HANNAWAY Kitchens in Hilltown has officially unveiled its new state-of-the-art showroom, which will create 15 new jobs for the local community. Hannaway Kitchens, a family-run business since 1970, has extended its showroom with a £500,000 facelift.

Alex Best, who appeared on “I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here” and is the former wife of soccer legend George Best, attended the opening and competed against Q Radio presenter Ibé Sesay in a “Ready, Steady Cook” challenge, which raised over £700 for Action Cancer.

Roger Moynihan, head chef of Mourne Seafood Cookery School, treated guests to a cookery demonstration highlighting how to cook moules marinière and donated a ballot prize for two people to attend his cookery school.

Other much sought-after prizes on the night included a Smeg toaster and kettle. Everyone enjoyed canapés from Minny Doyle’s and mouthwatering desserts from Boutique Cakes.

“Our high-end bespoke kitchens, which have a lifetime guarantee, are crafted in our workshop in Hilltown. We make every piece of furniture with the utmost care and attention to detail,” said Shane Hannaway, managing director of Hannaway Kitchens. “We use the finest timbers and superior components to ensure longevity and functionality. From concept and design to the final installation, we guarantee you will enjoy the experience.”

“As a family business, we are committed to investing in our local community, and we are delighted that since our recent refurbishment, we have created and secured several projects in commercial fit-outs, creating 15 new jobs in our village. We have upcoming, exciting, and lucrative projects across the UK, Europe, and Dublin and will be creating further jobs in 2019,” he said.

“We are also proud to announce that we are the largest live showroom of Wolf Cooking and Subzero Refrigeration in Ireland.”

Planning a brand-new kitchen? Here are the things that you should avoid doing.

Do you have grand plans to create your dream kitchen? If you do then there are going to be lots of things to think about and lots of important decisions to make. Whilst this is exciting, it does mean that there are plenty of things that can go wrong and mistakes that can be made.

To help you to make sure that your kitchen planning goes exactly, well, to plan, we have put together the things that you should absolutely avoid doing.

Always consider counter space

When it comes to your kitchen, one thing that you absolutely need to pay attention to is planning every single inch of space that you have within the room. This includes your counter space. Seeing as your kitchen is the room that you prepare your meals and that your dinners are put together, it makes sense that you need to think carefully about the space that you have. Not only should you think about counter space in the sense that you should have enough space for food prep; but also socialising or the appliances that you need to install too.

Make sure you have enough storage

One thing that can really make the difference in your kitchen is having the right amount of storage. Storage is key to keeping everything organised and neat. This means that one of the most important thing about storage is that you have enough of it. If you think you might be going overboard; then chances are that you might actually be right on track with your plans.

Think about lighting

Lighting is a key part of your kitchen plan. Which means that you should never ever forget to pay particular attention to your lighting options. In the areas that you prepare food, you need to have bright lights which really help you to focus on the food prep itself. However, when you have dining areas in your kitchen, you should opt for softer, subtle lighting which encourages you to spend time together. Another great consideration is having strip lights under the base of the cabinets, this is particularly true if you may wander through the kitchen later at night and you don’t want to disturb the entire house.

Never forget about the bins

Rubbish can build up in your kitchen quickly without you even realising it. Which means that an important consideration are the bins that you have. Not only should you consider the actual rubbish bins, but also think about recycling and sorting out the packaging that you can create when you prepare home cooked meals.

Always have a budget

One key part of kitchen planning is having a budget in mind. Without a budget you can find yourself going completely over the top and spending a whole lot of money. It is a good idea to have a budget for your new kitchen, and do your very best to stick with it. Else, you may end up with a rather lovely kitchen, but a very sad bank balance.

Planning a kitchen is incredibly exciting, but it can be stressful too. By doing whatever you can to avoid mistakes you can have everything that you need and you don’t have to worry about anything going wrong during the process.

Kitchen cabinets are expensive to buy and replace, which means that this is something that we are not going to want to do if we can help it. But what if you feel that your kitchen needs a refresh and that your cabinets are looking tired and old?

