Ey up my faithful blogworms. Exciting news this week for all you eco warriors out there !
Do you all remember our K.O.R.C Kitchen, which was the first one ever created entirely from recycled materials ?
The doors are made from recycled Yoghurt pot and the worktops from recycled vending machine coffee cups.
Well ..... Great news, these products have been in short supply recently as our supplier has gone bust ..................................
AND we've bought up all the remaining stock ...... 33 boards in all, some yoghurt pot, some coffee cup, in various thicknesses and are offering these at a substantial discount to clear.
Priced at around 35% off, we don't think they'll hang around for long, we can supply boards uncut, 'off the shelf' or we offer a cut and polish service if you prefer.
One of the thicknessess we have in stock is 12mm which is absolutely ideal for campervan surfaces and table tops, saving weight, totally waterproof, not affected therefore by damp conditions and can be re-polished as often as you like. The perfect material for "all weather" camping conditions.
More mainstream, these products are absolutely fantastic for kitchen worktops, desk tops, table tops, shelving and splashbacks ( although not behind hobs ) offering an infinitely re-polishable surface that will last for years and be able to be recycled again after use.
Even though our supplier has gone bust, the actual manufacturer is still very much in business and we are entering into discussions to buy direct and save you money long term over the prices we were able to offer previously.
So great news short term at our "never to be repeated discounts" to clear stock but lower prices long term mean good news all round !!
Do contact as soon as possible for details of particular boards as, once again, there's a limited stock at these prices and when they're gone, they're gone.
Either message us through the blog,
email: julian@milestone.uk.net
or contact us through twitter: @ecokitchens
I just love being able to offer a genuine bargain. Jules
Ey up my faithful blogworms, Holidays still been getting in the way of my blogging but finished now and it's back to concentrating on bringing you lots of new stuff to ponder.
We seemed to have tapped into a seam of interest amongst you all with the retro concept in the kitchens, shown left, so I thought I'd bring you retro in a different style from a bathroom we made a while ago
This time it's Victorian style, fitting in perfectly with a period house built around that time.
Our brief was to create something to give the right period feel to a new bathroom that was being installed.
We used the same reclaimed Pitch Pine that we built our Reclaimed Madness Kitchen with ( see earlier blog and follow our website link to my pinterest page for more details )
Picking up on the old fashioned "ledge & brace" door idea which we'd never tried until the Reclaimed kitchen came along, we've used it here in these bathroom units to good effect.
The idea was to try and make the units look 'free standing' and self contained, taking our styling cues from the old Victorian wash stand concept.
And of course, no Victorian wash stand would be complete without a white and grey Carrera marble top !
Many of the ones I've seen had the upstand surround built into the frame of the unit but we decided to do it a little different ( like you do ! )
The upstand was made in a Victorian fashion for the authentic look and we drilled dowels into the underside of the wood and glued them in, then drilling the marble to provide location holes to sit the upstand into.
Bit of timber left over, made into a tealight candle holder to complete the image and 'Bobs your Uncle ' as they say.
We really would appreciate your comments and feedback on the various retro themes that we're now looking to work with, sometimes it does feel like I'm talking to myself although I see from the stats that our followers are increasing, let me know your thoughts !
I would like to feel a bit more connected to you, our faithful blogworms, and get to know more about the sorts of things that you like and would like to see being made.
The sceptic in me thinks that you are thinking, " I'm not making any comments because all they want is my details so they can bombard me with offers, adverts and deals that I probably don't want "
This is genuinely not the case, it's simply that we would love to know what you all think, to give us food for thought and work towards projects that people like yourselves out in the blogosphere would like to see on the market.
We promise !!
Jules
You can follow us on twitter: @ecokitchens and comment there.
Email us: julian@milestone.uk.net or contact us through our website.
Ey up, my faithful blogworms.
Holiday season is still getting in the way and we seem to be getting busier with projects around the country which is taking me away from base quite a bit at the moment. Unfortunately this means my blogs are a bit less frequent than I'd like.
However, Ferretting around the market, there does seem to be a bit of a increase in folk looking for good retro 50's & 60's colours and inspiration. They do say " What goes around, comes around" and it's beginning to look like that's starting about now .
Last blog I was looking at the strong, single bold colours but we've been experimenting with retro lookalike furntiture for a while now and the units you see pictured are various stages of our developments. From our protoype, shown left, through to the complete unit with handles below and ultimately a complete kitchen.
Colour choice is entirely upto you, we make to order. Sizes are no problem with them being custom built and essentially these are free standing units so would require choices of free standing appliances to create the full retro effect.
