DIY

After a very long break from doing anything heavy or really meaningful, I finally decided to tackle the kitchen. That is, decorate it but also make a change to the layout, not a big change but one that should make a big difference to its functioning and make it a bit smarter (it was last refurbished 25+ years ago!).

I should firstly explain the layout so you can follow what I mean. The kitchen consists of 2 distinct areas: the kitchen itself and a pantry. They are divided by a bring wall which happens to be the gable end of the house. Ideally, we would like to take this out but this would require building consent and I really can't be asked to go through it all! At the back of the pantry is an old outside toilet and coal hole. These were both turned into a single washroom some years ago, still containing the toilet but also the washing machine and tumble dryer and various bits of junk!

The image below shows the existing layout:

As can be seen, the freezer, which is shoulder high, restricts access into the pantry, putting it at the back of the pantry isn't an option as it stops access to the boiler for maintenance, putting it into the washroom would also mean we had to go outside everytime we wanted something out of it.

The solution was to cut back the wall between the pantry and the washroom at the same width as the pantry access and to then set the freezer back. Yes, this takes away room in the washroom but it is room that is not used for anything. The day-to-day use of the pantry is more important than the loss of a bit of space elsewhere.

So, I designed the changes, ordered the materials and started......running updates to follow!