The answer that you could be looking for is paint. Not only is paint easy to use, but it is also much cheaper than replacing entire cabinets. You also have much more choice in colours than you realise.

Feeling inspired? Why not check out our top tips on how to refresh your kitchen cabinets with a touch of paint?

The starting point

The good news is that there are a range of paints which are designed to be used on both wooden and acrylic cabinet doors. However, you do still need to prepare the doors so that you make sure that your paint is applied properly and looks the best that it can.

It is a good idea to take the doors off of the cabinets if you can, as the drips will be limited on a flat surface. However, this isn’t always possible, which means that you need to go careful when you apply the paint. It is also a good idea to cover the hinges and any other piece of metalwork with masking tapes. You should also remove the handles too.

Clean and prep

Once you have removed the doors, or covered over all the metalwork as needed, you need to make an effort to prep the doors and get them ready for painting. The most important step is to clean them, particularly if they have some grease patches on them. There are set cleaners that you can use if this is an issue. It is also a good idea to rub the surface of the doors with a light sandpaper, as this will help the paint to grip to the door.

Prime

When the doors are dry, they are ready for primer. Prime is a base for your paint and you need to make sure that you pick primers that are designed to work on the surface that you have. That said, many cabinet paints will say that they do not require primer in order to work; so it is worth checking this before you spend our more money on primer.

Choose the right paint

The paint that you buy will really depend on what door type you have and the finish that you want to achieve with your paint too. If your cabinet door is laminated in its nature, then you may want to buy a paint which is designed to be used on wood, melamine and MDF. If the kitchen doors are wooden or already painted; then eggshell or interior wood paint should work fine and if you want to use chalk paints, then this will also work, but you will need to seal the top coat with wax or varnish.

You should also be prepared to add a few coats of paint, allowing each one to dry thoroughly in-between, before applying the next coat.

Painting cupboards is a great way to give them a new lease of life, so, what are you waiting for? Grab your favourite colour and a paintbrush and get to work. We can promise you that you won’t regret making the effort to transform this all important room.

Do you have grand plans to create your dream kitchen? If you do then there are going to be lots of things to think about and lots of important decisions to make. Whilst this is exciting, it does mean that there are plenty of things that can go wrong and mistakes that can be made.

To help you to make sure that your kitchen planning goes exactly, well, to plan, we have put together the things that you should absolutely avoid doing.

Always consider counter space

When it comes to your kitchen, one thing that you absolutely need to pay attention to is planning every single inch of space that you have within the room. This includes your counter space. Seeing as your kitchen is the room that you prepare your meals and that your dinners are put together, it makes sense that you need to think carefully about the space that you have. Not only should you think about counter space in the sense that you should have enough space for food prep; but also socialising or the appliances that you need to install too.

Make sure you have enough storage

One thing that can really make the difference in your kitchen is having the right amount of storage. Storage is key to keeping everything organised and neat. This means that one of the most important thing about storage is that you have enough of it. If you think you might be going overboard; then chances are that you might actually be right on track with your plans.

Think about lighting

Lighting is a key part of your kitchen plan. Which means that you should never ever forget to pay particular attention to your lighting options. In the areas that you prepare food, you need to have bright lights which really help you to focus on the food prep itself. However, when you have dining areas in your kitchen, you should opt for softer, subtle lighting which encourages you to spend time together. Another great consideration is having strip lights under the base of the cabinets, this is particularly true if you may wander through the kitchen later at night and you don’t want to disturb the entire house.

Never forget about the bins

Rubbish can build up in your kitchen quickly without you even realising it. Which means that an important consideration are the bins that you have. Not only should you consider the actual rubbish bins, but also think about recycling and sorting out the packaging that you can create when you prepare home cooked meals.

Always have a budget

One key part of kitchen planning is having a budget in mind. Without a budget you can find yourself going completely over the top and spending a whole lot of money. It is a good idea to have a budget for your new kitchen, and do your very best to stick with it. Else, you may end up with a rather lovely kitchen, but a very sad bank balance.