We can, as you can see, use built in appliances but somehow, we feel, that the full effect is better achieved without.
We can supply any freestanding appliances you may need or simply supply the kitchen with the necessary gaps in the plan to slot your pieces in.
If you prefer, as with all our products, we can also do the install work for you.
Recently we found these fab retro laminates from a range made by Formica which really do put the crowning glory onto any retro project. Lets face it, in the UK anyway, Formica were the guys that started it all those years ago so it's appropriate that their worktops can be used once more the thick end of 50 years later.
These examples shown here are just a few of what's available to give you a taster, there are too many to show here but we can provide samples if you require. So, Peace, Man and consider all that's fab and groovy from times gone by and I bet you're now wishing that your Grandma hadn't thrown her old kitchen out and you could have restored it.
But never fear, Milestones here, helping you to recreate those fab kitchens that you new when you were growing up, a bit like me really !
We would also be very happy to re-create kitchens like this for film sets, period drama programmes and the like because originals must now be getting extremely thin on the ground that are fit to use.
Release your inner Hippy in this years long hot summer of love and give us a call !!
Groovy Baby. Jules
Ey up, my faithful blogworms, Sorry it's been a bit quiet lately but we've been working away from base and the holiday season is upon us, you know what it's like !
But here we are back again and firing on all 4 cylinders ( or electric motor, if you're of the Hybrid persuasion )
We had much excitement and jollity on the day of the massive event for Yorkshire that was the Tour de France or " Le Tour Yorkshire ", if you prefer. Finally we got the chance to show off our wonderful county the the rest of the world and it seems that we made a good impression .... about time too !! We don't call it " Gods own county" for nothing, you know.
Anyway, we made, probably, the only kitchen in the whole of Yorkshire in the colours of the "Tour" in honour of the event and it's now for sale ! We need to clear it now for new displays to go in, so if you're interested in this unique souvenir of the great event please contact on the email and we'll see if we can find it a new home.
However, what this does is give me a chance to introduce the brand new range of decors for our Eco kitchens where we got these colours from.
The range includes bold colours such as:
Blue, Green, Yellow, Red, White, Purple, Black, Brown and a range of naturals and neutrals in many different & subtle shades, opening up a fantastic palette to play with for creation of striking and interesting Eco kitchens.
Not to be ignored is now the possibility of using an Eco range of materials in these single colours for corporate furniture, desks, shelf units etc, etc.
Stimulating colours for kids bedrooms as, don't forget, we do make Eco bedroom furniture aswell !
In theory ........ if you're a passionate football fan, you could probably actually have your brand new Eco kitchen, bedroom or office made in your team colours ..... how mad would that be ??
We are also noticing trends developing in the retro market for vintage clothing, furniture, paint colours etc. generally and we feel that many of these colours will fit right in.
For those of you in the UK old enough to remember the infamous avocado green bathroom suites ....... we promise that that colour is DEFINITELY NOT included in the range !!
Retro is great but certain colours should be left buried back in their time and that's one of them !
We can get samples ( that's enough of that ) of all colours, so if this concept floats your boat, and why wouldn't it ! , let us know and we can sort you someting out, contact as usual via the email.
Feeling colourful, Jules
Ey up my faithful blogworms,
We talk lots about kitchens so, I thought this week I'd share with you a brilliant concept for complementary dining tables that I've made to go with them.
Still, in kitchens, granite is probably the most durable, effective & heatproof of all worktops but why limit it the just the kitchen.
We carry out many projects where we open up dining rooms into kitchens to create a fantastic through space where it becomes the social hub of the home. As a result, you do need to concentrate on making 2 become 1 when considering the decor.
Many people then spend loads of time trying to find a dining table that works with the kitchen furniture.
My idea was to make a table that has a central granite panel to allow you to put hot pans and dishes straight onto it, serving your family or guests straight from the pan while hot !! Much more sociable in the sharing of food, much more practical in terms of cutting down on washing up etc. of loads of unecessary serving dishes and it protects your table from annoying scratches without covering the table first.
I've never understood the principle of buying a fabulous new dining table only to cover it up with a cloth so you can't see it because you're scared to death of marking it. Totally pointless !!
The top picture here shows a table that we specifically made from scratch to go with an Oak and Baltic Brown granite kitchen, so we can save you loads of time and stress by actually making your table to match !!
The second picture shows an Oak dining table that had already been bought for a kitchen so we modified it to take the central Bon Accord granite panel to match the kitchen.
Making, in our minds, the ultimate dining table that ticks all the boxes you want to tick. So whether you already have your table or want one making to match, don't leave out your humble dining table out when thinking about your new kitchen project, we have a couple of ways of getting you the table you really want.
