Jason met us there, and Jake was really helpful; we've got a couple of decisions to make, and then Jake can email us the proposed layout and (more painfully) quotation. We love CAD packages!
Jason very kindly let us have a look at the kitchen he installed at their house; the little extra touches he's added really lift the finish from nice to designer level. He'd run a router around the edge of the worktop, and that's a fantastic detail, as we're the end panels he made to match. I'm sure he will do a great job for us, too.
We then went to B&Q in Ashford to try and finalise the outside lights; we actually bought some we liked, and are hopeful they will look good on the house. We really liked the stainless/nickel finish of the one we chose, but on the display the ones painted white inside shed more light, so we plumped for less stylish but hopefully more practical. We also picked up a PIR spot for by the kitchen door, which didn't seem bad for £9.
When we live there, it might really irritate us to have so many different styles of light on the outside of the house, but we won't know until that happens; I really didn't like the ones that would match the existing ones, so if we do decide to change, we will be looking for less fussy rather than moreso. I'm pretty sure that different lights on the front of the house and the rear will not be a problem, but who knows?
From B& Q we went to the house; there wasn't a lot of time before heading back to B&Q to meet with their kitchen designer, but I managed to chop down a few more saplings, and remove more brambles; it all helps.
We can't quite remember what David did, but he did start moving the chopped-off willow trunks that I'd felled to clear the left side of the garden, until deciding that the chain saw would be a big help with that.
It was brilliant seeing the new windows - it's incredible how much more light comes into the kitchen now [one of the old windows was blocked up, and all the panes on the back door]. The only problem is that today, I realised we've made a mistake having the opening light...
Standing at the sink, the horizontal bar 'cuts the top off' the oak trees, and I suspect that when we have a modern-size [deptch] sink it will be even worse. The frame is also ugly where the horizontal bar joins the uprights, which feels like salt in the wound.
I wish I'd known how much thicker and lower the bar would be - we could have perfectly happily managed without an opening light, and I would much rather have my view.
What is an unqualified success is being able to open the other French window in the sitting room...
And having frosted glass in the loo!
Samantha, the kitchen designer came up with a similar, but interestingly different arrangement for the room; we can't really do more than have two L-shaped sections, with a free-standing fridge-freezer, but need to think about drawers vs cupboards, and whether we want the pull-out baskets that nowadays go in corner cupboards, and whether to put the dishwasher under the drainer or on the left-hand wall.
It's going to be more head-breaking thinking, but the amount of that left to do is diminishing all the time, and it's worth getting the kitchen as good as we can. Or as much as is possible without having ever lived there and used any layout in that space. [It's amazing how much just using a space let's you know about how it should be used.]
Watch this space...
[And fingers crossed, obviously!]
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