Planning a kitchen is incredibly exciting, but it can be stressful too. By doing whatever you can to avoid mistakes you can have everything that you need and you don’t have to worry about anything going wrong during the process.

How to organise your small kitchen and make sure that it looks amazing

Not everyone is lucky enough to have a big kitchen that has plenty of space. Some people have smaller kitchens, which means that they not only feel a lack of space, but the little space that they do have can soon become cluttered and messy.

The good news is that there are plenty of ways that you can make sure that even the smallest of kitchens can be a super-organised space. Want to learn how? Here are our top tips for how to organise your small kitchen and make sure it looks the best that it can.

Pick the right colour scheme

Colour is a hugely important part of your home and this is especially true if you are trying to cope with a smaller room that you want to make look as spacious as possible. For smaller kitchens a neutral colour scheme is the best approach to take. Although it is worth remembering that neutral doesn’t have to mean plain and boring. Duck egg blue is a great neutral shade, which will easily help light to bounce around.

Think about storage flexibly

Storage is key in any kitchen, but it becomes even more important when you have a small kitchen, and you want to make sure that you keep the room as neatly as possible. This may mean that you need to get creative and flexible when it comes to your storage solutions. Add in shelves, hang things from underneath cupboards and cabinets and above all else, make sure that every inch that is available to you, is used.

Be bold with your flooring choice

When you have a smaller room, you can often be frightened of using a bold colour for fear of overwhelming the space. Whilst this does make sense, in actual fact, sometimes a bold colour choice can help to distract away from the size of the room. Rather than having a brightly coloured room all over, why not install bold flooring? It could be patterned or a bright colour. This will ensure that the size of the room is the last thing that anyone thinks about and will make the entire space appear much bigger and brighter.

In-built appliances are a great addition to any small kitchen. Whilst this may usually apply to the larger appliances such as cookers and fridges; the same can be said for smaller ones too. You can always make yourself a little cabinet in which you hide away some of the smaller appliances that you need in your kitchen. Toasters, kettles, food processors. Not having these things out on the counter top is a great way to make sure that your kitchen looks much bigger and spacious.

Small kitchens might be a bit more of a headache than larger kitchens; but this doesn’t mean that they don’t have their positives. Think about how you can best use your smaller kitchen and utilise every single bit of space that you have available to you. No matter how little that may be.

One of the most popular colours that we see in kitchen is white. White is not only a bright, crisp and clean colour, but it is also elegant and timelessly chic. Best of all, white works no matter your preferred style of kitchen design. Modern or traditional.

The thing about white is that whilst you know that it works in kitchens, there is the concern about how to actually best use it? The last thing that you are going to want to happen is to have lots of white in your kitchen, only to feel that it looks a little cold and clinical.

So, with this in mind and to make sure that you have a kitchen that you love, we have put together our guide on how to use white in your kitchen.

Warm up white with brass

Be monochrome

Monochrome is a great choice for a kitchen, particularly if you love the idea of white, but you do want to bring some contrast it. If you want to make a monochrome space, then you can choose to add in black furniture and accessories to your kitchen as this will make for a subtle effect that still has a good impact.

Combine with wood

Another great way to warm up a white kitchen, is by making sure that there is plenty of wooden touches throughout the space. Wood is also a great choice for kitchen as it is easier to keep looking clean and tidy than some other choices and is definitely a material that is built to last.

Don’t go for stark white

Some people avoid using white in interior design because they worry that it will be too bold a shade. For those people a much better choice may be off-white rather than stark white. Off-white has a much gentler and subtle finishing touch than your more usual white, but it still looks crisp and clean.

Add an accent

If you really are concerned that an all-white kitchen may be too much for your space. Then why not think about adding an accent colour to it? Accent colours are great because they really bring the entire room to life, but they don’t take over. Yellow is a great addition to white as it will create a bold contrast, as is red. However, most colours will look great and will add something to your kitchen.

We love white as a shade for your kitchen and we think that more and more people should feel comfortable and confident using it too. So, if you are trying to decide your next colour choice for your kitchen, why not consider white?

