Planning a Kitchen: Bringing in those Cottage Vibes

Over the past year, I’ve been planning a kitchen for Blackbird Cottage (I cannot believe it’s been that long). During that time, my basic concept has not changed. However, because of council restrictions, building overruns and the cost of some items, my plans altered. In this post, you will discover how I went about planning a kitchen for the cottage and the fixtures we’ve chosen.

My Initial Ideas

In the first iteration of the kitchen, I intended to carry the deep green from the rest of the house into the cabinetry and paint them with ‘Wild Thing.’ I planned to mix this with copper accents in the cabinet pulls and taps. I wanted a Smeg retro fridge and stove and a large range hood, similar to our kitchen at the farm. There were pendants instead of down lights and a timber floor.

However, those plans changed after the assigning a budget and issues with the physical building plan. On looking into how much my dream appliances cost, I also had a change of heart. I am not stingy but the price of my two ‘dream’ appliances was so great that if I shopped wisely and chose other items, I could purchase a freestanding oven, fridge, integrated dishwasher, range hood, and TV! So instead of the cream appliance look I started with, I ended up with black. Not my first choice, but still pretty and way less expensive. The appliances we chose instead had great reviews and more features for less money. However, it had me rethinking the kitchen design. Below you can see the subtle changes I made to the cabinetry, because we are not having timber on the floor or cream appliances.

So here is my revised vision for our kitchen. This version feels more relaxed and simple while still having cottage elements I want, such as the sink, faucet, and scalloped details on the shelving. It will still be a dreamy space but on a smaller budget with touches of heritage pattern in the soft furnishings..

Planning a new Kitchen Space

The first thing I did was to make a wish list and a rough layout.

But then council scuppered the original plan for an extra metre of space down the side and on the front so we had to come with a new plan that would see the laundry housed in the bathroom, no walk in robe from our bedroom and a far smaller pantry area.

I wanted a cottage style kitchen that was timeless in design while being a little modern. The weird shape of the space and the fact I wanted a dining nook that overlooked the water governed us. We needed room for large gatherings at Christmas and a place for our very large antique pine dresser. So, the layout was the first thing I planned. It incorporated all these items but in a scaled-down version.

After coming up with a smaller revised version, a draftsman brought the vision to life and tweaked it to suit the building code. We how have a ‘butler’s pantry nook’ and a galley-style kitchen. The oven set up will look much the same as the farmhouse, with a smaller DIY island in front if space permits. Our view is pretty. To maximise the view, we put the sink in front of the window and have a bank of windows that stretches across the south-facing wall to encapsulate the view.

Choosing the Finishes

One of the most important elements in planning a kitchen is the finishes. They determine the look of the room. The skirting and architrave will carry through from the older part of the house. And while I would like to replicate our windows, the cost is not one we can entertain, unless we win the lotto. We’ve chosen timber, double-hung sash windows. Older homes in our area typically used these. To create a warm cottage feel, I’ll add scallop details to our shelving and light fittings. I’ll also mix brass and copper. accents.

We opted for French pattern tiles in a limestone colour. This was another change.We can’t match the old and new floor, so we went for something that looks traditional. This idea came from a designer’s house we visited many years ago. The extension of her sandstone home had a concrete floor made to look like flagstones. It was so realistic we thought it was actual sandstone. This is out of our budget, so we opted for a lookalike we think will give a similar effect. Of course, the flooring affects the cabinetry colour, wall colour, and overall interior scheme, so it’s important to choose wisely and do this as a priority. We collected samples to take with us when choosing the cabinetry.

All in all, I am happy with the new scheme. The planning phase took longer than it usually would, but we’ve ended up with a functional design that will work for us.