Deborah Webber, 47, has lived in her 1970s house for 15 years with her two children, Rose and Sylvia, in Forest Hill, London. ‘We’d always been happy in the house but the kitchen was always a problem space, and over the years the area just seemed to get more cluttered with our stuff,’ explains Deborah. ‘I’d always hoped eventually I’d be able to knock the walls down and extend.’ However, with such a big project in mind it took time to save and also Deborah wanted to ensure she could have exactly what she wanted and get it right first time. ‘I wanted an open-plan space that I could enjoy baking in with the children and dance about in, I also liked stainless steel for a bit of an industrial feel. But, I was open to suggestions as I know my ideas can be a bit wild sometimes.’
STEP ONE Deborah found a great architect who drew up the plans which involved knocking walls down and re-configuring the back of the house to accommodate the kitchen and found a local builder who would undertake all the work. The extension took a good few months, and had a few delays, but once the walls were down and new ones plastered Deborah started to get a feel of how big the kitchen area would be. ‘Once the bi-fold window went in I could see how much light there would be and I got an idea of the space and how I could use it to my advantage.’
The first thing was to find a style. ‘I’d looked everywhere for the space age industrial look I originally wanted, but the cost for stainless steel wasn’t within my budget and really I just wanted a functional kitchen I could bake in with the kids.’ With this in mind Deborah settled for a simple white kitchen from Howdens, and rather than include wall units she decided that open-plan shelving would work much better for her.