When it comes to easy winter cooking, it doesn’t get any better than the best slow cooker. From one-pot curries to effortless pull-apart beef stew, a slow cooker will deliver maximum flavour with minimal food prep needed. We’ve been busy testing the 10 best slow cookers from Sage, Swan, Crock-Pot, Russell Hobbs, Morphy Richards and Ninja to bring you our ranking.
While you may just be looking for a manual slow cooker you can switch on while working from home, people are increasingly turning to the best multi-cookers to get the job done. They have pre-sets for slow cooking as well as steaming, roasting, and pressure cooking. A couple even come with lids that can be used to double up as the best air fryers.
Now we’re in a New Year, buying a slow cooker is the perfect way to work on your meal prepping without sacrificing hours of your time every evening. Batch cooking is a great way to stay on-track with any home-cooking resolutions, and you can be sure that you’ll always have something tasty in the fridge to enjoy after a long day.
Many people opt for multi-cookers that can slow cook and also act as the best rice cookers. However, these machines can cost at least £150, whereas even the best slow cookers can cost as little as £25. If you want an option that can roast and bake with removable inserts that can be used in the oven or hob, which also boasts digital settings, you can expect to pay around £75.
Ultimately, you don’t need to pay much to find a slow cooker to make tender lamb or beef, as well as easy bolognese and flavour-rich stews. Our best slow cooker guide features options from £25, up to £200.
Best slow cooker overall
Digital? No
Capacity: 3.5 litre
Features: Hob and dishwasher-safe bowl, three temperature settings
Reasons to buy:
• It looks great
• It’s easy to store thanks to its lightweight design
• Speedy heatup
Reasons to avoid:
• It’s not a digital model, so it won’t switch off automatically
Feature-packed, versatile and so simple to get the hang of, you’ll be slow cooking everything you can with the Sear and Stew. It could revolutionise your mealtimes. Its pot is made from aluminium rather than ceramic, meaning you can use it on the hob (not induction) to brown meat and veg. You can then transfer it to the base to slow cook on either high, medium, or low heat.
The Morphy Richards slow cooker’s high setting can also be used to reduce liquid after cooking. In tests, it was used to make a delicious slow-cooked curry, first sautéing meat on the hob. The pan’s base was slippery on the cast-iron support of a gas burner, so it had to be held in position when stirring. This required gloves as the handles grew hot. After, it was transferred to the base to cook on high for four hours.
The slow cooker was easy to set, and although it lacks a keep warm setting, we found that the low heat setting was a suitable alternative. While cooking, it bubbled away well. The exterior of the base only grew slightly warm. Both the pot and the toughened glass lid are dishwasher-safe so clean-up was straightforward.
Ideal Home’s rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Read our full Morphy Richards Sear and Stew 3.5 Litre Slow Cooker review
Best slow cooker for multi-cooking
Digital? Yes
Capacity: 5.7 litre
Features: 8 cooking modes, dishwasher-safe settings
Reasons to buy:
• Modes for cooking anything you wish
• Even the lid is dishwasher-safe
• Delay start mode
Reasons to avoid:
• Pot isn’t non-stick
Instant Pot has been making waves in the States for some time, but now it’s landed here. The Instant Pot Pro is one of the most premium options on offer, which a huge range of smart settings on offer. You can browse through them and save your favourites or most-used on a custom setting bar.
Amazingly smart, the Instant Pot Pro is very safe to use, and the pot allows you to sear either on the hob or inside the cooker before adding stock or tomatoes and setting your meal on to slow cook.
The lid screws into place and can even go in the dishwasher after you’re done. We found that it took just three and a half minutes to preheat and allowed us to preset your cooking mode for up to 24 hours. After 6 hours of slow cooking we had a delicious chicken stew, although we did wish that some recipes were included with the cooker.