“The experience of working with Hannaways has been incredible. They understood exactly what I wanted to achieve in this kitchen, they understood how important it was to work with not only the designer, the builder, and all of the other suppliers. What struck me about the relationship with Hannaways was every single time we had a meeting or a consultation or the design was revised, it was always improved. It felt like actually I was working alongside them to design the kitchen. It didn’t feel like I was ordering one. It felt like we were really co creating one together.”

The experience of working with Hannaways has been incredible. They understood exactly what I wanted to achieve in this kitchen, they understood how important…

Every single item in this kitchen has been custom made from the ground up by the team at Hannaways in a workshop in Northern Ireland that send and sell their expertise all across the world. The idea that every part of this room has been hand crafted by people who have dedicated their life to it is a real treat for me.

I know it sounds really cliche to say that a kitchen is the heart of the home, but I really do believe that. I believe this is where people hang out, where they celebrate, where they talk, listen, party, and I think that’s what Hannaways have managed to achieve in this kitchen. It’s big, and it’s bright, and it’s airy, but it also has a personality and a soul. And they were really clever in how they advised me to pick the colors, because the pallette is so adaptable that whether it’s Christmas decorations, or a birthday celebration, or even in a couple of years if I just found that giving it a freshen up, it’s designed in such a way that the accessories bring that personality. So by just tinkering with some small items around the room, it gives it a whole new feel and a whole new sense of design.

One of the things that separates Hannaways from everyone else in this space, is they don’t just stick a kitchen into a house. They have a world class in-house design team that work, not just on the design of the space in place, but the soft furnishings, the accessories, even all of the appliances. It’s a one stop shop for an extraordinary experience that just means you don’t have 12 suppliers that you need to deal with. It is all done in one roof.

If I was to describe Hannaways and the team’s approach to their work in three words, I would say bespoke, unique and craftsmanship. And ultimately it’s that craftsmanship that shines through. Working with Hannaways has allowed me to totally re-imagine what a kitchen can be. Their advice, their guidance, their support, their ability to listen, but also to challenge what I wanted to achieve in the kitchen as well. I cannot recommend Hannaways enough, and frankly, I couldn’t imagine working with anyone else.

Whilst some people love the idea of a wide-open space as their kitchen, there are some people who prefer the idea of a cosy, warm and inviting space instead. The great thing about kitchens is that it doesn’t matter what type of style you want, you can create it. You just need to think carefully about how to put things in place.

For fans of cosy kitchens, we have put together our guide on how you can create one with ease.

Have some candles for light

Of course you can’t rely on candles alone for light in your kitchen; but they can be a useful addition to add a sense of atmosphere and warmth. There is nothing quite like a flickering candle to set a romantic mood, or simply to help create a welcoming room that people want to spend time in.

Add a touch of nature

You might not instantly think of nature when it comes to creating a warm and inviting space, but nature can actually be a great addition. It just depends on what type of nature you go for. Flowers work brilliantly in a kitchen as they brighten up the room, but, if you want to have a space that is cosier then colourful then you might want to choose natural foliage instead.

Think about Hygge

Heard of Hygge? If you have then you will know that Hygge is the art of being comfortable and relaxed. A Scandinavian style, if you want to add this in to your kitchen then you need to think of neutral colours, along with natural textures and plenty of softness too. These are not necessarily textures that you will think of for your kitchen, but there are ways that you can add them in; especially if you have a sofa or a dining table in there.

Don’t be afraid to go dark

Many people avoid the idea of having darker colours in their kitchen (or any room in their house) because they worry that it is going to make it look too imposing and claustrophobic. The thing about darker shades is that they can work really well. You just need to think carefully about what you combine them with in that particular room.

Match darker colours with lighter ones where you can. You can also add rich and luxurious materials such as chrome and brass to bring the darker cabinets to life. In doing this you take away the overwhelming nature of those more dramatic colours and instead have a kitchen which is cosy and comfortable.

