Mediterranean Oak Kitchen

The owners — a British family who had recently renovated the rest of their Mijas Pueblo townhouse — came to Magnum Reformas with a single explicit instruction: "warm and Spanish, not white and shiny". They had visited several other reform companies on the Costa del Sol and felt every kitchen looked identical: white handleless cabinets, marble waterfall island, integrated everything. They wanted real wood that could be sanded and re-oiled in 20 years, ceramic that showed the artisan's hand, and a colour palette rooted in the Andalusian landscape — sage greens, terracotta, oak honey. The kitchen footprint was a generous 16 m² with a small north-facing window over the sink and a doorway through to the dining room — no structural changes were needed.

Technical Specifications

The showroom session was unusually long — almost four hours — because the client wanted to handle every wood and ceramic option physically. The upper cabinetry was specified in solid European oak with vertical grain and a natural matte hardwax-oil finish — Osmo PolyX-Oil 3032, breathable, repairable, and beautifully tactile. The lower cabinets were sampled in five greens before settling on NCS S 5010-G30Y, a muted dusty sage that reads green in daylight and almost grey-green at night. The worktop was the area where the "no marble" rule mattered most: the client chose Silestone Faro White in matte (Suede) finish — a plain warm cream with no veining at all, the antithesis of Calacatta. The splashback tiles were the showpiece: handmade Moroccan zellige in terracotta-rojo, sourced from a Marrakech atelier, 5×15 cm, each tile slightly different.

Technical Specifications

The old kitchen was stripped in two days: cabinets disassembled and donated to a local recycling cooperative, worktops removed in sections, splashback tiles chipped off and the wall taken back to brick. The 2002 plumbing was a single hot-cold pair feeding the sink and a separate cold tap for the dishwasher — completely inadequate for a modern kitchen with double sink, dishwasher and water filter. We installed all new copper plumbing first-fix: dual outlets to the sink area for the main mixer and a separate filtered-water tap, a dedicated isolation valve for the dishwasher, and capped points for a future ice-maker fridge. The electrical first-fix added eight 16A sockets at worktop level (replacing four), a dedicated 32A circuit for the induction hob, and concealed cable runs for under-cabinet LED lighting. The brick wall was then re-skimmed with a 5 mm gypsum plaster ready for tiling.

Technical Specifications

The oak engineered chevron flooring was laid first across the whole kitchen — installed glued-down on a 5 mm acoustic underlay, with a perimeter expansion gap hidden under the cabinet plinths. The lower sage-green cabinetry was assembled and levelled across the L-shape, then the Silestone Faro White Suede worktop was templated, cut and installed in two pieces with an invisible mitre joint at the corner. The handmade zellige splashback was the most delicate part of the install — each tile is ever-so-slightly different in size and curvature, so our tiler set them by eye over four days, hand-checking horizontal lines with a laser level. The cream grout was applied in a single careful pass and immediately wiped to keep the tiles' uneven surface visible. Upper oak cabinetry was hung last, with integrated finger-pull rails on the underside so no handles interrupt the vertical wood grain.

Technical Specifications

The appliance package was kept deliberately simple to suit the cottage character of the property: Bosch Series 6 induction hob flush-mounted in the worktop, Bosch oven in a tall housing unit faced in oak, free-standing Smeg FAB28 fridge in cream as a deliberate retro accent, and a discreet recirculating extractor hidden behind a perforated oak panel. Lighting is layered: warm 2700 K under-cabinet LED strips for task light, three small hanging brass pendants over the breakfast bar peninsula, and a single pendant over the sink window. No downlights in the ceiling — the client wanted no "hotel grid" effect. The brass cup-handles were the very last fixings, hand-positioned and tightened by our cabinet maker. Final snagging at week 4 found two minor adjustments to soft-close hinges and one zellige tile that had drifted 2 mm out of alignment overnight — both resolved within the same day.

Technical Specifications

Every Magnum Reformas project begins with a free site visit from a dedicated project manager — no obligation, within 48 hours of enquiry. We provide a fully itemised fixed-price quote: every line of work is listed, nothing is hidden. Once approved, our team manages every trade on site so you never coordinate subcontractors yourself. A dedicated WhatsApp group keeps you updated with photos and videos throughout. At handover, we walk you through every installation and leave you a full documentation pack.

Technical Specifications