Customer Andy has used not one but two growing tile trends to create a designer kitchen in his gorgeous home in South Wales. He has created a beautifully seamless look from indoors to outdoors using the same range of tiles, and added interest and texture in his designer kitchen using relief wall tiles. The result is a designer kitchen and patio area that’s stylish for entertaining but still practical for everyday life. We were keen to find out more and share this wonderful project and incredible transformation with you.
I am an Architect with 40 years of housebuilding experience and for the last three years, I have been running my own Design Company. With a dilapidated garage and deck area together with a kitchen desperately in need of a facelift; I decided to design and build for myself.
My new kitchen is within a new 40m²mono-pitch extension. The mono-pitch allows for a 3.5m internal ceiling height which adds to the contemporary feel that my wife and I have strived to create.
As we now have a generous patio area accessed by oversized sliding glass doors, the contiguous indoor/outdoor approach was an extremely important part of the design. The obvious way to achieve this is with an identical floor finish inside and out.
Samples, grout and adhesives
As we were in the grip of the COVID issues, most of the research into tiling was online. I obtained many samples from various online companies including the Direct Tile Warehouse. DTW offered a great range of tiles at realistic prices with free tile samples. We liked a couple of the requested samples and were delighted to find out that there was a nearby branch in Cardiff.
We visited Direct Tile Warehouse in September 2020 and looked at the tile selection that included a 20mm porcelain outdoor tile as well as an identical 10mm internal tile. There was a wide selection and we finally settled on the ‘Roden Perla’ grey floor tiles that Dave Harper, the manager, suggested to us.
Dave advised on the anhydrous adhesive that would be required for our liquid screed floor finish and also suggested a grout colour that would achieve the appearance we were after.
Designer Kitchen Walls
Additionally, we purchased the interesting Mix Stone white wall tiles with relief on the surface. The overall effect of the tile can be seen in the photograph, which looks fantastic under the lighting.
With the order in place, we waited for the tiles to be delivered. However, due to the Brexit situation, Direct Tile Warehouse had half of my tile order in Spain waiting for despatch. Dave helped again by sending the in-stock floor tiles and adhesive in advance so that my designer kitchen project could keep going. The other part of the order turned up a few weeks later, which worked out well in my build sequence.
The external tiles have been laid using slab pedestals, as the patio is formed on a waterproofed beam and block structure which has a degree of flexibility. A high quality 20mm porcelain tile, like the Roden Perla, is required for this installation method.
Overall, we’re extremely pleased with the finished results. The tiles supplied by Direct Tile Warehouse have helped to achieve the contemporary environment and designer kitchen that we were after. I would recommend Direct Tile Warehouse to anyone looking for quality tiles at the right price. My experience is one of a company that provides great service and sound advice
Would you like to create a designer kitchen in your home? Shop our range of kitchen tiles here.
Do you have a tile tale to tell? We absolutely love seeing customer tile transformations – please send your pictures and comments to info@directtilewarehouse.com or tag us on social media.
