It’s been pretty quiet, although I have no complains whatsoever. Mr Procrastinator who loves delaying the inevitable – c’est moi.

After looking at the two original plans – I had to choose the latter plan which was slightly more expensive, as the hob will be on the island – which means re-routing the gas piping and building the extractor in the “middle” of the kitchen. The tender drawings are being drafted as I am writing this and let’s hope a contractor will be happy doing this within my budget. At the moment, my architect friend has a few names in Manchester and also hope to hear from some Sheffield based ones, which should be better, geographically speaking.

The design of the kitchen is somewhat limited by the fridge-freezer, as it has to be where it is in the drawing. It just wouldn’t go anywhere else. So, appliance-wise, that’s one down and I have some extra dosh for the hob, extractor (I was told to get a quiet one), dishwasher, microwave and oven. As for the hob, I am still going for gas. I can’t cook without fire, yo. I won’t be buying the appliances from the kitchen people, but gonna go for seconds with scratches on the back or sides where no one can see. So, they slash the price down. Same item but cheaper, sapa tak nak kan?

Back to the current plan, if you were to look at View B above, the idea was that the position of the island (where I’ll have bar stools) would allow interaction with guests at the dining table and vice versa. With the hob on the island, the kitchen work triangle is there. I was also advised to not worry about which appliance to get just yet until I know how much it’ll cost having the contractor do all this work.

Yup, it won’t simply be just the kitchen but changing the kitchen door to a window with a sill that is flush with my island top, and converting the large dining hall window to a double door. Open access to the rear decking during the summer will be ace. Just imagine chilling in this space with some burgers on the barbecue.

The most important thing was that we’ve been told that no planning permission is required for this window-to-door job. As it stands now, I just wonder if it is feasible to start the job in June. It’ll be great if that is so, as I’ll have the kitchen by July.

Will just have to wait until we hear from the contractors then.