Cooking up a Kitchen

The volume of money spent on kitchens is truly frightening.

Needless to say we have a tight budget - given that the overall build cost is high due to the challenging site.

I do have one special think I want to get in to the kitchen and I think it will be a show stealer: acrylic worktops made with recycled glass and/or shells. See here for details of the Glasseco worktops. The new site shows the more garish versions but you can come up more subtle effects.

The kind of thing I have in mind is

Setting this is a "must have" produces a challenge as the cost of the worktops is high. The other thing I wanted to avoid is having alot of mdf/chipboard.

I stumbled on these cabinets - which look great: Solid Wood Kitchen Cabinets and the price is reasonable considering they are largely oak (oaks staves not solid panels).

Next step is to get a kitchen design worked out and see if these two elements can be combined within our budget. Taps, sinks, door handles etc shouldn't be too difficult to find a reasonable price.

We do want do install a built in "draw" fridge which will keep the lines of the kitchen clean (luckily there is a "AA" rated Hotpoint model which is just about affordable).

Cooking-wise we are probably restricted to electric (a) because I don't plan to have mains gas and (b) because we have been advised that using gas in an MVHR house could prove risky. A gas leak circulated by the MVHR could be very nasty!

Can we this all for 10k. Hmm, this could be interesting...

Wanna Do Business?

We're making slow progress, but not for want of trying.

RRA are finding that because this is a new type of build (aiming at Passiv House standards) there is alot of research to do. This is not a problem in itself, but to get an idea of what will work (technically and cost-wise), we need suppliers to give us quotes.

Until yesterday we had been unable to get even one quote for windows. What is going on? Don't people want to do business?!

We have one quote now for windows (Internorm Windows through TradePlas - thank you guys...) which comes in below our cost plan budget. This is especially good news as I am told that Internorm windows tend to be on the pricey side.

We still have only one quote for MVHR and chasing quotes on wood burners, PV and solar and on various other items has proved extremely arduous. What is going on: you'd think the building sector was booming.

Correction

Picture in previous post didn't have brick up to second floor - which is what the planners have agreed to. Here's the correct version. Actual bricks to use are still being debated. The planning department suggested something much more contemporary than the illustration: we're hoping we can use something that looks much older and ties in with the 19th century brick built cottage next door.

Here's the reason we are doing all this - below. With the riots going on only miles from where we currently live (South Birmingham) it seems timely to be thinking of living in the country - albeit it 1 mile outside a small market town. Can't think of a better plan at the moment than Morgan growing up in an eco house in the gorgeous Herefordshire countryside.