PRODUCTS | Utility rooms and boot rooms 8.
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For those whose dog is their best friend or one of the family, it’s worth considering how you can accom- modate them and create a dog-friendly space that is generally pet-proof. A large, low-lying sink is a great accessory for cleaning muddy dogs, or kids for that matter.
The one shown above (left) is from Chiselwood Kitchens in Lincoln. The furniture is by Chiselwood, painted in Chiselwood Garlic, handles are from the Edgbaston collection by Armac Martin in chrome, the sink is Kohler’s stainless-steel Vault, the tap is Basque by Frontline and the worktop is by Konigstone in Concrete Shell. Places for eating and sleeping should also be considered, and a number of brands now offer furniture with integrated dog beds or niches that could be used to house the dog bowl. Alternatively, you might consider incorporating a niche into an island for a more bespoke approach.
In addition to these comforts, it’s also worth thinking about day-to-day prac tical- ities of a kitchen shared with a pet. Flooring should be carefully chosen with dogs and cats, and the damage they
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could do, in mind. Perhaps opt for stone or ceramic flooring, which is hard-wearing and warm the floor up with a washable rug or two. Alternatively, laminate is pretty hard- wearing, and spills/mess won’t stain, as long as it’s cleaned up quickly. Think about safety in a similar way as you would with young children. Try to ensure low cupboards are inaccessible with safety catches or are handleless. Make sure you keep anything haz ardous that a pet might consume well out of reach. Finally, when it comes to the bins, make sure these are inaccessible, too. Perhaps keep them on the inside of cupboards or drawers. A freestanding swing-top option might just be too tempting for a bored or peckish dog, so it’s best to ensure that there’s no temptation at all.
But, with such a tough year behind many retailers, and an extremely busy year ahead for others now that the economy is reopening, why bother with utility rooms and boot rooms or bootility rooms as some are calling
You see these gorgeous rooms where everything is so organised, and you see people just swoon over a life of a place for everything, with everything in its place Diane Berry, Diane Berry Kitchens
them? Why not just stick to the bread- and-butter kitchens and bathrooms? How profitable are these add-ons and how might you go about selling and marketing them? Well, for all the reasons mentioned above, it’s evident that these rooms are more desirable now than they were pre-pandemic.
Order values sit at around £10k to £20k, according to Diane Berry, but these spaces could be offered for much less or more, depending on your level of the market and the budget of your customer.
These rooms should be a fairly easy sell at the lower end of the market because they are a desirable addition but don’t necessarily need a large budget to be stylish and functional. Symphony’s Collyns adds: “Gene-
rally, only a small number of units is required as they are in a separate room from the kitchen.
“They could also be designed with a more cost-effective range than the kitchen, and a laminate worktop rather than granite. Probably three or four units and a worktop would be sufficient.” So how do you go about marketing and selling these rooms, which some customers may not realise they need? Daval’s managing director Simon Bodsworth suggests that the rise of the ‘whole house style and storage’ can be a good way into to explaining why it is
wise to consider a kitchen plus utility and/or boot room, so that everything is tackled in one go without the hassle of extra projects further down the line and the possible frustrations in terms of colour-matching.
“I think that if you can demonstrate how time and effort will be saved so that life will be more comfortable and the home will be a more pleasant place to be, you are making the idea even more attractive.”
· June 2021
7. This utility room design by Chiselwood Kitchens features a large, low-lying sink – a great accessory for cleaning muddy dogs
8. The Infinity Bowl is great for tech- savvy pet lovers. It can be attached to the mains of any kitchen and provides a continuous supply of filtered water. The bowl is made from polycarbonate, has changeable LED lights to match the colour scheme of any kitchen and comes with a Petsafe carbon water filter
9.This set-up by Daval from the Pembroke painted traditional kitchen range is finished in Storm Blue and features a walnut dovetail drawer-box facility and integrated dog bed
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