Category: General

New Managing Director Joins Kitchen Door Workshop

August 14th 2017 by Kirsten.

Exciting times here at Kitchen Door Workshop – in July, Ken Ebenezer joined us as our new Managing Director.

Ken has a wealth of experience in working with consumer-facing businesses, both online and offline. He was Managing Director at Filofax, and has also worked for Microsoft and a number of car brands.

Ken’s extensive knowledge of the e-commerce world will be a tremendous asset to Kitchen Door Workshop, and his leadership will undoubtedly bring exciting new opportunities for the business. He has spent his first few weeks working alongside founder Robert Clark, learning about what we do and how we do it. With the rest of the business, they’ve already made a lot of progress in identifying new ways to improve the website – so keep your eyes peeled for some changes in the coming months!

When he’s not in the office, Ken can be found tackling half-marathons, renovating old houses and running around after his three children.

Real Wood Kitchen Doors: What You Need To Know

August 4th 2017 by Kirsten.

A minimalist look in the kitchen is great: fresh, timeless and easy to keep clean – but the heart of your home should be cosy too. The place where you cook, eat, chat over a cup of tea, and unwind with a glass of wine needs to be comfortable and inviting. Effortless cool is fine in moderation, but to give your kitchen a warm, homely feel, there’s nothing better than real wood doors.

How to choose your real wood kitchen doors

The first thing you’ll want to think about is the overall look of the room. Having real wood cupboard doors undoubtedly brings a hint of rustic style to the kitchen – visible woodgrain and knots catch the eye and add detail to your chosen door design. But even if you’re not looking for a country cottage-inspired look, you can still have woodgrain doors. Choosing paler wood types like Maple or Ash will keep things bright and fresh, which is especially important in smaller spaces. You can enhance the more modern details of a natural wood door by selecting the right handles – sleek bow/bar-shaped handles in brushed nickel or stainless steel will add a more current look. Browse our collection of Accessories for more inspiration.

Oak doors will give you a more mid-toned, golden finish, so will suit a wide range of room sizes and styles. Oak is also one of the more hard-wearing woods, making it an excellent choice for the kitchen – oak doors can withstand a little more wear-and-tear than softer woods like pine. It’s a good idea to do a little bit of research into the types of wood that will work best in a busy family kitchen – soft woods will be a little more fragile than hard woods, so they’ll need more care and attention. Colour is also a key factor to consider – do you want a blond wood, an intense dark wood or something in the middle? Lighter or more middling shades will be the most versatile, but if you’ve got a spacious kitchen, a darker wood will look really striking.

Classic or contemporary?

Real wood doors are of course perfect for creating that farmhouse-inspired look, and if that’s what you’re after, our Windsor door is ideal. This oak Shaker door has the recessed central panel and four-part solid wood frame typical of Shaker design, but it also has delicate beading around the panel, which softens the style a little and adds a touch of traditional character. The Windsor door is a mid-toned honey shade – not too pale, not too dark – so it will suit a huge range of interiors. If you want to redecorate a few years down the line, the Windsor door in Oak gives you plenty of freedom when it comes to choosing colours for your walls, worktops and flooring.

The Windsor door

If you’re going for a more contemporary look, real wood doors can still work beautifully. Natural woodgrain will soften a simple, unfussy door design, and stop it looking too cold and clinical. Our Chartwell style is another solid oak door, but it’s a classic Shaker, with the crisp lines, a four-part frame and a recessed central panel. The Chartwell door sits somewhere between conventional design and something a little more up-to-date, so it will be a real asset in a fresh, modern kitchen.

The Chartwell door

Caring for your real wood doors

While it’s true that real wood doors may need a little more TLC than MDF or acrylic doors, a real wood door will last for years and years. It’s easy to touch up any small imperfections that may appear through daily use – small scratches can be easily sanded away, and a coat of varnish with have them looking as good as new in no time. You’ll just need to keep an eye on your real wood doors – like you would any piece of furniture, really! What’s great about natural wood doors is that if, after a few years, you fancy a change, you can add a layer of paint or lacquer to change up the colour and finish of the doors.

We’d love to know your thoughts – whether you’ve got real wood doors already and love them, or if we’ve convinced you to consider them for your home. Let us know what you think on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

My Summer Kitchen: Pinterest Competition

June 21st 2017 by Kirsten.

To celebrate the official start of summer, we’re thrilled to announce the launch of our ‘My Summer Kitchen’ Pinterest competition.

What’s the prize?

Most important things first: one lucky winner will receive a £100 Amazon voucher to spend however they like. (That’s a lot of kitchen utensils!)

How to enter

To enter, first follow Kitchen Door Workshop on Pinterest: @kitchendoorw
Then, create your ‘My Summer Kitchen’ Pinterest board and include the hashtag #mysummerkitchen and @kitchendoorw on each pin
Add the competition Pin (below) to your board, then get Pinning your own images, inspired by the theme – we recommend Pinning at least 5 images so we can get a sense of what your ideal summer kitchen looks like. Have a look at our ‘My Summer Kitchen‘ board for some ideas to get you started.
Once your board is complete, leave a comment on our board with the URL of your board. The deadline is Thursday 21st September 2017.

What we’re looking for

We want to see light, bright kitchens – colour combinations that are fresh and pretty, and materials and textures that make us think of warm, sunny days.

