behind the scenes - kaboodle x Mum Little Loves

We absolutely love what Hayley Little, also known as Mum Little Loves, has done with her kitchen space - see the full gallery here. It's a truly breathtaking transformation that has enhanced the appeal of not only her kitchen, but her whole home. Hayley reached out to us when she decided to renovate her 30-year-old kitchen to create a refreshed functional space.  

“Our kitchen was 30+ years old. It had a combination of high and low benchtops that closed it off to the rest of the house and made it feel quite restrictive. It only had one narrow entrance which would quickly turn in to a bottleneck if there was more than one person in the space. The layout was not practical and had me running all over the place to cook a meal. The original appliances were all starting to die one by one… and that’s just the functional problems! The finishes were dated and didn’t fit with my style. Overall, the old kitchen didn’t bring us any joy!” Says Hayley.

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As Hayley is a self-proclaimed serial renovator we had to ask if Hayley if she has plans to move on to her next renovation or if she is going to make this her forever home. 

“We plan on staying here until all the kids have finished school, at least another 8 years, but we are serial home renovators and we never know what’s around the corner. We have said ‘this is our forever home’ a few times now only to move a couple of years later.”

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When it came to choosing a colour palette, Hayley decided on a neutral scheme with a mix of cremasala and vanilla essence doors and panels in an alpine profile for a country/hamptons look and feel. To add warmth to the space Hayley completed the look with our natural timber american oak benchtops.

“I don’t think you can beat a classic white kitchen, so that was our starting point. Kaboodle has a few whites in the range, we chose Vanilla Essence because it has a little bit of warmth which is perfect for our kitchen as it’s right in the middle of our house and doesn’t get much sunlight. We also love the matte finish which hides fingerprints and is resistant to scuffs, exactly what we need with our busy house full of kids and pets.

We decided to do the island bench in a different colour to add some interest and contrast to the space. The Cremasala is one of those chameleon colours that adapts to its surroundings. I would describe it as a griege and it works beautifully with all the green in my home.”

3D planner

To plan out the kitchen space Hayley utilised the 3D kaboodle planner! The 3D planner assisted Hayley in visualising the space and how she would be using the kitchen day to day, helping to design her ideal kitchen layout. 

“I’m not very tech savvy, but once I got my head around how the planner works it was fabulous. I loved being able to try different layouts to see what would be the most functional in our space. It was exciting to see the 3D visualisations and gave us a really good idea of how the design would look.”

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When it came to assembling the kitchen, Hayley was in her element! Even adding in DIY elements for a customised kitchen feel. Hayley customised her own farmhouse sink! See how she acheived this look here.

“People don’t believe me when I tell them how easy it is, but truly, it is! The only things that were a little tricky were the custom elements that we did like using 60cm doors as ends on our island bench and the farmhouse sink.”

“We were so impressed with the quality and ease of installation that we decided to use kaboodle in our kitchen, laundry and anywhere else we can. It’s also great to create continuity through the house by using the same door profile everywhere.”

Hayley’s DIY journey began in lockdown, which is a common story for a lot of new DIY enthusiasts. What started off as a passion for interior decorating soon turned into a renovating career.

“I decided to start doing more DIY’s myself during lockdown. My husband worked the whole way through so I was stuck at home and needed something to keep busy. We used kaboodle in our bar area, that is what started my kaboodle journey. I bought all the base cabinets straight off the shelf at Bunnings so I could get started, then I ordered the raw finish doors through the special-order desk.”

Hayley started this kitchen renovation journey to create a more functional kitchen for herself and her family. To finish our chat, we had to know how this renovation has impacted the family’s everyday life!

“It’s life changing, big statement, but it really has changed the way we live in our home. The pull-out pantry baskets have allowed us to store food in a way that we can see what we have, nothing gets lost hiding in the back, which means less food gets wasted. The functional layout makes it easy for multiple people to cook together, Orly and I have been doing lots of baking. Also, it is enjoyable to be in a kitchen that we love, so we cook at home more and eat out less. I just wish I’d done it sooner!”

We hope you’ve enjoyed reading about this collaboration! To view the complete kitchen transformation, click here. For more inspiration and ideas, visit our design blog or follow us on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest.