Chairman’s Chit Chat August 2025
The Whiteman household has been in turmoil.
Let me explain: we have had a new kitchen. It was three years in the making; making snap decisions is not our forte! What I mean is that, on and off for the last three years, we were discussing whether or not to have a new kitchen.
In the early stages it was weighing up the options – just new cupboards, or doors, or would new worktops be the order of the day.
Eventually, the conclusion was reached that if it was going to happen at all, it would be this year – and if it was going to happen then it would be a COMPLETE refit.
The process began with a visit to a local home interiors showroom. A “Project Manager” was assigned to the case. The first consultation date was set. This was where the decision-making marathon was set in motion.
Who knew how many component parts make up a kitchen – style (modern or retro), colour of units (external and internal), lighting, flooring, worktops, appliances – and so the endless list of things to be agreed went on. The choice of tap designs and finish was bewildering. Over three consultations, every conceivable kitchen item was explored to the nth degree, and after each consultation we staggered out of the showroom into daylight, exhausted, with our heads reeling.
I think the most bizarre decision we had to make was the design of the cutlery tray.
There was I thinking a cutlery tray was a cutlery tray, but not so.
A myriad of design choices was available.
The refit began.
For three weeks the house was swamped with tradesmen: fitters, electricians, plasterers and plumbers. Midway through the project I was afraid that we were going to spend more on tea, coffee and biscuits than the cost of the kitchen.
Living without any kitchen appliances or facilities for three weeks was, I admit, a challenge, but with the help and support of friends and neighbours we survived the ordeal with sanity just about in tact.
With the aid of well-thumbed instruction manuals, we are gradually getting to grips with the all-singing, all-dancing, state-of-the-art kitchen appliances. There has been more head scratching over the cooker than all the others put together; there are more bells and whistles on it than on the flight deck of a jumbo jet.
We are chuffed to little butter mints with our new kitchen – but we wish we had had done it three years ago!