Maybe you like the cool, crisp look of a nautical theme – blues, white, pale greys and splashes of red. Perhaps candy-coloured pastels are more your thing – pale pink, lemon yellow, gentle green and baby blue. Or maybe your perfect summer kitchen has the feel of an exotic garden, with fiery reds and oranges, and vivid pinks and purples.

We don’t just want to see doors, drawers and floors – think about your dream accessories, the kitchenware you’d treat yourself to if you won the prize, even your favourite summer recipes. Got a signature salad, a fail-safe barbecue dish, or a refreshing cocktail idea? We want to see how you’d use your kitchen to make the most of summer.

We can’t wait to see what you come up with, so get started. Best of luck, and remember – you have to Pin it to win it!

2 New Styles In Our Trends Range

June 16th 2017 by Kirsten.

The weather is finally getting warmer, the shorts and t-shirts are out and we’re making plans for barbecues and beach getaways. As we get into the swing of summer, we’re thrilled to announce we have not one but two new door styles joining our Trends range. So let us introduce the Hartfield and the Buxted.

Hartfield

The Hartfield door offers a modern twist on a rustic style. With a gentle cathedral arch surrounding a lined central panel, the Hartfield will evoke the ambience of a farmhouse kitchen, and will help you create a space for cooking, eating and entertaining that’s cosy and inviting all year round. In contrast with the design of the door, the drawer-fronts are plain, the only detail being a delicately chamfered edge, which creates definition.

Because the Hartfield strikes an elegant balance between traditional door design and fresh, modern lines, it will suit a wide range of colours and finishes. Bring out the country-cottage feel of the door by choosing a woodgrain finish – in smaller rooms, opt for a light wood like Tiepolo Light Walnut, and in larger kitchens, you can go darker with something like Dark Walnut or Avola Grey. Alternatively, give the Hartfield a hint of contemporary cool by selecting an on-trend colour like Matt Cashmere or Legno Nordic.

Buxted

The second of our new door styles is the Buxted door. With its neatly profiled central panel, and elegant chamfered edges, the Buxted door will give your kitchen or bedroom a classic look that won’t date. The drawer-front echoes the design of the door, with the same central panel and defined edging.

The simplicity of the Buxted’s design means you have plenty of scope when it comes to choosing a finish. If you have a spacious kitchen, why not take advantage of the Buxted door’s crisp lines and choose an dramatic shade like Graphite or Melinga Oak? If space is in short supply, add light with a fresh, pale finish such as Silk White or Legno Linen.

So if you’re planning on give your home a bit of a spruce-up for summer, why not consider one of our new styles? Or if neither of those are quite what you’re looking for, have a browse of our full range of doors. We offer a wealth of help and advice too – replacing your own doors has never been simpler.

Which one of our new door styles do you like best? We love hearing from you, so tell us what you think on Facebook or Twitter.

It’s All In The Details: How To Fit Your Drawer & Door Handles

May 8th 2017 by Kirsten.

You’ve decided that your kitchen or bedroom needs a bit of a face-lift, and you’ve chosen new doors in a design and colour that truly reflects you and your style. Now it’s time for the all-important finishing touches – the drawer and door handles.

The handles you choose for your new doors and drawer-fronts can really make or break the new look, so it’s worth putting some time aside to think about what you want. As well as choosing handles that suit the style of doors you’ve got, you’ll want to consider the general look and feel of the whole room – whether you want bar, latch-style or simple round handles, and if you have young children, how easy you want it to be for small fingers to get into your cupboards.

We have a wide range of handles available – we stock every style, from sleek bow handles to antique latches with pewter finishes. Whether your new-look kitchen has a crisp, minimalist look, or you’re looking to create a cosy, country cottage-inspired feel, we’ve got the perfect door accessories for you.

But how to position those handles once you’ve chosen them?

It sounds like it should be obvious, but a little time and care can go a long way to make your kitchen feel fresh while being functional and family-friendly.

On wall units

Positioning the handle as near to the bottom of the door as you can will make it easy to open and will prevent you having to stretch too far when you need to find your favourite mug or grab that all-important ingredient. Shorter styles of bow, bar and D-handles will look great on the vertical edge of the door, while longer designs of these handles will sit beautifully along the bottom edge. You’ll want to place shell or curl-style handles along that bottom edge too, due to their ergonomic shape.

On base units

Place the handle at the top of the door – you won’t want to stoop to open the door every time you need something from the cupboard. Depending on the design of the door, the style of handle and your personal preferences, you can place the handle along the top edge of the door or at the top of the vertical edge. Longer styles of bar and bow handles will look best attached to the horizontal edge, while shorter styles of these handles could be fixed to the vertical edge. Shell and curl handles will need to be placed on the horizontal edge due to their shape. Round door handles can sit neatly in one of the top corners of the door.

On drawers

A good rule of thumb is that if the drawer is wider than 600mm, you’ll need two handles for it, and if it’s under 600mm, you can have just one. However, this can vary, depending on the style of handle you choose. If you’ve selected round handles, you may need two of them on even a small drawer, and similarly, you may be able to get away with having one handle on a large drawer if the handle style is long and sturdy.

How to fit your new door handles

For an easy, step-by-step guide to fitting your new door handles, watch our video below. And if you need any other DIY help, visit our HelpZone.