MINNIE DLAMINI’S KITCHEN RENOVATION

Sports fan. Skincare fundi. Businesswomen extraordinaire. Minnie Dlamini Jones is one of South Africa’s favourite personalities.  Looking at her Insta-feed, it’s hard to believe that the stylish Minnie is a mere mortal like ourselves, but unfortunately for her she still has to deal with real life issues just like we do. Like house renovations. Luckily for us, when she decided to renovate her kitchen, Minnie knew that she would settle for nothing less than Caesarstone.

 

Let’s face it: renovations are never fun. They are time-consuming, dusty and annoyingly always take longer than expected – “a complete nightmare”, as Minnie puts it. So when you decide to renovate, you need to be sure of what you want. When Minnie and her husband Quinton moved into their new pad in Johannesburg they decided to tackle the kitchen with a renovation. Not surprisingly, Minnie had a very clear vision in mind.

 

Classic, timeless, light and bright – Minnie wanted a kitchen that was everything her kitchen wasn’t. She saw the potential in the space that wasn’t being optimized, and the cupboards and finishes left a lot to be desired. It was dark and even slightly sad, which is a far cry from the Jones family style! Basically, she had the bare bones of her dream kitchen, but it was in serious need of a facelift.

 

“When you walk into my house it’s a home, and our kitchen needs to reflect that”, she explains. “The kitchen is one of those places where, if done correctly, it could turn into a key feature in the house.”

 

She wanted not only to rework the existing cupboards and redo the colour scheme to brighten the space, but also introduce a show-stopper of a piece, a stand-out feature of the house that would do justice to the space.

 

What kind of style would complement such an effervescent personality? “I’m really simple. I love old, classic, sort of farmhouse-style”, Minnie told us. She wanted something which represents her and her husband and looks and feels like a home. And knowing Minnie, she wouldn’t stand for anything less than perfection.

 

With that in mind, Minnie came into our showroom in Kramerville and played around with our new visualizer app. The visualiser allows you to put in the style of your floors, your cupboard fittings, even the colour of your walls, and then play around with the different styles of Caesarstone and decide which would look best with your fittings and finishes. Like Pinterest, but for YOUR kitchen.

 

So which of the over 40 Caesarstone designs did Minnie choose? Minnie knew from the minute she saw it that it had to be the Calacutta Nuvo. In her own words, “it shouted at her.” The marble-inspired Calacutta Nuvo has wide, elegant, cascading, grey veins on a white, opaque. It definitely has a presence but it’s subtle enough to be versatile – if Minnie ever changes her mind about her cupboards or her colour scheme, her Caesarstone countertops will perfectly complement whatever she chooses.

 

The end product? A kitchen fit for South Africa’s diamond! Stacked cupboards draw attention to the high ceilings, soft grey walls beautifully off-set the finishes, and sparkly new appliances ensure this kitchen is as practical as it is easy on the eye. But the pièce de résistance is a fabulously functional split-level island with Caesarstone countertops which perfectly fills the spaciousness of the kitchen, and where Minnie can sit comfortably and sip bubbly while her hubby mans the stove – or vice versa!

 

In essence, a sophisticated farmhouse kitchen in the city. Of course, renovations aren’t cheap and a kitchen this gorgeous doesn’t come without a cost. But just as Minnie wants us all to consider looking after our wellbeing as an investment (have you seen her fantastic new skincare range?!), so she and Quinton knew that investing in a kitchen renovation was worth the dust, the inconvenience, and, let’s be real, the money.

 

“I chose Caesarstone because, I mean, first of all I’m one of those people where I love beautiful things, and Caesarstone is one of those brands where, not only is it beautiful, not only is the quality high-end, I know it’s got a lifetime warranty.” Rather than cutting corners on quality when it comes to finishes, Minnie suggests that all renovators should make sure they’re dealing with a reputable company when putting in countertops, or else risk regretting it later.


After putting her new countertops through their paces, Minnie was confident that she had made the right decision by choosing genuine Caesarstone. She appreciates the ease with which she can clean her countertops, as well as the fact that this makes her kitchen more hygienic. She is confident she won’t have to redo her kitchen because she has invested in the real deal – stains, scratches and cracks don’t fit in with her future plans.

 

Clearly, far from being just a pretty face, Minnie is a savvy businesswoman. She knew that Caesarstone was a sensible choice for her kitchen. Besides being beautiful, convenient and durable, having Caesarstone in your kitchen immediately increases the value of your house. Talk about winning! The only question left to ask is, is she satisfied with her new farm-style kitchen?