Ideal Home’s rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Read our full Instant Pot Pro review
Best slow cooker for large servings
Digital? No
Capacity: 4.5 litre
Features: Hinged lid, multi-use bowl, non-stick
Reasons to buy:
• Easy to clean by hand
• Generous capacity
• Sear on the hob
Reasons to avoid:
• Quite expensive for a digital model
Some things may deter you from cooking. Having to transfer food from a pan to a pot, cleaning up or that annoying puddle of water you get from putting the lid down on the worktop. If that’s you, you need this smart model.
This slow cooker has been designed to be easy to clean – food residue just slides off. It’s also dishwasher-safe, and also oven and hob safe, so you can sauté in it. Be aware that the handles get hot, too. Slot in the hinged lid, which also has a seal around the edge, and you’re good to go.
Its manual control features three heat settings – high, low and keep warm – and there’s an indicator light. Given its mid-range price, there are a few extra features you’d expect to have like a timer or automatic controls. Having said all this, it made a fantastic Bolognese sauce in four hours on high. Rich and tasty, with perfectly cooked meat and veg.
Ideal Home’s rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Best large slow cooker for families
Digital? Yes
Capacity: 6.5 litre
Features: Sous-vide, timer settings, keep warm mode, temperature probe
Reasons to buy:
• Probe for perfectly cooked meat
• Lockable lid
• Can cook a whole chicken
Reasons to avoid:
• Sous vide takes a while
The Russell Hobbs 25630 Slow Cooker is a true multi-tasker. Armed with a temperature probe and sous vide capabilities, you can make sure that your meat is cooked just right before you cut it open, or fill up a water bath for succulent sous vide fish or veggies. This digital slow cooker comes with a probe and sous vide setting on its front control panel, as well as a regular slow cooker mode. You can set a timer, and choose between high and low heat, as well as a keep warm mode.
We tested the Russell Hobbs 25630 out on slow cooker stews, as well as a whole cooked chicken. This is when the temperature probe came in particularly useful, because we were confident that our chicken was cooked perfectly when we took it out, with none of the guesswork that come with roast chicken timings. Other features we enjoyed included the lock-safe lid and dishwasher-safe pot, both of which made mealtime easy and stress-free.
If you buy this slow cooker, you’ll probably want to use its sous vide mode. One thing we found is that you should account for how long the water will take to come to temperature when planning your meal around this. For us, it took about 20 minutes, so we suggest adding already hot water to speed this process along.
Ideal Home’s rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Best slow cooker for range of functions
Digital? Yes
Capacity: 6 litres
Features: Air frying, grilling, sear, pressure cook, keep warm, adjustable time and temperature
Reasons to buy:
• It allows you to sear and simmer
• A great one-pot option
• Air frying lid included
Reasons to avoid:
• Add less liquid to avoid watery stews
The Ninja Foodi Multi-Cooker is certainly mighty, but if you like your gadgets it could be a great investment. You can of course just use this multi-cooker as a slow cooker, for which it has a generous 6 litre capacity, but you can also take advantage of the sear setting to brown meat and veggies before slow cooking for a more rich flavour.
When we tested its slow cooking mode we found that it’s almost too good at retaining moisture. Recipes that came out more saucy in some slow cookers were a little less rich because it’s also designed to be an airtight pressure cooker. That can be remedied though by adding less liquid or taking into account the liquid that will come out of meat and veggies when you add them.
You can place the cooking pot in the dishwasher or wash by hand fairly easily. The Ninja Foodi Multi-Cooker also has a basket insert and can be used to air fry other treats when not in use as a slow cooker. Is this the future of slow cooking? We think so.
Ideal Home’s rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Read our full Ninja Foodi 9-in-1 Multi-Cooker OP350UK review
Best slow cooker for batch cooking
Digital? Yes
Capacity: 6 litre
Features: Pressure cook, slow cook, steam, sauté/ sear, sous vide, reduce
Reasons to buy:
• It’s a real multi-tasker
• Automatic pressure release
• Controls are easy to use and clearly laid out
Reasons to avoid:
• If you don’t want to pressure cook there are cheaper options out there
Removing the need to sauté in a pan before transferring to the pot, the Sage Fast Slow Go is as useful for slow cooking converts as it is to experienced cooks. Functioning as both a slow cooker and a pressure cooker, it includes sensors at the top and bottom to monitor temperature. This makes inconsistently cooked stews a thing of the past.
