Kevin McCloud reveals his controversial Grand Designs ‘bugbears’ | Celebrity News | Showbiz & TV

Grand Design‘s star Kevin McCloud has admitted the popular design features which don’t enamour him. After 25 years presenting the Channel 4 show Kevin has seen all sorts of home improvements but he confessed some things just don’t float his boat.

“My biggest bugbear is things being too big,” he said. “Most houses could shrink overnight by a third, and the occupants would never notice.

“Number two? Houses with more toilets than physical occupants. Why do people judge the status of a house by how many toilets you can offer your guests? It’s absurd.

“Thirdly, complexity. Most people say to me that if they had known how complicated building is, they would have made their idea simpler. Complexity has become a demonstration of the need to be grand.”

His one bit of key design advice doesn’t involve any of the above. In an interview with Radio Times, he advised: “Our homes ought to be autobiographical, full of people’s histories and the stuff of life.”

Explaining that grand doesn’t have to mean lavish he encouraged people to use recycled items in their design alongside cheap and borrowed items.

Practicing what he preaches he revealed his own home boasts an IKEA kitchen. The 65-year-old explained he has cupboards and drawers from the Swedish furniture giant however he has mixed it up with “posh” work surfaces and taps.

Kevin also acknowledged that his design interests had changed as he got older and he is now interested in accessibility as well as the aesthetic.

Claiming his knees are “getting a bit creaky” he said anything which makes his life easier is helpful.

Unfortunately he feels that this element of design is usually handled badly as it is usually done by the NHS.

Kevin has brought this interest to the upcoming series of the show which will feature a house designed for a woman who is in a wheelchair and her young family.

He described the project as “satisfying” and “intriguing” saying you have to think about how life works for that person.

The new season of Grand Designs will kick off on September 11 with a special retrospective episode Grand Designs: 25 Years & Counting looking back at the shows quarter of a century history.

You can read the full interiew with Kevin McCloud in the latest edition of Radio Times.