A full gut finished in six weeks. The existing appliance layout was sound, so the services stayed where they were and the work went into cabinetry, surfaces, and the windows.
New windows
Replacing windows is exterior work as much as interior. Each opening has to be re-flashed and sealed so the wall keeps water out as reliably as it did before — get that detailing wrong and you have traded a draught for a problem that shows up inside the wall years later.
Done properly it changes a kitchen more than the specification suggests. New units bring in more daylight, seal considerably better than what they replace, and remove the cold edge an old window puts on the room beside it.
Semi-custom grey cabinetry
Semi-custom was the right tier here. It is built to order from a defined range, with modifications available where a room needs them — and where the runs divide sensibly into standard widths, full custom buys flexibility that goes unused.
Grey sits between the two easy choices. White can read cold in a room with a lot of daylight, and timber commits the kitchen to a warmth that not every house wants. A mid grey holds its own against both the quartz and the tile without competing with either.
Counters and backsplash
Quartz counters, chosen for a household that wanted a surface needing no sealing and no thought — being engineered rather than quarried, the slab that arrives matches the slab that was specified.
Tile on the backsplash rather than stone. Where the cabinetry is a single quiet colour, tile is the element that introduces texture, and it keeps the room from reading flat.
Flooring
New luxury vinyl plank. Waterproof, warmer and quieter underfoot than tile, and forgiving over a concrete slab.
The result
A kitchen rebuilt inside its own footprint, with the budget going into the windows and the finishes rather than into rerouting services that did not need moving. Six weeks from demolition to final walkthrough.