The controls are a little cluttered, but the illustrations make the Sage The Fast Slow Go easy to use and very clear. The lid his hinged, which we don’t love, but it does mean the Sage The Fast Slow Go will transition easily between slow cooking and pressure cooking for a range of the cooking modes.
You can activate a keep warm setting to keep your food ready for as long as six hours after your cooking mode has finished. The sear mode took only a few minutes to pre-heat and we were able to brown our onions before adding curry ingredients, which delivered a lot of extra flavour. The slow cooker’s ‘reduce’ function was useful for bubbling away excess liquid after slow cooking.
Ideal Home’s rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Read our full Sage The Fast Slow Go review
Best slow cooker for a classic kitchen
Digital? No
Capacity: 1.5 litre
Features: Retro look, dishwasher safe, transparent lid
Reasons to buy:
• Looks the part
• Nice and affordable
• Comes in a range of colours
Reasons to avoid:
• No keep-warm setting
Proving that limited worktop on space doesn’t mean compromising on style, this cheerful slow cooker is a welcome departure from so much stainless steel and purely functional designs. Not only is it available in a wide range of colours from pastel Blue to bright Red, it comes with generous chrome handles and a matching control knob.
Inside, a white ceramic pot makes a change from the usual black, and it’s topped off by a glass lid. It’s quite compact, so best suited for solo households or couples and comes with plenty of recipes to try. The only catch here is that you’ll have to adjust the quantities to suit the size of its bowl as they’re portioned for bigger pots.
One plus is the cooker’s auto mode, which cooks on the high setting before switching to low heat for the remainder of the time required. It wasn’t clear at what point in the cooking duration this happens but it provides a useful alternative to its high and low settings. Sadly, there’s no keep warm option, only the low setting if dinner needs to be delayed.
We used it to cook chilli cooked on high, which required sautéing some ingredients beforehand in a pan. After two hours of cooking, the chilli was bubbling and the lid clear, making it easy to check on progress without lifting it.
After four hours, there had been about an inch of liquid evaporation, with some of the meat slightly dry but soft beans. We also used it to simmer rice pudding on the low setting. After five hours there was a slight browned crust around edge but no burns and plenty of liquid, so the pudding wasn’t too thick or clumpy.
The bowl and lid were both easy to clean and dishwasher safe.
Ideal Home’s rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Best slow cooker for app pairing
Digital? No
Capacity: 4.8 litre
Features: Non-stick pot, keep warm function, digital display
Reasons to buy:
• The exterior stays cool
• The app has loads of recipes
Reasons to avoid:
• Accessories need to be hand-washed
We tried everything from baking a cake to pressure cooking rice in the Drew and Cole Cleverchef Pro, and it’s a smart multi-cooker that also wows when slow cooking. The inner pot is non-stick which made cleaning a breeze, and we made good use of the keep warm function which switched on automatically when the recipe had finished cooking.
One of the best things about the Drew and Cole Cleverchef Pro is the app, which comes with a huge range of recipes at the touch of a button. Compared to a lot of multi-cookers the Drew and Cole Cleverchef Pro has an uncomplicated display that’s simple to customise. A great choice for those who want a smart multi-cooker.
Ideal Home’s rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Read our full Drew and Cole Cleverchef Pro review
Best budget slow cooker
Digital? No
Capacity: 3.5 litre
Features: Chalkboard exterior, dishwasher safe
Reasons to buy: C
• Chalkboard can be very fun and useful
• It’s nice and compact
Reasons to avoid:
• No light to show when it’s on
There’s lots to like about the Chalk Board Slow Cooker. It has a 3.5-litre ceramic bowl that can cook up to three or four portions. Its matt black finish is designed to be written on in chalk. So, for example, you could write on what time dinner will be ready, what’s cooking inside or what time to add a final ingredient. It features standard settings of high, low and warm but the control dial is manual so you’ll need to be there to switch between them.
