The Curtains That Sorted My Kitchen: An Honest Review of the MRTREES Beige Waterproof Blackout Panels

I am not, by nature, a curtain person.

I've lived in my terraced house in Cork for six years and the kitchen window has had the same situation the entire time: a thin, yellowing roller blind that came with the house, that I kept meaning to replace, and that I never actually replaced. It let in too much light in the morning, it had a small tear along the bottom edge that I'd been ignoring since 2022, and it did absolutely nothing for the room aesthetically.

But it was fine. And fine is the enemy of better.

What Finally Made Me Do Something About It

The kitchen faces east. In summer, from about 7am to 10am, the sun comes directly through that window and hits the worktop at an angle that makes it genuinely difficult to see what you're doing. I'd been working from home more regularly, and I'd started eating breakfast at the kitchen table rather than standing over the sink like a feral bachelor. Suddenly the window situation was not fine. It was actively annoying.

The second issue was steam. I cook a lot — proper cooking, not just reheating — and the kitchen gets humid. The old blind had developed a faint mildew smell along the bottom that I'd been pretending wasn't there. When I finally took it down to measure the window, I confirmed what I'd suspected: it was done.

So I started looking for a replacement. My requirements were simple:

• Blackout or near-blackout — I needed to actually cut that morning glare
• Waterproof or moisture-resistant — no more mildew situation
• Easy to fit — I have a standard curtain pole already up, I wasn't replacing it
• Neutral colour — the kitchen is white and oak, I didn't want anything that would fight with it
• Machine washable — because I cook, and kitchens get greasy

That's quite a specific list. Most curtains I found ticked two or three of those boxes. The MRTREES Beige Waterproof Blackout Kitchen Curtains ticked all five.

Why I Chose the MRTREES Panels Specifically

I'll be honest: I nearly went with a more expensive option from a well-known home brand. But when I read through the MRTREES spec properly, I couldn't justify the price difference.

The waterproof fabric construction was the first thing that caught my attention. Not water-resistant — waterproof. Engineered specifically to handle moisture and humidity without degrading or developing the kind of mildew problem I'd just thrown in the bin. For a kitchen or bathroom window, that's not a nice-to-have. It's essential.

The 70% blackout rating was exactly what I needed. I wasn't looking for a bedroom blackout situation — I still want some natural light in the kitchen during the day. 70% cuts the glare without turning the room into a cave. That balance is harder to find than you'd think; most curtains are either sheer or full blackout, with not much in between.

The rod pocket design fitting poles up to 2.5cm was perfect for my existing pole. No new hardware, no fiddling with clip rings or eyelet punches. Slide them on, hang them up, done.

And the machine washable at 30°C specification sealed it. Kitchen curtains will get splattered. They will absorb cooking smells. Being able to throw them in the wash rather than dry-clean or hand-wash only is a genuine practical consideration, not a minor footnote.

The 30x24 inch (75x60cm) size was a near-perfect fit for my window — I have a slightly wider window so I ordered two sets of two panels, which gave me a full, generous drape with a slight gather. Looks intentional rather than stretched.

I found them in the Curtains & Drapes and Window Treatments collections, which is exactly where I was browsing. They also appear in the broader Decor and Home & Garden ranges if you're doing a wider refresh.

I ordered them on a Tuesday evening. They arrived Thursday.

Fitting Them — Ten Minutes, No Drama

I want to be specific about this because I've been burned before by curtains that claim easy installation and then require a degree in soft furnishings to actually hang.

The rod pocket on the MRTREES panels is generously sized and the fabric slides onto the pole without bunching or snagging. I had both panels on the rod and the rod back on its brackets in under ten minutes. The panels hung straight immediately — no steaming required, no weights needed at the hem. They just... hung properly. That sounds like a low bar but it genuinely isn't.

Living With Them — Three Months On

I've now had the MRTREES panels in my kitchen for just over three months. Here's the honest report:

• The morning glare is gone. Completely. I can sit at the kitchen table at 8am with a coffee and actually see my phone screen. This sounds trivial. It has meaningfully improved my mornings.
• No moisture issues whatsoever. The kitchen gets steamy — I make pasta, I boil stock, I run the dishwasher. The panels look exactly as they did on day one. No warping, no smell, no discolouration along the bottom edge.
• I've washed them twice. 30°C, gentle cycle, hung back up while slightly damp. They dried in a couple of hours and came out looking perfect both times. No shrinkage, no fading.
• They look good. The beige is a warm, slightly creamy neutral — not stark white, not yellow. It works with the oak cabinets in a way I wasn't entirely sure it would from a product photo, but it absolutely does in person.

The Difference It's Made

I know it's just curtains. I'm aware of how that sounds. But the kitchen is the room I spend the most time in, and for six years I'd been tolerating a window situation that was subtly annoying every single morning. Fixing it cost less than a dinner out and took ten minutes.

The room feels more finished now. More intentional. The kind of small change that makes you wonder why you waited so long — and then immediately remember that fine is the enemy of better, and you've always known that, and yet.

If your kitchen or bathroom window is in a similar situation — functional but not quite right, letting in too much light, or harbouring a blind you've been meaning to replace since the last government — have a look at the MRTREES Beige Waterproof Blackout Kitchen Curtains. Browse the full Curtains collection and the Window Treatments range for more options.

Just don't wait six years like I did.

Declan Fogarty is a freelance copywriter and reluctant home improver based in Cork, Ireland. He writes about food, interiors, and the small domestic decisions that turn out to matter more than expected.