A slightly different blog post from us today, that for once isn't really about our kitchens! You may remember a few months ago, we spoke about how Naked Kitchens were invited to participate in the Parliamentary Review for the Manufacturing Industry. To celebrate the publishing of this, the directors of Naked Kitchens were invited to the Annual Gala at the Houses of Parliament! 

Something that most of our clients try to incorporate into their kitchen design, is an island. Whether it be a contemporary kitchen where the island is the main dining area, or a large country kitchen with a bold island design that is perfect for gathering around and socialising with drinks and friends. An island is often an integral part of a kitchen design and can make your room really stand out from the crowd. We've got a few favourites that we've designed over the years and we'd love to share them with you!

Here at Naked Kitchens we've been thinking about an elegant storage solution that's not only a practical haven but oozes class and sophistication: The Boot Room. 

Here at Naked Doors, we're all about creating cost-effective solutions to make your kitchen look like you've always dreamed, without actually ripping it out and starting again. As we manufacture bespoke replacement cabinet doors and drawer fronts, we believe that there are many options you can choose from to upgrade your kitchen, without having to fully renovate. Whilst upgrading your kitchen is important, alongside this you also need to make this a room that you want to spend time in and that is comfortable for all of the family. IKEA Hacking  Got an old tired IKEA kitchen that you absolutely hate the look of? We've created a range of doors that are compatible with the IKEA Metod range, so that you can have the look of a designer kitchen, with IKEA carcasses remaining underneath! An incredibly clever hack as not only does it make IKEA furniture look almost as if it was never from IKEA, but it's also a brilliant way to update your kitchen with the least hassle and minimum cost possible! Door Style With our replacement doors and drawer fronts, we also have certain suggestions we can make to help you choose the best style for your room. If you have a small, compact kitchen that doesn't get much natural light, we would generally recommend a slab door style, as it reflects light beautifully and makes a room feel very open and spacious, whilst still being very contemporary. Choosing a shaker style door will provide you with a very chic kitchen that is going to look timeless forever, but as both styles are so incredibly beautiful, they will work in any space! Photography- Megan Taylor, Design- 2LGS

When looking at purchasing a kitchen, sometimes the amount of choice on offer can be a little overwhelming. If you've never looked into kitchens before, it can be very difficult to distinguish between the different styles. At Naked Kitchens we offer three main styles of kitchen designs that can then be categorised even further through certain features that make each kitchen completely unique. This post is designed to help you understand the differences between the kitchen styles that we offer, to try and give you a strong base for the beginning of your kitchen journey. Shaker: The signature shaker style is simplicity at its best. There is a long history behind this kitchen style, and traditional features definitely rule the design. Simple door styles with minimal features, and a lack of ornamentation make this design so popular today, creating a kitchen that is fuss-free and perfect for every-day life. One distinction of a Shaker kitchen is that they are also in-frame designs. This design is where the door or drawer front sits within the frame of the cabinet as opposed to covering the front of the carcass. At the heart of this design is fine craftsmanship and functionality, an ethos that has always been at the core of Naked Kitchens. A shaker kitchen is one that fits perfectly into any type of home, as it can look beautifully classic in a large country house, but due to its versatile simplicity, can also look wonderfully modern in a newly built property. Wherever it's placed, a shaker kitchen will continue to forever look timeless.

Here at Naked Doors, we are always trying to find new ways to let people know about the quality and level of expertise that goes into our products. As a company, we've only ever used the highest quality timber, and we fully understand how to get the best out of this material, meaning the products we manufacture are of incredible quality. We produce beautiful replacement doors and drawer fronts for any kitchen, finished in any style, and in any size you want. Design- Nimtim Architecture, Photography- Megan Taylor

So here at Naked Kitchens we decided we wanted to start something new on our blog. As we create bespoke kitchens for our customers, we continually see different styling and colour combinations for a kitchen, and alongside keeping up with interior trends we constantly fall in love with new ideas. New unique colour combinations bring a whole new variety of colours into our palette that we hadn't even considered putting in a kitchen before! Constant updates of lighting options, beautiful handles and other kitchen necessities like taps and sinks give us so many more options to help you truly create the most beautiful kitchen. With the addition of incredible splashbacks, such as the foxed glass in our Norfolk Vicarage Kitchen, or the stunning antiqued brass splashback in our Ladbroke Kitchen really allows us to help you create the most unique kitchens, that are completely unlike anything else on the market.  

Our sister company Naked Kitchens creates the most beautiful, bespoke kitchens that are of the highest quality and are a true luxurious addition to any home. And whilst we only use transparent pricing, meaning our customers don't pay more than is necessary for the quality of the kitchens, this option can still sometimes be out of peoples budgets. And so we decided to create an option for people that still wanted the look of a Naked Kitchen, but without a large majority of the cost. Naked Doors offers you a designer kitchen look, where you supply the carcasses- either existing or new, and we will produce the doors to fit them perfectly. However, there are certain tips and tricks that you can do to upgrade your kitchen for less to make it look more and more like a designer kitchen without spending a lot of money or time. Painting Walls and Cabinets  A fresh new colour in the kitchen is one of the easiest ways to instantly transform a room. By painting your walls it creates a whole new colour palette for the room, and gives you a whole realm of possibilities for accessorising. Another option is to paint your cabinets, to create an eye-catching feature for the room. Choosing to paint your walls is possibly the safer option as it is less of a statement and is easier to correct if you decide you do not like the colour. However, if you really do want to make a statement in this room, painting your cabinets and your walls the same colour will do this. It can be a risky move to make, as the wrong colour can make it far too over-powering, but if done in a beautiful rich colour and combined with other materials or colours it can work wonderfully. Colours that we are particularly loving at the moment are all from the earthy colour palette, including rich greens, oranges and reds. They add a luxurious warmth to the kitchen that is so incredibly comfortable and inviting in a room that you want to be the hub of the family life in your home.

Autumn is a time of year that involves many changes; the weather, the mood, the lighting all completely differ as soon as it hits the later months of the year and this involves a completely different perspective on the home and how you want it to look and feel. As the days are now shorter and the evenings are getting colder, it often means savouring as much of your time outside as possible. It may be risky to travel long distances as the weather is unpredictable and your day outside may be rained off, but the stubborn summer lover within us will still relish in any warm weather and sunshine for as long as possible. But when it just gets too chilly and dark in the evenings to be outside and you have to throw in the towel, that's when you realise how important a cosy, comfortable environment is; that you can just come home and relax in. There are many things that you can do to make your home as relaxing as possible, and as your kitchen is the hub of your home, it is vital that this room is as inviting as it can possibly be.