Good As New

Clare Zakirov upcycled her kitchen on a budget then added stylish new appliances

- Becky Clarke

When Clare Zakirov and her husband Dmitriy moved into their three-bedroom Edwardian home in Ruislip, the kitchen was already old and tired. ‘Everything was in different shades of yellow and it was horrible!’ says Clare. ‘But there were other rooms in the house that needed decorating first, so I tried to spend as little time in there as possible,’ she explains.

Over the next two years the couple had a son, Artem, which kept them busy, but when the appliances started to break one by one and Clare found herself with no dishwasher or extractor fan, and a temperamental oven and fridge, she knew it was time to sort the kitchen out.

‘We had quotes for a new kitchen at £7,000, which was a lot, and I worried that it would be a big upheaval with a young child in the house,’ says Clare. ‘The units and worktop we had were fine, so it seemed crazy to go to the expense and disruption of ripping everything out. I knew I wanted an industrial, urban style and something other than white. No one believed it could look great without starting from scratch, but I was sure I could prove them wrong.’