Kitchens are your chance to really stamp your own personality in your house. You can make sure that your kitchen is exactly what you want it to be. For some that could be dark and interesting, for others it might be something a little lighter and airier. No way is the better one. It really is down to you and which approach you prefer.

In modern interior design one common theme that seems to be a part of homes is “open plan living”. The idea of open plan rooms is that they are spacious and airy and they limit the amount of walls and sectioning the room has.

One part of your home that can really work well with an open plan style is the kitchen. Despite it being a great look; that doesn’t necessarily mean that it is easy to do. So, to help you to create an open plan space, we have put together our guide to open plan kitchens made easy.

Whilst the idea of open plan living is toc create one fluid space, that doesn’t mean that you can’t separate certain areas of the room to create zones. You just need to be clever about how you do this. You don’t want to have lots of walls around you, but you can use your cabinets or an island if you have enough space, to mark out particular areas within your kitchen and ensure that you have some order.

Use lighting

Lighting is one thing that you need to pay attention to in an open plan kitchen. If you don’t then you could end up with some parts which are darker than others; and this defeats the object of what you are trying to achieve. Use natural light as much as you can and, if there are spots that are not getting as much natural lighting as others then think about clever lighting options such as under cabinet strips and ceiling lighting.

Pick the right flooring

It is really important that you choose the right flooring in a kitchen, particularly one that is open plan. The right flooring is going to need to be easy to clean and durable. Usually because you will see plenty of traffic and also have a larger amount of floor space to clean too.

If you are worried about having too much of one type of flooring in the space, then it is a good idea to try and break up the space as much as you can by using rugs to add a different texture.

Choose similar colours and furniture

If you are lucky enough to have a large open plan kitchen space, then you may worry that the entire room is going to feel disjointed if it is in this layout. This can happen, but, there are things that you can do to help this. Try to stick to similar colour schemes and similar styles of accessories and furniture. This will bring the entire room together and ensure that it appears cohesive rather than like it is all separate.

As you can see, there are plenty of ways that you can make sure that your open plan kitchen looks just the way that you want it to and you can create a kitchen that you want to spend as much time in as possible.

Design yourself the perfect breakfast pantry

You might think that a pantry is one of the more old-fashioned parts of a kitchen; however, there is definitely enough room for these useful storage spaces in modern homes. The idea of a breakfast pantry is that it is there to store away some of the foods that you are likely to bring out at breakfast time.

Bread, cereal and tea or coffee. All of these things can find a home in a breakfast pantry. You can also find a home for all those small appliances that might not have a spot in the rest of your kitchen.

Now you know how useful a pantry can be, perhaps you are wondering how you can create the perfect one for your kitchen? To help you, we have put together our guide on what you need to think about when it comes to designing a breakfast pantry.

Keep it slim

If you are worried about how much space you have for a pantry, then the good news is that they don’t have to be huge for them to work. A slimline, compact pantry is enough to store everything that you need in. Not only this, but you can also do your best to pop in a few of the main appliances that you are going to need too. All without having to worry about being left with no room.

Treat yourself to an impressive appliance

Those who have a little more space (and money) to spare on their pantry might want to consider which gadgets they have in there. The basics are a microwave, however, if you want to really create a spot that is useful and stylish, then you are going to need to think a little outside the box. Consider what space you have and also decide what your dream appliances would be; you can then use this wish list to plan out what you want to buy and whether you are going for an appliance which is really a treat, such as a coffeemaker or something that is simple and functional.

Make your pantry your kitchen

One thing that you might not consider when it comes to your pantry is that it can actually become your entire kitchen if you want it to. A pantry doesn’t have to be resigned to one cupboard in your kitchen; you can make it your entire kitchen.

If you do this, then you are going to need to remember that your pantry is going to need plenty of storage, it should be a spot that you can close away. Somewhere that you have plenty of room to store all of those things that live in your kitchen, without worrying that you are going to have an impact on your kitchen as a whole.

Want to know more about how to design the perfect pantry? Think about the most important things to you and then make the effort to put them together to create the perfect kitchen for your busy home.