We can also take any timber table you may already have a insert a granite panel into it, if you just love the idea and want one creating to go with the kitchen you've already got.
After all, you wouldn't spend a small fortune on new hair-do and then spend all day wearing a balaclava ........ WOULD YOU ?
A bit more creative thinking ...... Jules.
Ey up my faithful blogworms, we are less than a month away from the biggest thing to hit our wonderful county of Yorkshire ......... I, of course, refer to :
Le Grand Depart ..... Le Tour Yorkshire, the beginning of this years Tour de France
Starting in Leeds City Centre and roaming around our beautiful county over the weekend of 5 - 6 th July
For all you fanatic bikelists, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity to see this massive event in our local area.
If you've looked at our website: www.milestone.uk.net lately then you'll know that we are based smack on the Le Tour route, the main A65 through town, and the cavalcade and competitors are due to pass our very door front from about 10.30 am onwards on Saturday 5th July.
We will, of course, be open on the Saturday and would like to invite you, our faithful blogworms, to join us on the day for a fantastic vantage point of this spectacular event.
We have created a very special range of Le Tour Milestone kitchen units which will be showing off in our showroom window very shortly, ....... watch this space !!
We will be offering light snacks, teas, coffees throughout the day with a warm dry viewing point if the weathers not so good, a place to sit down for a bit and toilet facilities at your disposal.
All we ask in return for this invitation and to book your space, is that you give us a donation to our favourite charity " Guide dogs for the Disabled" via a box in the showroom. It's up to you how much !.
Places will be limited so do let us know via our email: julian@milestone.uk.net if you would like a place just so we can keep a check of numbers.
Hoping to see you on the big day !! ..... Jules
Ey up, my faithful blogworms,
It's TOP TIPS time again.
3 sets of top tips this week following conversations I've been having with our customers over the last few weeks. You can choose to use or completely ignore these tips but I would say that 90% of people we talk to have used and loved the results achieved.
# First Top Tip
When planning any room that involves fitted furniture ie: kitchens, bedrooms and sometimes bathrooms, sticking to 3 colours ( one of which can be your metals if you want ) for the entire concept gives a feel of coherency and completeness without getting visually messy. The furniture should be the feature of the room and chosen well, use the colours to complement it not shout at it !
You can, however, for one of your colours, use differing shades of the that colour and if chosen carefully, it can work well.
If you start using more than 3 colours, when you walk into the room you really don't know what to look at first, your eyes are all over the place and the room totally loses it's focus. This destroys any wow factor you may have created and just makes the room a place you want to get out of quickly and not a place you'd enjoy being.
FORGET feature walls ! these are a stupid idea in a kitchen ! The kitchen should be the feature and anything that detracts from that is a pointless waste of time and effort.
# Top Tip 2
When using built in furniture that has countertops, worksurfaces etc use a principle of blending verticals and blending horizontals to create harmony.
Choose your furniture first in terms of cabinets and tops putting some contrast in between the two, these are your priority. Using your chosen worktop colour then blend the floor covering with it. I use the word blend deliberately as they don't have to match but need a tangible link to pull them together.
Once you've sorted that, then using the blending theory, apply it to the vertical surfaces. These two principles together give a good platform to base everything else on. Certainly kitchens where these apply look much, much better in their overall look and just look right.
If you've ever looked at someones kitchen where they've got this wrong, the kitchen probably looks nice but something in your mind is telling you that somethings wrong even if you can't put your finger on it. This is why !
For example: where the floor is a similar colour or tone to the doors, it looks like the units have sort of frayed into the floor and it becomes indistinct and vague, this can look weird and is the bit that's not right, particularly if there are dark worktops accentuating the problem.
So, blend verticals with each other and blend horizontals with each other and irrespective of your colour choices, usually it looks spot on.
# Top Tip 3
This one is where wall colour can make a room really feel like a nice place to be, I suppose that's stating the obvious but consider a twist !
To really give the room a cosy feel, ignore most peoples conditioning where you always paint the ceiling white ! White ceilings are for people with no courage and imagination !! ( unless, of course, you're painting the whole room white anyway ! )
This works best where you are decorating with pale to mid colours and paint the walls and the ceiling with the same colour !
Trust me ...... with the right colours this looks absolutely stunning and really makes the room feel cosy, warm and a nice place to be !
90% or more of people we've suggested this to have done and love it and admitted that it's something they would never have thought of trying.
You've got nothing to lose cos if you don't like it, repaint it white but at least be brave enough to try it first.
