Skip to content

Q&A with Joanne Ward – Life in My Davonport Kitchen

green color modern kitchen with two person

It’s been 6 months since we installed Joanne and Stuart’s dream kitchen, so we paid them a visit and caught up with Joanne to find out how they’ve settled into life in their very own Davonport kitchen.

Now you’ve had some time to really enjoy your new kitchen, what’s your favourite part?

It’s hard to say because I love it all, but maybe the island. It’s functional, spacious and sociable and makes the kitchen as a whole a great space to be in. Having the breakfast bar opposite the food prep space means I can be preparing dinner, with my daughter, Rose, at the breakfast bar doing her homework or just chatting about her day at school. It’s a lovely area to be in.

How was your first Christmas in the kitchen?

Wonderful! It was everything I’d hoped it would be and the space made entertaining so easy and enjoyable. Stuart’s ‘alchemy’ cupboard was well used too, and received a lot of praise from guests!

Drinks pantry with drinks trolley

How has the kitchen impacted upon family life?

It’s meant we now spend a lot more time in each other’s company. Because the room is so multifunctional and spacious we can all be in there doing different things at the same time. Often, I’m cooking while Stuart is catching up on emails and Rose is playing but we’re all in one space and able to enjoy being together. That’s exactly what we wanted to create when we were first planning our kitchen.

green color modern kitchen

Having built a substantial extension as part of your kitchen project, what one piece of advice would you give someone embarking upon their own kitchen extension?

Think carefully about lighting early on. The lighting is so important to how you enjoy the room and it’s easily forgotten. Consider the type of lighting you want, the colour of the bulbs, the positions of the lights, where the switches will be and whether you want them dimmable or zoned. This was all new to me when we were planning ours but thankfully we had some great assistance and we reap the rewards daily – getting the lighting right means the room is really flexible in terms of how it can be used.

living area

The overall feel in the room is very family friendly and welcoming but also stylish and beautiful, how did you achieve this?

We sought a lot of advice and our designer was really helpful suggesting styles, materials, and colours that are robust enough for family life. We really fell in love with the Davonport showroom too, so we decided to complete our kitchen with a variety of accessories from the Finishing Touches range; the bar stools and tripod lamp really complete the room but the piece that gets most comments from guests is definitely the drinks trolley!

green color modern kitchen

Is there anything you wish you’d done differently?

That’s easy – no! Ever since my parents purchased a Davonport kitchen 10 years ago, I’ve longed for my own and been planning exactly what I wanted, how it would be laid out and which features would be most important. With the help of our designer everything came together perfectly and having been planning for a decade, we were very decisive so we were able to move the project along at a good pace. We’re thrilled with our kitchen and it still feels like a treat walking into it each morning.

If you’d like to talk to one of our designers to start planning your dream kitchen, or would like any more information about our Finishing Touches range, please get in touch.

Back To Top