Customer stories
Before & After
Neptune is one of the most sought-after kitchen brands here at Rehome- they epitomise the classic English kitchen style and the quality craftsmanship that is associated with it. So sought after in fact, that they rarely stay on our website for longer than 24 hours without selling. And so, when Alison spotted her dream Neptune Chichester kitchen on our website, she just knew her new home was where it belonged.
Alison moved into a classic Kent oast house and double barn conversion in August 2021 with her husband Gareth, their children Ella and Josh, and their Labrador, with the plan to do all refitting, demolition and renovation work themselves. Like a lot of people, the kitchen was top of the priority list- “This transformation was no.1 on my wishlist as we spend so much time in this room as a family”. After visiting her local Neptune showroom and looking at displays, the dream of owning a Neptune soon felt out of Alison’s grasp. With this, she got quotes from other kitchen suppliers but often these were equally expensive and Alison remarked how ‘The quality was always a compromise too far for the cost of buying new.”. And so began her Rehome journey…
Alison and Gareth are self-proclaimed lovers of recycling, upcycling, re-purposing and all things sustainable, and they both love nothing better than buying high quality pre-loved items. Finding Rehome and realising they could unlock more value and quality from their kitchen by doing something they love was a revelation that made their renovation journey just that bit easier (and cheaper!).
The kitchen Alison found on Rehome was a Neptune Chichester kitchen, a classic design inspired by Georgian furniture, usually retailing for around £30-50k depending on the size of your space. Not even taking into account appliances, this is the majority of people’s renovation budget, let alone kitchen budget. With Rehome, Alison was able to bag the kitchen of her dreams with all appliances for £17,999. Appliances included models from top brands, including: Fisher & Paykel American style fridge/freezer, 2 NEFF ovens, extractor, Miele hob, and sink and tap. The cost of the appliances alone would have been significant, but Alison made the savvy decision to buy the kitchen as soon as she saw it.
Reconfiguring the kitchen was relatively easy for Alison, who had designed the space beforehand on paper- something we suggest to all of our customers who plan to reconfigure the kitchens that they buy.
Being a barn conversion, the house has beams situated everywhere, including one structural oak column directly in the centre of the space. This proved an obstacle for Alison and her husband to overcome, but by completely changing the layout on paper, and then again once the kitchen had arrived, they were able to tailor the freestanding units to fit and complement their space- “We made it work even better than I could have imagined” …
The pair also saved money by repainting the kitchen themselves instead of paying someone to do it. The original kitchen was painted in a taupe like shade, and Alison had her heart set on a classic white kitchen that felt modern, classic and timeless all at the same time. They didn’t let the original colour act as an obstacle to their desires, as Gareth was able to sand the cabinets, then prime them, and respray them 3 times to achieve the perfect white kitchen.
At Rehome, we do recommend that customers who are reconfiguring a kitchen should buy a kitchen that is roughly 10-20% bigger than the space they plan to fill. This is to account for the movement of units and the use of units in ways in which they were not originally built for. This is exactly what Alison did, and it worked out perfectly- a lot of reconfiguring customers who do this manage to sell the extra cabinetry on second hand sites for a little extra money in the savings pot. Instead, Alison used the remaining cabinetry to fashion a matching utility/boot room next to her kitchen- the definition of ‘two birds one stone’! We love this idea, with the increase in popularity of the boot room and having a dedicated space for chores, the use of extra units just adds an even bigger saving and unlocks more from a renovation budget.
Whilst the reconfiguration and respraying of the cabinetry makes for a completely admirable transformation, it is the styling of this kitchen that is the cherry on top of an already pretty cake. The sleek white cabinetry combined with brass hardware and exposed pan shelving gives the rustic feel you would expect from a barn conversion and the freshness you would expect from a modern kitchen. That is the beauty of Alison’s transformation, the kitchen isn’t just one thing. It is a mixture of interior styles and textures that creates the harmonious balance here, all made possible by the money they saved by buying second hand through Rehome.
Gallery