It’s affordable and a good medium size with enough capacity for newbies to experiment with, without occupying too much room. During testing, a few quirks emerged that you’ll need to work around. One is that adhesive left behind from a sticker made writing on the chalkboard area difficult. Another is that there’s no light to indicate it’s on, so you’ll need to preheat it before decanting dinner.
When used to cook soup on high, some steam and condensation escaped from the lid, leaving a puddle of water on the worktop, while the exterior grew very hot. However, the low setting produced a tasty Bolognese meat sauce and the warm function kept food at a hot enough serving temperature. The pot and lid are dishwasher-safe, too, which is advisable as it’s tricky to see food on the pot’s black glaze.
Ideal Home’s rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Best slow cooker for keen entertainers
Digital? Yes
Capacity: 5 litre
Features: Multi cooking, smart controls, dishwasher-safe accessories
Reasons to buy:
• Dishwasher-safe bowl and accessories
• Low maintenance
Reasons to avoid:
• The controls can be fiddly
There’s one area in which slow cookers truly excel and that’s producing top-notch meals that taste like you’ve been slaving away in the kitchen all day. In fact, all you had to do is pop some ingredients in a bowl and walk away. This is what the AutoCook slow cooker does brilliantly, stewing and simmering away while you enjoy a glass of wine with your guests.
Strictly a multi-cooker rather than a simple slow cooker, Bosch’s AutoCook Pro nonetheless performs the role with gusto. Offering up a five-litre cauldron-shaped round bowl, it provides good capacity without the awkward depth. It also uses induction to heat it evenly, removing the issue of hot spots. Also unlike a traditional slow cooker, there’s an abundance of controls to get to grips with. Some are more confusing than others.
The silver lining of this button bonanza is that you have more flexibility with your slow cooking time and temperature as it goes as low as 40C. In tests, the AutoCook slow-cooked eggs in their shells to gently poach them. The resulting eggs were still slightly watery after an hour. However, this slow cooker could be a time-saver for a dinner party. It made yogurt on a slow cooking programme that took eight hours and resulted in creamy semi-set yoghurt. Parts of the lid need to be washed by hand but the bowl and its accessories are all dishwasher-safe.
Ideal Home’s rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Image credit: Will Heap
Slow cookers have got so much going for them, it’s hard not to love them. Not only will a good one save you time and effort in the kitchen, it’ll save you money too. Slow cookers transform cheaper cuts of meat into tender dishes and liven up economical healthy pulses, like lentils, beans and peas. Plus, while they can be on all day, it’s at such a low wattage that it will only cost pennies.
Take a look at the best microwaves for more convenient cooking
Slow cookers are also brilliant for less-than-confident cooks, easily creating all those meals that seem a bit scary on the hob. That’s because slow cooking develops the flavours of food for richer, tastier results. It’s not just dinners that slow cookers excel at making either. They make great porridge, granola, stewed apples, bread and butter pudding, fudge and dips. You can use your slow cooker to melt chocolate, as a Bain-marie.
Slow cookers are one of the most affordable small appliances, and you can buy one for as little as £20. At this price, it’ll be pretty basic in terms of features. Also, the dish may be the traditional choice of heavy, potentially breakable, ceramic. However, you should still be able to simmer and stew whatever you like.
Spend more and you’ll find a greater array of features, such as automatic functions. A bigger budget will allow for a durable metal pot that can be used on your hob and is dishwasher-safe. Stretch your budget to the £100 mark and your slow cooker may also double up as a multi-cooker, so it can cook fluffy rice and steam food, too.
