When we were redoing our kitchen 4 years ago I got rather obsessed with having a Plain English  two tone kitchen.

I had pulled out so many pictures from magazines in my ideas book and under scrutiny each one ended up being Plain English.

But what was to be done? The cabinetry alone was bound to be north of £30-£50k.

At the time I investigated and found The Old Creamery . Cue a long drive to Devon. By tweaking some cabinet dimensions, having one colour for the wall cupboards and another for base cabinets, we got a mickey mouse version of the Plain English kitchen for £6000, and splashed out on the granite worktop etc. Job done.

Were we to try to recreate the Plain English look again now, there would be more choice.

Neptune Kitchens are stunning and reasonably priced.

A couple of friends have gone for the Wickes Heritage Grey which looks super slick.

But who would have thought that Plain English themselves would launch a budget range? Prince Charles did. At the Ideal Home show, he noted the quality of the Plain English Kitchen on display and queried “How can we get this to the People?”

Answer…

The owners rose to Chuckles’ challenge and came up with British Standard Cupboards. The strapline for which is ” sensible cupboards at sensible prices for discerning folk of modest means”

Still stunning but not indulgent, not the price of a terraced house in my home town. There is no measuring service, delivery or fitting - but that’s fine. It only comes in one colour “broken white” but white is perfect and a quick paint job would not cost the earth.

Despite the no frills nature it does not look like a Ryanair kitchen. It looks dreamy. I love the monochrome pared- back look. Spend extra on a super range cooker, statement worktop and decent spec sockets and lighting and no-one will know the difference.