Given he has witnessed some of Britain’s most incredible kitchens, you might have thought Kevin McCloud would go for something extra impressive in his own home.
But the Grand Designs host has revealed his love of Ikea kitchens after installing one himself at his property after working on it in the evenings and at weekends.
The 64-year-old said he put in the carcass and doors and did some ‘basic carpentry and screwing together’ to install the new units at his Herefordshire home.
But he added that he bought a ‘very, very beautiful, expensive hot water tap’ and got some craftspeople to do the customisation, including an upmarket Dekton worktop.
McCloud also said he encourages those in his show to get Ikea kitchens – and likes the retailer’s Lixhult cabinets, which he can construct in ‘four and a half minutes’.
Kevin McCloud, pictured inside the ‘Grand House of Ideas’ as part of Grand Designs Live in May
Kevin McCloud, pictured in the kitchen of his former home in Somerset in April 2004
McCloud said he likes Ikea’s Lixhult cabinets and can construct one in just over four minutes
Speaking to The Times, McCloud said of his Ikea kitchen installation: ‘It took a long time, I was doing it in the evenings and at weekends. I’ve always made stuff.
‘My natural instinct is ‘I could do that’. But then I’ve got an enormous list of things to do in front of me… it’s never-ending, so I have to learn to say, ‘No, I can probably find someone to do that.’
McCloud and the show’s viewers were famously horrified watching an episode in September 2021 when Supercar investor Joe O’Connor and his wife Emily spent £125,000 on a kitchen at their £2.5million home project in Devon.
And the presenter, who lives with his third wife Jenny Jones, said: ‘You do become a little allergic to that sort of spending. But it’s not just that.
‘What I’ve done is the carcass, putting in the doors, the basic carpentry and screwing together, and then brought in lovely things – I’ve got a very, very beautiful, expensive hot water tap – or had some proper craftspeople to do the customisation. I’ve got a worktop made of Dekton, which is like a ceramic.’
He added that no one in the history of his 23-series programme over the past 25 years has every listened to his advice, saying: ‘Not that I can recall! It’s almost as though they’ve joined a cult.
‘Their eyes have glazed over and they’re already on this trajectory. They’ve decided what they want to do and how they’re going to do it and they’re convinced it is going to be perfect.’
In a Grand Designs episode in September 2021, Joe O’Connor and his wife Emily were revealed to have spent £125,000 on a kitchen at their £2.5million home project in Devon
The £125,000 kitchen at Mr and Mrs O’Connor’s home in Devon, as shown in a 2021 episode
In another episode in May last year, McCloud said he had previously spent between £5,000 and £7,000 on a kitchen – opting to buy units in sales and then perhaps ‘splashing out’ on a tap.
He made the comments in the episode featuring Jane and Richard, from York, who splashed out on a kitchen which viewers said ‘looked like it was from Ikea’.
McCloud added: ‘I would have to swallow very hard to spend £35,000 on a kitchen.’
Earlier this month, McCloud hit the headlines for telling first time buyers that they should ‘move to Germany’ if they cannot afford to buy a house in Britain.
Host Kevin McCloud said in an episode in May 2023 that he has never spent more than £7,000 on a new kitchen. He is pictured speaking to the homeowner Jane, in York
Jane’s finished kitchen which some Grand Designs viewers said ‘looked like it was from Ikea’
He advised young people looking to abandon their hopes of buying a house in the UK and instead ‘move to another country where the housing market is healthy’.
He told JOE that almost every other north European country and Canada have got ‘really healthy markets, lots of diverse opportunities, lots of diverse offers and it isn’t hugely expensive’.
McCloud also took aim at ‘immoral’ housing developers, who he claims now make on average £68,000 profit per house or per flat, which he said was ten times more than in 2009.
The presenter has been promoting Grand Designs Live which takes place at ExCel London from May 4 until 12 and then at NEC Birmingham from October 2 to 6.
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