Image credit: Russell Hobbs
Slow cooker capacity
The first thing you need to consider with any slow cooker is its capacity – each will list its bowl size in litres. Bear in mind that this won’t translate to the same amount of food, as you shouldn’t fill slow cookers to the brim. This gap allows your food to bubble and simmer properly. The usable cooking space will be around three-quarters of its bowl size, for example, a five-litre cooker can accommodate around four litres of food.
Slow cookers range in size from a compact 1.5 litres to a 6.5-litre bowl, so be sure to choose the right size for the way you intend to cook. As a rough guide, 1.5-3 litres will feed one or two people, 3-5 litres, three or four people and anything over five litres should suit a large family, with six litres or more ideal for batch cooks who like to fill the freezer. Alternatively, a larger cooker is great for those who like to eat what’s leftover for lunch the next day.
Slow cooker controls
Most slow cookers will have similar standard controls – high heat for meals cooked in less than a few hours, low heat for all-day cooking. A ‘keep warm’ mode should hold food at a serve-able temperature without actually cooking it. Some cookers will switch to ‘keep warm’ automatically after an elapsed cooking time, while more basic models need this altered manually.
Slow cookers with digital controls may also have a delay start, which is ideal if you’re out of the house for more than eight hours. This means you can start cooking at a time to suit you – while it’s hard to overcook recipes with a lot of liquid, this gives more freedom with dishes that could potentially start to dry out. A timer is another handy feature – this will either turn the machine off after cooking or put it into a limited time keep warm mode.
One-pot solutions
Basic slow cookers won’t get hot enough to sauté meat or vegetables, so you’ll need to do this in a pan before transferring the contents to the bowl. However, more expensive models offer a different one-pot solution. This can either be bowls that you use on your hob or in your oven in place of a pan (some will even be induction compatible). They will need to be moved to the slow cooker base. Machines with a sauté function for high-heat browning can simply be switched to slow cooking.
Try the best saucepan sets for cooking stews from scratch
The advantage of this is not leaving all that lovely seared flavour behind in a pan, and it reduces washing-up. Finally, look for a slow cooker with a transparent lid, so you can keep an eye on your food’s progress. Lifting the lid of a slow cooker while it’s in use lets out heat and steam, prolonging cooking time. It’s always best to be able to see what’s going on without doing so.
You’ll only have a lid and a pot to wash but even so, it’s best to check the cleaning instructions. Budget models with large ceramic dishes may not be dishwasher-safe and the pot can be heavy and cumbersome to clean thoroughly by hand. Dark glazes may also make it hard to see stuck-on food. A non-stick coating on a lighter pot can be a better choice for straightforward maintenance.
The post Best slow cookers 2022: for healthy batch cooking appeared first on Ideal Home.
While a large, spacious kitchen is the dream, the reality is that many of us are stuck with small kitchens that feel cramped and crowded. But there are lots of visual tricks and clever ideas for how to make a small kitchen look bigger that don’t involve knocking down walls or a major refurb.
Layout is key to successful small kitchen ideas, whether you have a small, square-shaped kitchen or a long, skinny galley style layout.
‘Think about the work triangle,’ says Lizzie Beesley, Head of Design at Magnet. ‘One of the benefits of small kitchens is that you can easily access all areas of your space, making cooking and cleaning efficient. Try to place your cleaning, cooking and preparing areas into three separate zones, with plenty of floor space in-between.’
The right small kitchen paint colour can also make all the difference. ‘The colour scheme of your kitchen will have a big impact on the impression of the space available,’ says Darren Watts, Design Director at Wren Kitchens.
‘Light colours with plenty of white tint will naturally reflect light, which helps to avoid the room feeling cramped and dark. Bright white or cream is an obvious choice, but don’t feel limited. Light greens, yellows, blues and even greys can work well too.’
‘Whatever colour you choose, try to make the cabinet doors and walls one consistent colour. This removes any visual barriers that cause the eye to stop short, thus making the room appear much larger than it actually is,’ adds Darren.
