Reno realities: Jen's kitchen update

In partnership with Latitude Financial Services

So, my kitchen reno started on September 27. And it still isn’t finished! Unusual? Not really! From my own and others’ experience, these things are never as speedy as you anticipate. Four weeks from start to finish? Pah! I never really believed it! Add to that the fact we had to stop for almost a week last week to have new floors go in (was hoping it would have already been finished but hey ho!), and here we are, with an 85% finished kitchen.

I’m not going to share any new photos here because I figure we might as well wait for the full reveal now! You can see all the progress I’ve shared on my Instagram and the hashtag #interiorsaddictfamilyhomereno

I’ve been lucky enough to have my friends at Integriti Bathrooms and their site supervisor (legend!) Steve coordinating all my trades. And there are a lot of trades involved, especially when you opt for a flatpack kitchen (for budget reasons). You need someone to demolish and take away the old one (or hire a skip), to organise someone to both assemble it (okay, it’s possible to DIY but Damian and I don’t rate our skills and patience in that department) and install, as well as a plumber, electrician and plasterer at an absolute minimum. We also got rid of a back door which required a carpenter, and added bulkheads, which required another visit from the plasterers. Then there’s always a wait for your stone (Caesarstone) to be cut by the stonemason although ours was ready in under a week, which is amazing!

Then unexpected things will pop up to throw you: fitting our concealed rangehood and venting it through the roof was a tricky job and we needed a different tradie for this.

We always planned to have a sliding barn-style door to our laundry but finding the right size door took a while, then we decided to do that whole wall in VJ panelling (door and all) and oh my goodness, it looks great! So this required more carpenters. And then I got a bit excited about VJ and decided to do wainscoting in the adjoining dining room. None of it is painted yet so ignore the off-white look!

So, was it worth doing a flatpack kitchen with the added hassle and time of organising trades myself (with help, thankfully)? A RESOUNDING YES. I couldn’t be happier with my cabinetry from Freedom Kitchen’s Essential Range. Every trade who has been in here (and my goodness there have been loads lately!) has been surprised (pleasantly) that it wasn’t a custom job and said the quality is as good as any more expensive kitchens they’ve worked with. And that’s good to hear from people who know their kitchens, but I was already very happy with what I could see with my own eyes. And I’ve been able to “pimp” my flatpack with my choice of stone, hardware, appliances etc. I’m delighted to be honest! Just want the damn thing finished!