You tell me, which would be more desirable in a house...

Doozergirl

Nenen wrote: »

I suppose I see a barn conversion as having lots of real wood (having said that, I think that although wooden worktops look lovely they are too much work to maintain). How about wrought iron (seems fitting with a barn somehow) with solid wood rails. Something like one of these:

http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?im...N%26start%3D63

I particularly like pic 8 - modern yet expensive and classic looking at the same time! No idea if this would be ridiculously expensive though!

:wave:

It's so lovely Nenen but I know that the specialist elements of a staircase like that are going to end up costing too much! Whilst it is a barn, it had been previously converted, and the roof joists were rotten which meant that all the internal character has gone. I'd love to put in rough sawn oak beams and a painted wood kitchen but it was always going to cost too much to do, I feel like we've had to go on the modern take of my natural materials formula, if you remember that conversation!

Doozergirl

lynzpower wrote: »

Hello you

I actually thought Id agree, I too think those glass stairs look a bit cheapy, I couldnt imagine them in that house.

Looks amazing- keeping busy :beer:

xx

My Friend :kisses3:

shirlgirl2004

Granite/stone worktops

shirlgirl2004 wrote: »

Has to be black granite for me. We spent £8k on granite for our kitchen and it was worth every penny. People always gush over our kitchen and I think the granite is a big factor.

Er no! I haven't taken any pics of it. Maybe I should before we move. I'd link you to Rightmove but our house was only on RM for 1 day before it sold. The powers of a fab kitchen :beer:

Nenen

Granite/stone worktops

CKdesigner wrote: »

Hi DG, Hopefully this link will work as I haven't posted any pictures to a website like this before so I thought I would use the same one as you!

http://www.photobox.co.uk/my/photo?album_id=121998492&photo_id=2089387503

Hopefully you can see that the front edges look like 60mm thick, this is done by joining another peice of granite on the front using a mitred joint. I have done upto 100mm down stands before to give the look of a really thick and solid granite.

Hope the link works.

That looks lovely - where can I buy it?

CKdesigner

Granite/stone worktops

Doozergirl wrote: »

Now that is floating my boat! :heartpuls

How do you pull that off though? Do I need to raise the height of the units with something to allow the downstands to clear the doors? Honestly, think that is superb!

Hi DG, Thought you might like it - that's just a little taster of what you can get by going to a proper kitchen specialist!

Its easily achieved by lowering the plinths but not many granite companies can do it. The granite company we use is excellent and can do amazing things but they only supply the trade.

While we are on a roll - why are you going to Howdens? You obviously want to have a new kitchen as modern as possible so I think handleless would also be your ultimate desire! I have added a couple more pictures to the album, see what you think. This is proper handleless continental design.

http://www.photobox.co.uk/my/photo?album_id=121998492&photo_id=2089916759

Phirefly

Something else!

CKdesigner wrote: »

This is proper handleless continental design.

http://www.photobox.co.uk/my/photo?album_id=121998492&photo_id=2089916759

Love love love that.

Dooz, the house you're creating is precisely the kind of thing Mr. P and I aspire to and have to physically restrain ourselves from going to view.

I get where you're coming from completely with considering a glass ballustrade. It would definitley feature in my dream home, whereas granite would not. I do think that the one you posted is too much of a compromise though, its not slick-modern grand designs nor is it universally appealing traditional oak. I agree with the others that it would be worthwhile if the staircase was part of an open-plan living space but in that case you'd have to be brave and bite the bullet and commit to full glass. In your development, I think a nice chunky solid oak staircase will hit the mark perfectly.

I think that corian worktops will give the wow factor without blowing the budget, they'd be my preferred choice over granite anyway.

But then while I'm your target market (well maybe in a couple of years when our ship comes in) I'm also a designer and more design conscious than your average punter so perhaps I'm not the common denominator and you didn't ought to listen to me!!

*edit* I also think people THINK they like granite best when they're not fully aware of all the other options, and if they were to see an alternative done well they may reconsider. I think this accounts for the results of this poll.

merhopkins

Something else!

hi ,I Know i'm a little late but having had a composite worktop before i would opt for that in a high gloss kitchen with upstands and undermounted sink in the same. It's sooooo easy to maintain and looks much more expensive than wood. As for a glass staircase ouchhh thats a lot of cleaning but would apeal to any young couple being ultra modern.by the way what colour gloss is your kitchen?

Doozergirl

merhopkins wrote: »

hi ,I Know i'm a little late but having had a composite worktop before i would opt for that in a high gloss kitchen with upstands and undermounted sink in the same. It's sooooo easy to maintain and looks much more expensive than wood. As for a glass staircase ouchhh thats a lot of cleaning but would apeal to any young couple being ultra modern.by the way what colour gloss is your kitchen?

I'd point you in the direction of post number 47 (on page 3?) but it's exactly the same kitchen as yours! I am veering towards composite worktops because of the colour choice. We've had a quote on the glass splashback - £195 for one long 3m piece including sockets cut in virtually any colour we want - chuffed with that as if we'd bought those single ones from B&Q it would cost £360!!

H went to get quotes today on the stairs. We had the oak spindels taken off the staircase quote, so the extra cost to us of an oak and glass staircase will be in the region of £200-300 so it's not as much of an extra expense issue as I thought. I can't believe oak spindles are so expensive!

The hall is semi open plan to the kitchen an living room - the whole of downstairs is virtually open plan. From the kitchen, you can see right through to the stairs.

The balustrading will look more like this.
http://www.stairsuk.co.uk/stairs-townsend.html

I though it would be more expensive then doing something along the lines of the previous one I posted with the brackets but it isn't.

lynzpower

Granite/stone worktops

Thats SO much nicer than the other one!!

:wave:

( omg im househunting :eek:)

pookienoodle

Granite/stone worktops

while I still wouldn't choose a glass one myself..that one is so much more attractive IMHO.