Next Saturday is a red letter day. You will remember the day we ordered our beautiful Shaker new kitchen in pale grey – it seems so long ago now! Well, next Saturday it is finally arriving. I’m sure the following two weeks will be hell, but I am confident that it will be worth the pain. The plans have evolved a little since we placed the order and may well evolve again before we are finished!

I was adamant that we weren’t going to change the sink. I liked the ceramic sink we have and there was nothing wrong with it. Well, there was nothing wrong with it until we had the bookcase painting disaster that resulted in us pouring straight vodka on our hands to get rid of the paint, that is. It also got oil-based paint all over the sink. We got it all off in the end, but somehow, we never quite felt the same about it after that. So – we are going bold. We are going black.

The work surface is glossy black quartz so a cream sink may have looked odd anyway. If you are looking for a cream ceramic sink in good condition, watch out – it will be on Ebay very soon!

The other thing I had set my heart on were restful, grown-up sage green tiles. We bought a couple of samples (top image below) and brought them home. But somehow, we just couldn’t picture it. So, we now have more, slightly brighter samples (lower images) on order, that should be here in time for us to test them and make a decision before the kitchen fitter is ready to start the tiling.

Both of these are from Topps and are a little greener than the picture suggests

Photo taken from Pinterest – Tons of Tiles Jade Metro Tiles

Photo taken from toppstiles.co.uk

The colour of the tile may also affect the accent colour. I was veering towards a vibrant tangerine, just to lift the scheme, but I think it might be a bit much with the bolder tiles. I quite like the yellow in the picture above as well so maybe …

Finally, there was lighting to consider. We have ordered task lighting for under the wall cupboards so we wanted something a bit more ambient for the overhead lighting. I was thrilled to find this in an independent lighting company in Knaresborough and I think it is a perfect combination of classic simplicity and modern style:

So, that is where I’m up to so far on the great kitchen revamp. Let me know what you think in the comments below and I’ll keep you posted on how it is going over the next few weeks. I have a feeling the cats are not going to be happy until it’s all over!