From Dingy to Dramatic: The Little L‑Shaped Kitchen That Lifted Spirits

No sight has proven to have been so utterly depressing before or after. Looking at the kitchen sink – hung temporarily – hanging precariously with the water mixer's piping protruding from the wall under the sink, in a dimly lit section of what was meant to be the kitchen, the sight was nothing but depressing. 

The dingy looking
 narrow strip of space
 towards the sink area

And yet, that look, that depressive appearance, was exactly why I stood looking at this wall because something had to be done to elevate the look, the ambience of this place.

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Clients Who Became True Family Friends

The Chaurayas – Isaac and Dorcas – are long‑time clients who have, as I usually joke, graduated from being clients to, effectively, friends. Work done for them has covered everything from converting a garage into a flatlet, tiling their current residence – oh, where should I even start or mention next considering the staggering home improvement activities that we've done for them over the course of ten years? Suffice to say, we've done everything and then some. In fact, I was at their residence literally a couple of weeks ago, hanging a new large screen in readiness for the FIFA World Cup this month.

But now, the space I was looking at this time was the section of a newly constructed and, partly, converted flatlet attached to their residence in Aston Manor, Kempton Park.

At that time, Isaac was in Germany and over a couple of weeks he and I had been carefully planning a kitchen and bedroom installation for the flatlet. Now, all the planning having been completed, here I was commencing with the proposed installations and yet, just looking at this dingy space, one felt depressed.

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The Brief: Burgundy, Breakfast Nook, and a Perfect Work Triangle

The planning back and forth had gone very well. The Chaurayas – specifically Dorcas – had provided some images from the internet, giving ideas of what they had in mind regarding the kitchen, and asked for 3D models of how we proposed to go about transforming this space. I obliged and provided them the 3D models, and now it was time for execution – to turn concepts into reality.

3D modelling of the kitchen
as seen from the wall
opposite the cooker area

Our project brief was mostly dictated by Dorcas: it would be a burgundy kitchen; because this was a flatlet, there would be provision for a washing machine and a sizeable breakfast nook. Of course, cooker space and a well‑installed sink would complete the kitchen's perfect work triangle.

Days before my encounter with that depressing wall, I had naturally roped in the Timbercity branch on the periphery of Kempton Park, and Patrick and his team had delivered on the burgundy and pico white order, just as they always had prior to this. And now, the moment of truth had arrived.

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The Transformation Begins: One Unit at a Time

The sink – of course – was the first casualty of the pending transformation; but it wasn't going to be gotten rid of completely. Rather, it would be reused; though this time, it would be given a proper installation. And so, it was put aside.

Next, the mixer itself came off and we repositioned the water supply and effected alterations on the grey water piping to accommodate the inclusion of the washing machine. The water supply and waste removal piping then course through the corner unit on the right of the washing machine slot and, turning right, terminate seamlessly into the inlet and outlet through the wall behind the sink. The sink unit then came into its place, followed – because of space constraints – immediately by the first corner unit. This was the smallest dissection of an L‑shaped kitchen I had ever worked on: just about 1,400mm of space between the wall and the upright leg of the L shape. With such constraints, it was completely impossible to have a U‑shaped kitchen here.

After the first corner unit came the slot (initially intended for the refrigerator) for the washing machine – a 17kg top‑loader behemoth – which would slice the countertop into two to accommodate it. The cutlery drawer unit followed on the left of the laundry machine – a rather awkward arrangement, since immediately after it there would be another cutout, this time for the cooker (initially electric but later upgraded to gas) – but practical given the space layout. A single‑door unit that later came to be the gas bottle compartment, and which had to be resized, came in, followed by the second corner unit, completing the upright part of the L shape. After that, on the lower part of the L shape, the second corner unit continued together with a double‑door unit to complete the floor unit configuration.

Wall units then followed on the upright part of the L shape, carving out cutouts over the washing machine and cooker slots. The opposite wall from the upright part of the L wasn't going to have any units because of space constraints.

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The Lighting: From Dim to Dazzling

The final effect is that this almost‑strip of a kitchen, once dingy, has been elevated into a cocoon of warmth, efficiency, and unexpected beauty. The lighting – the place used to be quite dark, with the only window being the medium‑sized one over the sink, which itself doesn't allow in enough light – meant that the little light that did come in could not penetrate the full length of the main kitchen work triangle. And so, to ameliorate that, we hung two LED tubes, which have impressively improved the lighting – it's simply amazing.

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The Walls: Saturated in Light

We then turned our attention to the forlorn walls. Isaac had asked that we use the same tile that had been affixed to the floor: the 600mm x 600mm, high‑gloss cream white, stately Chinese porcelain product. I obliged, wholeheartedly. Next, we splashed this tile on all six walls, spanning the entire space.

The Chinese Porcelain
 Tile on the Walls 

And I feel that once this tile started to stretch across those walls, that's when the place began to lose its dingy character and become saturated in light and a quiet, radiant elegance.

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The Breakfast Nook And The Final Reveal

And now, in place of a temporary and precariously hanging mixer, sits a sink that is solidly fixed, with a sleek modern mixer that turns without a stutter and drains without a gurgle. This is a true L‑shaped kitchen, with the horizontal part of the L facing the observer by the huge 900mm wide and 2,600mm long Brooklyn Loft Formica breakfast nook, in its subdued grey‑whitish finish.

The massive Brooklyn
Loft Formica Breakfast
Nook 

The tenants were really beside themselves to see how the previously dingy kitchen had been transformed into a space that not only lifts one's spirits but also makes cooking a genuine pleasure, even in a flatlet.

It's a dramatic example of how design can elevate space into a place where functionality and dignity meet, no matter how tight the measurements. And everyone is happy for it. You can view the Photo Album of this installation here on this Link.

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A Sudden Stop, A Story Unfinished

Unfortunately, before we could complete the installation, Phakama was taken ill. I had to ask the Chaurayas – who very kindly accepted my request – to excuse me as we attended to her, and I went away for weeks. Which is why we have always considered this couple as true family friends all these years. And again, unfortunately, her condition deteriorated more and more, and she never recovered. And, of course, that was the start of the nightmare that has dragged on till this day.

And when I finally returned, weeks later, to complete the kitchen, I didn't manage to capture the images of the completed kitchen because my mind just wasn't there.

But that is another story, really.

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