There ya go 3 top tips that always work, experiment, open your mind, follow these simple principles and you will be surprised at the difference it makes to your life.
And I pass all these tips on for free ..... I must be mad !
Jules, see ya next time.
Ey up my faithful blogworms,
Big week coming up for us this week, the H & M Head office kitchen is ready to deliver. H & M are one of the most eco conscious companies we've come across and really do get our full support. If you're not currently an H & M customer, you really should look at what they can offer !!
This is quite a big kitchen and they're materials / appliances choices have been made sensibly and sympathetically to eco issues.
Our strength in projects of this type lies in our ability to put together the full project as a "one stop shop" and by careful communication with the customers specifiers, we can ensure that no parts are missed, everything arrives as planned and we make absolutely certain by careful checking that every single piece required from us arrives in one go, complete and has all the detailed plans with it that you need to assemble the project successfully.
More often than not, the customers own contractors are doing the installation work so, when the job is delivered I carry a full set of plans with me, wherever I am and give the project manager my own mobile number so I can answer any questions that may arise immediately.
On this particular project there are also 2 coffee stations required with a request for quick throughput commercial glass and dishwashers, which aren't the prettiest things to have on display in a stylish office environment but are needed for fast turn round of plates, cups & glasses between meetings.
By careful and thorough design, we have been able to design housings / cabinets around them to incorporate them seamlessly into the overall layout and by providing the detailed sketches ( seen left ) that we designed them to, then any contractor should be able to build them exactly as they were designed.
Projects like this for company head offices need to tick so many more boxes than normal domestic kitchens, they are often quite involved in their design and clever design brought about by thinking outside the box is what we're bloody good at. These are the things that we can really get our teeth into and provide solutions not normally available using standard kitchen units.
I did a blog a bit since that put definition to our way of doing " bespoke" and the way we look at it, this project is a really good example of that level of thinking.
It doesn't matter whether you're looking for a large corporate project or a well fitting kitchen for your home. Everyone gets the same level of committment from the work we do and the best quality at the best price. If you read my blog last week, you'll know that poor quality, badly thought out really winds me up. There's only one way to do a job ..... and that's correctly !!
We've always said ..... " the answer's Yes ! ..... now what's the question. If you want it and can imagine it, we can make it, ... no exceptions !
Phew .... Blowing your own trumpet is thirsty work, I'm off to make a cup of tea. We'll talk soon, I'm sure. You know where we are ..... Don't be shy.
Jules.
Ey up, my faithful blogworms, really busy at the moment and struggling to keep pace with all my computer stuff but this weeks blog is a cautionary tale for all you purchasers of new homes and apartments in converted old buildings.
Stating the screamingly obvious, you wouldn't employ an accountant to fix your roof any more than you would employ a tree feller to decorate your house !!
This becomes important when looking at new builds where builders have fitted your kitchen, builders build they don't fit kitchens ..... or they do .... but not well.
I must stress that not all builders are like this, but the frequency with which we see this is on the increase as corners are cut in the current economic climate and the only people who lose out are you, the house buying public.
It's been our experience this last two weeks where , what should have been a simple refurb of a fairly new kitchen in a old converted building, has turned into a fault finding excercise putting things right that shouldn't have been done wrong in the first place.
This makes our job more difficult, take longer and as a result, cost more than it should.
Examples:
1) A badly butchered sink base where the corner structure had been cut away and not reshaped to put the strength back leading to a wobbly cabinet, which wasn't fastened the wall anywhere making the problem worse.
2) Where the sink base had been cut round some soil pipe boxing in the corner all the fibre glass insulation they'd used to lag the soil pipe was falling into the sink base .... nice ! ... that makes your rubber gloves itchy when you put them on to wash up !
3) Washing machine and dishwasher waste pipes laid on the floor and taken up into the sink waste without the correct uphill loop of pipe that makes the pump work properly .....shortening the life of your appliances.
3) The old favourite ..... this is a kitchen .... you need as many electrical sockets as possible, for all your small appliances, it gets very irritating when you've got to unplug the toaster to put the kettle on !, as usual this installation was sadly lacking.
4) The wall boiler has a wall cabinet around it where so much of the structure was cut away that you might aswell have just stuck a kitchen unit door directly onto the boiler with magnets. .... design it better to have a wider cabinet, you muppet !
5) An outside tap was fitted to use a hose pipe outside, nice touch you'd think but not good when it doesn't have an isolator fitted to it so you can turn it off in winter ..... that'll be an insurance claim for frozen / burst pipes then ??