Image credit: Wren Kitchens
Keep the look sleek and streamlined to create a feeling of spaciousness in a small or narrow kitchen. Choose light-reflective surfaces that will bounce light around the room and instantly make the space feel bigger and brighter. Opt for light coloured cabinets, high-gloss doors and pale, blonde woods and ditch fussy detailing for simple slab-front doors and flush handle-free profiles.
‘Gloss finish cabinets and worktops, as well as metallic accents across taps, handles and appliances will reflect the light and make the room feel much larger than it actually is,’ says Darren at Wren.
Image credit: Carpetright
Make a small kitchen look bigger by laying directional flooring. A wide herringbone-pattern floor or chevron-format tile creates lines that draw the eye outwards and will make the kitchen floor feel wider and longer.
Keep to light tiles or pale-coloured woods that will reflect light, rather than dark, heavy colours which are light-absorbing and will make the space feel more closed-in.
Image credit: Future PLC/ David Still
While lack of smart small kitchen storage ideas can be a major problem when space is limited, having too much ‘stuff’ out on worktops will only make the space feel more cluttered and overcrowded. The less there is on show, the neater your worktops will look – and the more organised and tidy your kitchen will feel.
Only leave out the essentials that you use daily, such as the toaster and kettle or coffee maker. Stow all the lesser-used items out of sight, in full-sized cupboards or lower-down cabinets so they can be pulled out when needed, from food mixers and blenders, to sandwich makers and food processors.
Image credit: Future PLC / Lizzie Orme
Having cabinets on all four walls can make a small kitchen feel overcrowded. Opting for an L-shaped arrangement with cabinets that meet in one corner, provides an ample amount of storage, without making the kitchen feel overly-crammed.
For extra worktop space, try adding a small freestanding small kitchen island idea in the centre of the kitchen. Or bring in a breakfast table and chairs positioned in the opposite corner and there’ll be somewhere for the family to gather.
Image credit: Magnet
Create the illusion of space with thoughtful two tone kitchen cabinet ideas. If your kitchen is on the small side, try incorporating two shades into the colour scheme and see how it enhances the overall feeling of space.
A darker colour on the base units helps to define the layout and works as an anchor point. Opting for a lighter shade on the upper wall units will draw the eye upwards and help make the kitchen feel brighter and more open.
Image credit: Future PLC/ Colin Poole
Make a narrow galley kitchen feel more spacious by wallpapering one end in a lively print. A busy pattern on the narrowest wall will draw the eye along and create the illusion of extra width.
Choose a design that complements your kitchen’s decor. Match the colour and pattern to kitchen cabinets, a colourful splashback, wall colour or flooring for a chic, co-ordinated look.
Image credit: Future PLC/ David Giles
Glossy white wall tiles will work wonders in a small kitchen, reflecting light and enhancing the sense of spaciousness. Stretch the space further by choosing brick-shaped tiles and installing them in a simple stacked format. Laid lengthwise like this, longline tiles help to visually expand the space and make the kitchen feel wider than it is.
Image credit: Future PLC/ Colin Poole
Choose wisely when it comes to kitchen appliances and you can free up valuable space. Consider compact appliances, such as slimline dishwashers and fridges, or appliances that do the work of two, but only take up the space of one, such as combination washer/driers.
Integrated appliances are another option that will keep a small kitchen looking sleek and streamlined. Rather than a muddle of mixed brands and appliances, hiding everything away behind cabinet doors gives a more fluid, uninterrupted look that will make a kitchen feel more spacious and airy.
Image credit: Future PLC
Make a small kitchen feel bigger by matching worktops and splash backs for a sleek, streamlined look. Choose a pale colour or light-reflective surface and extend the worktops up the walls to give a seamless appearance and uninterrupted finish. Having no harsh breaks makes walls recede visually and creates a feeling of calm and spaciousness.
Image credit: Future PLC/ Barbara Bazso
Natural light will enlarge any space and make it instantly feel brighter and more spacious. Maximise what light you do have in a small kitchen by keeping any window treatments to a minimum. If windows aren’t overlooked at street level, consider doing away with window coverings completely if you can. Plants and greenery displayed on the windowsill will keep it from looking too bare and empty.
