magic of the Crock-Pot slow cooker to cook some of my favourite meals. I have a taco dish I found on Pinterest that I make at least once every two weeks because we love it so much. I even make it as lunch for me and my friends at work every now and then! If you haven't invested in one yet, I really think you should!

Appliances and Decor

Canisters & Union Jack Tea Tidy - Asda

Duck Glass Board (just seen) - The Range

Breville White Kettle - Tesco

I'd say our kitchen is predominantly used to make a serious amount of tea and the occasional coffee. This is probably my favourite and most used area of our kitchen. I bought these canisters from Asda not long after we moved in because I felt they matched the kitchen best. I had difficulty finding bright white canisters at a good price and could only find cream ones. These weren't sold as tea and coffee canisters but more as storage containers. I thought they made a great alternative and were half the price of the sets I'd been looking at. I just wish Asda made a larger canister to fit bread in like this!

Breville White Toaster - Tesco

Kenwood Microwave - Gift from family

Scales - LIDL

Our kettle thankfully matches our toaster and is one of the first things we bought in the house. We were kindly given the microwave by family members too. The very first thing I bought for this house though was the scales which are just in shot in the photo above. They were from LIDL and I went back to get a pink hand mixer not long after. I had a vision of what I thought my kitchen would look like and it was a little more 'vintage' or 'girly' than what it looks like now.

Teacups & Saucers - Tesco (no longer sold)

Apple Measuring Cups - Kikko (on sale)

Union Jack Teapot - Asda

Cinema Lightbox - Gift

Joe Wickes Cook Books - Amazon

Free The Tipple Cocktail Book* - Gift from MoonPig.com

Some things in our kitchen are very random and most of the time rendered as decor though it has a use. Some of these things being the two teacup sets on top of the microwave and the teapot in the unit. I bought the teacups when they were being cleared in Tesco for £1.50 each and just had to take the opportunity to purchase such a bargain. And the teapot was something I'd been looking at week in and week out at Asda. I knew I wanted it and finally, after months of looking and lusting for it, I bought it.

The only decor piece that I have that has been of use is the little apple bowls which measure in cups. Gone are the days of asking Siri to tell me how much is in X cups in grams now that I have a quarter, third, half and whole cup set.

Though a little quirky with the decor, I do love my kitchen and is the room I feel has the most character in the house. I think it looks modern, spacious and light despite the dark admiral blue colour. It's a room that draws everybody's attention and I'm proud of that.

It's bittersweet to say but it may not be my kitchen for very long as we're thinking about taking our next steps into buying a place closer to our hometown. We love this house but it's just not in the right area for us. But we're still in the decision-making process. I'm sure I'll blog about the process and our decisions as it comes along but for now I'm going to enjoy this kitchen for as long as I have it!