Judith Absalom loves the rejuvenated kitchen in the Judea house that has been her home for the past 13 years.
“It’s opened up the kitchen and made it much brighter and more modern. Everybody says it looks wonderful.” And equally, Judith loves the fact that she didn’t lose the use of the kitchen while Tauranga-based kitchenmakeover.co.nz planned and carried out the updates late last year.
Judith says there was nothing fundamentally wrong with her kitchen, but it had become tired over the years. “I didn’t want anything major changed because it worked really well as a kitchen,” she says. “But the surfaces had become quite shabby. I didn’t want new cupboards or Kitchen still in use during revitalisation procedure cupboard doors – I just wanted them renovated.”
kitchen.
She called kitchenmakeover.co.nz’s Nelson Tkatch, who came and took numerous photos, then the company quickly responded with a time schedule and price estimate and got the go ahead.
The makeover, managed by Cherise Tkatch, included taking off all the kitchen cupboard doors and most of the panelling, which had become shabby with numerous coats of varnish over the years. “There was very little left,” says Judith. “But I was still able to use the kitchen because all the cupboards were still there. They took the doors and cabinetry away, refinished everything beautifully and brought them back and reinstalled them all.”
The only part of the kitchen that required some rebuilding was beneath the oven, where new cupboards were installed to clean up the space where various ovens of different sizes had been installed over the years.
Kitchenmakeover.co.nz also designed and arranged for the installation of a new laminate benchtop and sink. And because changes in regulations meant a power point had to be moved to a new position, they removed the splashback behind the gas cooker, clearing the way for new tiles to be installed.
The company even arranged and managed electrical, plumbing and cabinetmaking subcontractors throughout the process. “All of the company’s staff were really good and pleasant to have in the house, and so were all the subcontractors,” says Judith. “And I was able to just carry on using the kitchen throughout.”
– By David Porter
I write for this magazine to share how quick and pleasant rejuvenating an existing kitchen can be.
