What is the best kitchen in London?
It me!
Flabbergasted, flattered and freaking excited to have won BEST KITCHEN in the inaugural London Home Design Awards in association with the Evening Standard and Houzz. The kitchen was part of the renovation we did on a garden flat in Queen's Park, which has also featured on Apartment Therapy.
I entered on a bit of a whim, and was so surprised to be even shortlisted from 100s of entries. Entrants were asked to submit a photo from an, "imaginative and thoughtful renovation project from their own home", with other categories including living room, bedroom, bathroom and garden. With expert judges including interior designers Daniel Hopwood and 2LG Studio, Richard MacRae of architecture design studio EDRM, interiors blogger Mad About the House Kate Watson-Smyth, celebrity chef Rachel Khoo and the founder of Mr & Mrs Smith hotels Tamara Lohan, it was exciting to imagine they were even looking at photos of my kitchen - let alone actually picking it to win!
Not only did I receive some fantastic vouchers from Houzz for Bang & Olufsen and Tom Dixon, but I received some lovely press in the Homes & Property section of the Evening Standard and on Houzz itself.
What I was most happy about though, was the fact the judges loved that the kitchen was created on a tight budget with a lot of effort from ourselves and is in constant use. No show kitchen here, we love cooking too much! Personality and practicality were top priorities. I receive a lot of questions about the project so shall be writing about it in a bit more detail.
And onto the next renovation project which we are again project managing and designing ourselves. You can follow its progress on my Instagram.