I’m not sure how it started but I became obsessed with having a vintage kitchen cupboard. You know the kind, with lots of drawers and cupboards and a lead lined box to store your milk in. Somehow I ended up with two, greedy I know.

Vintage kitchen cupboards

The first I found in one of my favourite vintage shops in Exeter. The shop was stuffed full of antiques but they had a couple of kitchen cabinets and the decorated glass panels really caught my eye. It was made by Blue Gate Products Ltd. A ‘Pride o Home’ Unit, made in Harold Hill, London.

Pretty much the same week my father in law offered me the kitchen cabinet he had in his shed. It belonged to his mother in law and was home to many spiders and his screw collection. I accepted and we arranged to get both transported to London.

before                                                 after

When they arrived I washed them both with sugar soap and they sat, either side of the chimney breast in our dining room for a couple of years. When we finally got round to decorating the dining room we decided we only had room for one so sold the lovely retro red one with the playing cards. We kept the one which had been in the family and one Bank Holiday weekend took it out into the garden and got started.

We haven’t restored many pieces of furniture but it wasn’t too difficult. We took the doors, hinges and handles off and removed the sticky old oilcloth which lined the shelves. Then we stripped, sanded and primed before painting it with a lovely bone grey paint from The Little Greene Company. The finished cupboard looks fantastic, has plenty of extra kitchen storage and is practical too. I will be definitely looking out for another when we move so I can store my sewing supplies in it!