6) Fitting new doors to the fridge / freezer housing was a giggle, on most fridge / freezer units there is a natural gap down the hinge side to allow the doors to work properly but when the gap we found was 24mm at the top, tapering down to 18mm at the bottom, then it appears the original fitter couldn't read a tape measure either ! This has pushed the housing out of square, no wonder the doors looked wrong when we got there causing an extra 2 or 3 hours to straighten it all back out again.
7) And the one that always upsets me when I see it ..... not only were the cabinets not fastened to the wall but the worktops weren't fastened to the cabinets either ..... this is stupid ! pure laziness, bad practice and if any fitter we employed fitted kitchens this way, I'd sack him on the spot !!!!! The rigidity of any kitchen ( and it's longevity ) is totally dependant on everything being fastened to the walls and units fastened together .... if not it's doors drop, cabinets twist, go out of square and generally fall to bits long before they should.
Please take more care when looking at your new dream home in case parts of it turn into a nightmare !
Open doors, look in, test things, poke and prod things until you're happy, this is your hard earned cash you're spending !
We are always willing to go out and do an 'MOT' on a kitchen if you feel something's not as it should be.
So, help is at hand if you have any doubts at all . Choose wisely, 'Caveat Emptor' (Buyer beware) .... all that glitters is not necessarily gold !
Your kitchen crusader, Jules.
Ey up my faithful blogworms, sorry I've missed for a couple of weeks but we've been away working and last week away with our campervan for a bit of R &R.
This week is all about Bathrooms and some surprising tit bits of info that you may not know for all our Eco minded followers
Below are some pics of a bathroom we've just finished creating. Natural materials very much the theme to be used and to make it as eco friendly as we could was our mission.
The brief was to use all natural marble for the walls and floors, create a false wall to enable us to put a bath one side and the shower at the other, use a high level flush w.c. with a 6 litre flush to save water and to install a free standing vanity unit for two people.
OK, the sharp eyed amongst you will probably have spotted something missing in the top left of the first picture .... we were waiting for the mirror to arrive when I took these photos. !!
But even we've been surprised at the amount of eco boxes we could tick while putting this project together cos let's face it .... when looking at this style of bathroom .... eco is usually the last thing on your mind !.
Those of you who are familiar with the range will have spotted Fired Earths involvement here with the bath, the vanity unit, the framed mirror and the shower door all being of their supply. Fired Earth have surprised me with their current Eco thinking with regard to their materials sourcing and are much more eco friendly than I realised. I really feel that in these environmentally conscious times they ought to shout more about this. As you would expect from the brand we found the quality to be superb of the items they produce. The shower door, for example, is probably one of the best I've ever fitted ! fiddly to set up but perfect when done.
The marble for the floors and walls was from a great importer in Tockwith, ( in the York area ) Terzetto, and they supplied us superb Marmorex adhesives and grouts that are all eco friendly in the formulation, contain none of the toxic nasties usually found in these items, very low VOC content and have a high recycled content in their mixes.
Not only that but the results using them were very good indeed ... a big up to Marmorex called for I think !
The stud wall between the bath and shower was built using FSC sourced timber products with recesses both shower and bath sides to stand your usual array of bathroom products on / in to keep them to hand when needed. Funny, isn't it, there's never anywhere to put your soap !!
The purpose of the doors in the end of the wall are to give access to isolation valves for the shower unit and bath taps ( something which I find are woefully lacking in most bathrooms ) and to allow us to place the wiring for the LED lights that illuminate the recesses in the walls. The lights that you see in the flyshelf over the vanity unit are the new low energy Led COBB lights I mentioned in an earlier blog and as you can see provide a fantastic light right in front of you when using the mirror .... the perfect lighting set up !
Another bonus is the extra storage space they give for things you don't necessarily want on show in your bathroom. ( see pics below )
Something were particularly pleased with is that every single piece of kit that water comes out of has it's own isolator, so all the items can be switched off individually should problems occur, without affecting the rest of the bathroom.
I even made the little boat sat in the recess (bathside) out of bits of the crate the tiles came in, I've recycled the pallet that the bath arrived on into staging in my wifes greenhouse at home and made the doors & the frame for them in the false wall out of recycling the skirting boards that we took off when stripping the room down initially.
It just goes to show that even the most glamorous bathrooms can be pretty Eco friendly if you have the will to do it and a little bit of creative thinking.
Do check out people like Fired Earth, Terzetto and Marmorex and view them in a new " green " light, they're trying more to work the rest of us now and take climate change a lot more seriously !!
As ever, Jules
Full set of pics here
http://www.pinterest.com/milestone01/earth-marble-and-stone-milestone-bathroom/