If some form of covering is a must, consider a sheer blind that will give privacy without blocking too much light. Or try classic cafe-style shutters that will obscure the bottom section of window, while still allowing plenty of light through at the top.
Image credit: Bushboard
Plan the perfect small kitchen layout to enhance the sense of space. Galley kitchens are often long and narrow and have limited space on both sides. There’s a tendency to cram lots of units into a galley kitchen to give maximum storage, but this can create a ‘corridor-like’ effect that can make a narrow kitchen feel too enclosed.
Instead of units wall-to-wall, try breaking up the space a little by removing wall cabinets on one side and replacing them with a long run of open shelving. Adding a decorative splash back underneath will help grab the attention and make this side of the kitchen the focal point.
Image credit: Amtico
Replacing wall units with open shelving is an easy way of making a small kitchen feel more spacious. But if you don’t want to lose any valuable cupboard space, there is another option. Swapping solid doors for glazed fronts will have a similar effect and make the kitchen feel less crowded.
If you have panelled cabinet doors, it’s fairly simple just to replace the panels with glazing. If that isn’t possible, there are lots of replacement door companies that offer this service. Try painting or tiling the interior a lighter colour. This will help draw the eye past cabinet frames and inside, so walls will feel further away.
Light-reflecting colours will make a small kitchen feel bigger, by bouncing the light around the space. So opting for a combination of pale-coloured walls and kitchen cabinets in light tones and glossy, reflective finishes will help open up the space enormously. White is an obvious colour choice for a small kitchen, but white kitchen ideas aren’t the only option. Pearly-sheened pastels, off-whites and neutrals, as well as pale wood finishes and blonde grains will all help to boost light levels in a small kitchen.
Having a small kitchen doesn’t mean that you have to steer away from dark colours totally. Small doses of colour can go a long way and help to energise the space. Use dark colours sparingly so that they don’t overwhelm the space. Strategically-placed dark coloured base units can help ground the layout and by teaming them with a paler colour at the top, the eye will be drawn upwards.
As with kitchen cabinets and wall colours, light-reflective finishes and pale-coloured flooring will also help to make a small kitchen look bigger. The size and scale of flooring will also have an effect on how large the kitchen feels too. Tiny tiles can make a small kitchen feel overly busy and cramped. Opting for large floor tiles in a small square kitchen will reduce the number of grout lines and create a visual illusion of more space.
Or with a small, galley kitchen, opt for directional flooring that runs the length of the kitchen and will draw the eye along.
The post How to make a small kitchen look bigger – 12 simple ideas appeared first on Ideal Home.
.If you are carrying out home renovation or building works, it’s vital to ensure you and your property are fully protected. Although a standard home insurance policy will normally cover redecoration and DIY, it won’t cover problems caused during bigger jobs such as loft conversions or building an extension.
Standard home insurance is unlikely to cover major renovation works because building work increases the chances of something going wrong and you needing to make a claim. For example, a wall might collapse, a fire might break out, or building equipment could be stolen. At certain times during the work your home may be structurally unstable, exposed to the elements or more vulnerable to theft.
You’ll normally need a specialist insurance policy if the renovation or building work means your home will not be lived in for more than 30 days. You’ll also need specialist cover if the works are extensive or there will be expensive equipment and materials kept at the property.
Image credit: Future PLC
Syed Jamal, head of home underwriting at Markerstudy Insurance, says: ‘It’s important to tell your home insurer if you are intending to do building work or renovations to your property, as this increases the risk of something unexpected happening to your home and its contents.
‘Home insurers are likely to take different approaches when this happens and, depending on the extent of works taking place, may impose additional requirements or exclusions to your home insurance policy. To give some more detail, a fairly typical insurer response for properties under the course of construction, or properties unoccupied during completion of minor building works, would be to decline cover on their standard Home Insurance Policy.’
