It’s that time of the month when we have a peek into one of Foodies100 blogger’s kitchen. This month we are taking a tour around mum of two and part time stewardess Kelly’s kitchen. Kelly writes the food blog Reduced Grub specialising in creating good luxury food, on a budget.

Over to Kelly…

To say I love my kitchen is an understatement. It is where I spend most of my time, whether it be cooking, typing away at my laptop, or generally sitting down and eating a family meal with my nearest and dearest. It is the hub of my home and is generally where the magic happens.

I bought my house around four years ago in an auction and I could have burst with excitement when I was handed the keys. It was my first home with the just the children and I, and a lot of work had to be done before we could move in. The house had been left vacant for years and it needed to be deep cleaned so operation livable commenced.

The children’s rooms were the first to be hit and then my kitchen was gutted. Previously the low hung ceilings had been artexed and had swirls on the ceiling, the walls were all blue, with a part dark tiled floor and laminate running through. The work surfaces were blue, and the blue tiles were the small mosaic type, that must have slipped when they were being set as they were all lopsided.

Now with being thrifty, I wanted to do this kitchen on a budget and I sourced everything. I fell in love with the tiles in a local tile shop and they were really expensive, so I managed to source them on the internet and bought a batch for a quarter of the price from a seller on eBay. Secondly, I really needed a new kitchen and as it was going to be so expensive,  I thought I would try a company that just replaced the doors. That was a huge waste of time as the price was seriously crazy.

A friend was a carpenter and let me use his trade account at Howdens, so I got all new worktops, new fabtastic cupboard doors and a fab Belfast sink for £1000!

My gorgeous kitchen table was picked up in the Next outlet store for a bargain price, it was originally £300 and the wicker chairs were £80 each as they were slight seconds, but with after a little talk with the manager,  I managed to get it all for £300.

My kitchen is Marmite, you either love it or hate it…

I never got around to replacing the hob, and for two years I have been working off two rings as the others have died a death, that is on my to do list, but I am managing fine at the moment, and the thought the mess and disruption really turns me off.

With my job as a part-time long haul stewardess, I often pick up fresh spices, sauces and attend cooking courses in some of the countries that I go to. My favourite is in Bangalore, India, where you pay around £10 to go to a lovely local lady’s home, and she will cook food, give recipe tips and ideas, and take you spice shopping. My spice stash has grown quite a lot, it includes dried chillies from Brazil, rice wines from Japan, Sommak from Saudi and most recently XO sauce from China. However, last year I opened a cupboard and some funky looking creature shouted, ‘boo’, at me, so I had to get evicting and throw a whole cupboard worth of spices and cereals out. It wasn’t all bad though as I turned the cereals into bird food, as I cannot stand food waste. My regular robin loves it, and I am sure he gave me a thumbs up when I topped his food up recently.

I like things that are different, and recently I spotted this gorgeous re-glammed up cupboard in an upcycle shop.

I am a bit of a pain for picking up fab plates and crockery in charity shops, and I desperately needed a home for this growing collection, so I knew this was going to fit in well with my kitchen and bought it straight away. It has drawers for my tablecloths and place mats, but best of all, a huge space for random soup bowls, strange shaped plates and funky fruit bowls.

You can follow Kelly at Reduced Grub, on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

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