Disclaimer: This post contains gifted item/s
It’s confession time. When I saw our house for the first time on a grey December day, it didn’t grab me. Pete had already seen it and thought it was worth me coming along for another viewing. The pictures looked so much more impressive (don’t they always) but the real sticking point for me was the beyond tiny kitchen. We were renting a Victorian terrace in Forest Hill where the landlady had done a ground floor extension. The kitchen diner was big, light and airy and I loved it.
Thankfully my clever husband managed to convince me that we had so much potential for growth, the rest is history. But for now, we’re still making do with our small kitchen. Luckily we’re only two but there are times where I’ve really pushed for work surface space and it’s felt so cluttered and not somewhere I enjoy spending time.
When I decided to plan the secret kitchen makeover, I had two main aims: to try and brighten/modernise the space and also to see if there were any ways of increasing the usability. It’s pretty hard to do if you’re not actually going to build on extra footage but I came across the most clever idea which a few of the eagle-eyed amongst you spotted on my Instagram stories as the kitchen was revamped.
With the old work surfaces coming out to be replaced by my new Worktop Express ones and a new kitchen sink and tap going in, I saw it as the perfect opportunity to do away with the draining board. We had a large sink and a separate drainer space which really felt like such a wasted space. We have a dishwasher which is integrated into one of the cupboards and well, it’s only us two so we have very few items that actually need handwashing.
I feel so lucky to have collaborated with some wonderful brands to really transform our kitchen and one of these is Red Candy, who I’ve worked with before. They have such an incredible range of home accessories and when they got in touch at the start of the year to see if there was anything I might like to collaborate on, I had a little search for kitchen props and spied the perfect solution to my desire for more space.
The dish racks with draining tray are ideal if you don’t want to install a separate draining board. It’s just the right amount of space to dry items that can’t go in the dishwasher with a lower rack for glasses and mugs, upper rack for plates and cutlery holder. The tray underneath captures any run off and can then be tipped into the sink. When you don’t need it, you can just fold it down and store it under the sink but to be honest because it’s already so much smaller than the draining board was I’ve created enough extra work surface space to keep it out.
Décor-wise, I chose the gold draining rack with white tray to coordinate with my marble laminate work surfaces and sprayed gold hardware on the cupboards. They also come in all-matt black and a copper draining rack also with white tray. Plus, what a bargain too, just £30! I’m delighted with this little finishing touch for our kitchen, we’ve been using it non-stop and it’s the perfect space saver for diddy room.
Disclaimer: Red Candy kindly sent me the draining rack system. I only feature/choose items that I love and hope you may love also or find useful. All words and images are my own.
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