The answer is always Plykea

Well here we are – first day of SUMMER term and I’ve sent Izzy off to school in thermals and a raincoat. I nearly put wellies on her but then reconsidered – perhaps her school shoes and lack of wellington boots will somehow manifest the sun to appear and bathe us all in glorious warmth. Here’s hoping.

There is a place in my world that always feels like holiday, no matter whether the sun is shining or not. And that is dear Belle Cottage in Whitstable, where we poured our heart and soul into making it the most gorgeous spot to rest your head while you spend some time by the sea. For those of you who followed along my journey with this project, you will know that it had its challenges…but, there was one element of our renovation that couldn’t have gone any smoother, and that was our kitchen renovation. And that is 99.9% down to the wonderful Plykea. (The other 0.1% is down to me choosing Plykea).

Designing and building kitchens, when you’re not using a one-shop-does-all place (where you go in, give them your budget, they create a design for you and then install it and all you have to do is hand over the cash – USUALLY A LOT OF CASH) can be quite a daunting process. I certainly found this when we designed our kitchen at home. But having got one kitchen under our belt already, we felt equipped and excited to design our Whitstable kitchen by ourselves.

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Beautiful design brings us endless amounts of joy and we knew that not only did we want a gorgeously styled room, we also wanted a ply kitchen, to tie into the rest of the house design. Having a bespoke ply kitchen designed and made for you is not a cheap affair. And this was certainly going to be way out of our budget.

So we did it our way instead.

The first stop was to IKEA, to buy all the unit frames. IKEA units are great – they’re sturdy and long-lasting and it doesn’t matter how little finesse they have inside the cupboards or drawers, because they’ll be full of your plates, mugs, tea, spices etc. To be clear, we didn’t buy the fronts of the units from IKEA, because they just don’t offer the premium feel or quality we were looking for. For the beautiful cupboard doors, drawer fronts, handles and our worktops, we headed straight to the masters – Plykea, who create beautiful plywood doors and worktops for IKEA kitchens.

We simplify the process of customising IKEA kitchen and wardrobe cabinets with our plywood fronts and worktops, transforming off-the-peg units to create the look of a bespoke handmade design-led plywood kitchen or wardrobe for a fraction of the cost. This unique combination of IKEA and Plykea products creates a one-of-a-kind kitchen that is both functional and beautiful in equal measure.

– Plykea

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The process was seamless and just so, so easy. We chose the finish we wanted from some samples that we received – we went for birch** – and then just pinged over our IKEA kitchen plan to the lovely folk at Plykea, who then worked out all the various sizes of doors and drawer fronts we needed. It was all done for us. Easy peasy.

We also opted for their Fenix worktop, as we were so impressed by the properties of the material. Fenix NTM stands for NanoTech Matt. It’s multilayered and has some very specific and unusual characteristics, e.g. it is anti-fingerprint (handy!) soft to the touch and extremely durable, so it can withstand some serious knocks and scratches. Fenix is also heat-resistant and should the surface have superficial micro-scratches, heat actually helps to repair them – MAGIC! So for a rental, we felt this was absolutely perfect.

We never ever wanted to compromise on style and beauty, which is hard when you’re looking for super durable and hard-wearing items. But Plykea completely met the brief and delivered a stunning kitchen that could take on those Airbnb guests who perhaps wouldn’t be treating the kitchen as if it were their own. (Although, I have to say, we have only had wonderful guests staying to date!)

The entire process was absolutely seamless and we are now nearly a year along from when the kitchen was first installed… and it still looks as good as new.

If you are considering installing a new kitchen, I cannot recommend Plyeka enough. And if you want to come and see the kitchen for yourself, why don’t you book yourself a little mini break!

A huge thank you to Plykea, for being so brilliant throughout this process. For being so patient when our builder disappeared with our money. And for being so understanding when this blog post was due to go out and we ALL GOT COVID.

Plykea are the heroes of the kitchen design world and I suggest that you go and swoon over their website immediately. But make a cup of tea first – you’re going to want to get comfy and settle in, for there is much gorgeousness to be seen…

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** Sadly, since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Plykea are no longer able to stock their birch finish in the UK (although it is still available for customers in the US). However, a very similar look can be created with ash, maple or oak veneers. Ash and maple are the new paler alternatives or oak which is slightly warmer in appearance. All offer a beautiful alternative to the birch.