Most insurance for building works will cover some types of minor building or renovation work on a standard home insurance policy. What is covered varies between insurers so it’s a good idea to check your policy – if in doubt, call your insurer.
‘If a customer is looking to get renovation work completed on their property, it’s always advisable to inform their insurer about this, to ensure that the necessary cover is in place,’ says a spokesperson for Churchill Insurance. ‘We can offer cover within the policy for the following: new kitchen, new bathroom, new flooring, decorating, and rewiring.’
‘A customer should, however, be conscious that when making significant alterations and renovations on their home, there are some considerations to be aware of. These include that when a property becomes unoccupied we may restrict cover, we have time limits on how long the work can take, and security endorsements may be applied.’
Image credit: Future plc/Claire Lloyd Davies
According to data analyst Defaqto, about 15% of building insurance policies include a ‘minor building works limit’. This type of cover means you can get work done, up to the value in your policy, without needing extra cover.
‘Many homeowners don’t realise that your house insurance will not cover you for home improvement disasters if the insurance company hasn’t been notified first’ warns JJ Heath-Caldwell, managing director at Local Surveyors Direct. ‘If you or a contractor goes ahead and damages your property for the purpose of building works, without telling your insurer, then it could void your policy,’
‘Most insurance companies will cover up to £20,000 to £30,000 worth of building work in your home. But once you go over that figure it becomes a major project and you might find you need to change insurers for the renovation period. It is also important to make sure your trades people or builders have the right insurance cover themselves, so that it’s not your household policy that takes the brunt of any claim.’
Home renovations can be complex projects, and the potential problems might not always be obvious to those not in the building trade. Insurance for building works – or home renovation insurance – will protect your property against a range of risks while building works are being carried out including an unoccupied property pending renovation.
If you’re doing structural work but it’s not a self or new-build project, then it’s likely that you’ll need renovation insurance. This includes work such as conversions (such as barns, basements, and lofts) and extensions. If the property doesn’t have anyone living in it for a period of time you may need unoccupied house insurance.
Image credit: Future PLC/Fraser Marr
Although most builders will have insurance for building works carried out on your home – and you should check this before they begin work. Because this might not protect you in all situations. Different contractors will have varying levels of cover, and some policies may come with exclusions.
For example, a builder’s insurance policy may have exclusions and limits which will compromise the safety of your property. Some policies include an ‘application of heat’ exclusion, which means that if a fire were to break out when the builder was using a blowtorch, then the cost to repair this damage to your home would be excluded.
Some policies may have limits about height or depth – these will be relevant if you are adding an extra storey to a property or renovating a basement.
‘Contractors should have public liability insurance’ says James Cullen, head of building surveying at property group George F. White. ‘This should be checked by an instructing homeowner to ensure it is valid, does not expire during the job, is assigned to the parties doing the job and is of sufficient value to cover the cost of the works and any consequential damages which could occur as a result of the works.’
‘For example, hitting a power supply cable whilst digging foundations, causing death or injury etc.’ If your builder has public liability insurance and a contractor’s or risks policy, you can give their insurance details to your existing home insurance provider, who will be able to check what cover they have and how this applies to your policy.
A spokesperson for Churchill Insurance adds: ‘To be covered for renovation work, the contractor must have public liability insurance and an all-risks policy. We would therefore always advise that customers conduct relevant checks on the suppliers they’re using and review all insurance documentation before entering into a contract. Just to ensure that they’re fully covered for the work that will be completed.’
Image credit: Future PLC/Davide Lovati
Policies vary between insurers, but a typical building works or renovation insurance policy might cover:
After your building work is complete it’s a good idea to double check your existing home insurance policy. The premium you paid will be based on the property’s ‘rebuild value’. That is, how much it would cost to completely rebuild the property from scratch.
The rebuild value will be different to your property’s market value. If you’ve had extensive renovations done, you may need to update the rebuild cost of your property to remain adequately insured. Speak to your insurer if the work involved altering the structural layout of your house, extending your property, or any kind of conversion.
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