We just couldn’t sort out why you weren’t tearing out the kitchen. “
That is the thing one of our contractor’s guys told us right when we moved in a year ago. I understood his disarray. We were re-doing floors, moving doors, vaulting roofs, and so on; however, we left the little old kitchen untouched-complete with mauve laminate countertops. You can understand it here in this post.
In any case, to us, to realize that we firmly prefer to live in an expensive-to-renovate room like a kitchen first, to make sure we don’t hurry into spending major money on huge, long-lasting changes that we could later regret or wish that we had thoroughly considered a little longer.
Thus, we went through the last 16 months discussing different big ideas for this room, all while peppering in a few simple smaller updates to discover how they assist with working on the space and what we could need for our long-haul plan.
Throughout the course of recent months, we discussed adding more cabinetry in different spots, later understanding that we had an opportunity to add a huge pantry with a built-in fridge on the entire stair wall, and furthermore, we discussed shutting off a window-or possibly 50% of it-to accommodate a washroom off of our room… that we later acknowledged would be a lot more brilliant in a totally better place.
In addition to the fact that we arrived at a better spot for our ensuite restroom, we currently have much better ideas for that side kitchen window and the porch that it neglects-so we’re sharing that later on in this post as well.
We’ll get into our huge plans here, yet I likewise need to take you through a portion of the new updates that have assisted us with capitalizing on our modestly sized kitchen… a large number of which we haven’t shown you yet here on the blog.
THE ADDITION OF A BUILT-IN PANTRY
The greatest improvement we’ve made of late is adding a built-in floor-to-ceiling pantry cabinet that created such an excess of stockpiling that we didn’t have previously. Previously, we just had 7 kitchen cupboards (here’s how we coordinated them), which is the reason we depended so vigorously on some unattached Ikea Fjalkinge racks to hold all of our food, serving products, and even devices.
It functioned admirably enough in the short term, but we needed something more profound and significantly more functional for the long stretch. So in late spring, we requested two major Ikea cupboards-one tall pantry cabinet and one over-the-fridge cabinet-and some side board parts to get it going. Working with Ikea cupboards is predictable as far as we’re concerned at this point, yet you can peruse our tips and tricks for introducing them assuming you’re new to it.
When you build them all in, they look truly fresh and finished-and they accompany a wide range of additions and choices (for instance, the pantry cabinet could have cupboards or drawers on the base, and so on. We chose to keep this area of cabinetry basic (level-fronted and white) as opposed to painting them mauve to match different cupboards since they go the entire way to the roof, and we imagined that side of the room could feel weighty and out of balance with the remainder of the room. However, we introduced these matching knobs to attach them to the current kitchen.
In addition to the fact that it was a major aesthetic improvement (particularly having the fridge built in! ), it was a huge functional improvement that procured us huge loads of additional stockpiling. It was practically more than we knew how to manage! We even ran an additional string to place our microwave in there and get it off our counter.
There’s very little wizardry to the association here.
We picked the Ikea storeroom bureau that had drawers on the base since we love having drawers on lower cabinets. It works in basically the same manner as the unsupported Fjalkinge units where we used to store our food, but these drawers are more profound and taller. I can’t highlight the amount of capacity we have now that we’ve added this.
Adding this pantry cabinet likewise permitted us to add another piece of accommodation and capacity as well.
WALL MOUNTING OPTIONS FOR A SPICE RACK
Previously, each of our flavours was in one of the Fjalkinge racking units, a few steps from the oven and cooking region where we really wanted them most. In a perfect world, they would’ve been in the skinny drawer right next to the oven; unfortunately, it was too tight to even consider fitting more than 3 or 4 jars at once.
So we requested this wall-mounted spice rack and tied it down to the side of the storage space. We additionally ordered a set of matching spice jars and presently everything is right reachable for the oven and requires zero fishing around in a cabinet.
You can see it additionally holds a roll of paper towels, so that was something else we had the option of getting off the ledge. Between that and the microwave being gone, we felt like we had acquired loads of room up there!
BEEFING UP THE FLOATING RACKS
The next couple of enhancements are more visual than practical, but they were still truly supportive in causing the space to feel like it was creeping nearer to the eventual outcome that we’re going for. The first “floating” wood racks were a quick and dirty Do-It-Yourself that we did not long after we moved in with wood extra from our clothing storeroom shelving. We had generally desired to replace them with someone more long-term; it just took us over a year to do so!
The new shelves are from Pottery Barn, and they’re great and stout and really drifty (dissimilar to the old ones that were held up by certain sections that we decisively obscured with the things on the racks). We got lucky that these racks came premade in both 48′′ and 36′′ lengths, since the window isn’t fixated on that wall.
They’re profound and strong enough to hold our biggest plates, so they essentially checked each box we had for them. They were likewise really simple to introduce. Five stars. I would enthusiastically suggest I’m not sure why we waited so long to implement the change.
SCONCES FOR WALL MOUNTING
We’ve without exception needed a few sconces over the floating racks, yet we weren’t anticipating the difficulty of an electrician destroying the walls-particularly on the off chance that we’re not doing a full fledged reno yet (we have 8 roof lights here, so we’re not actually harming them for brightening). So we chose to hang a few decorative sconces (indeed, they’re simply brightening now-on the grounds that they’re in a real sense sans wiring) just to ensure we loved the look and arrangement prior to getting them designed (which we’ll probably do when we add the backsplash).
We utilized the mid-century sconces we designed in the brass and white combo to tie in the entirety of the brass and white components all throughout our home. We just screwed the included mounting support solidly into the drywall, since there’s no installation box there at present. The wires are still well covered and restricted inside, so we can get them wired at last. However, for the present, they’re assisting us with sorting out where, on the off chance that we need something extremely durable there over the long haul.
Additionally, assuming we at any point need to really “turn them on,” we purchased these battery-powered lights that turn on when you screw them in-no wiring required by any means. They’re designed as a back-up light source if there should arise an occurrence of a blackout, but they function admirably in this application as well!
A WINDOW BOX HIDING THE UGLY STUFF OUTSIDE.
We’re ruined with loads of lovely perspectives in our home, yet this perspectives through the window over the sink likely positions at the lowest part of the list. Aside from our washroom window (which is frosted), this one is fortunately the one that gazes straight into the fence. What’s more, we exacerbated the view when our pool was being introduced on the grounds that the main spot the pool equipment could be put was just outside this window. Our generator, A/C unit, and gas meter are now out there, so it was a natural spot for all the ugly things to be assembled. It simply didn’t make the view while doing dishes any better. In this way, as we’ve done before here and here, we worked on the view with plants.
We just hung a window box outside and filled it with foxtail plants and inch plants (they’re the purple ones), which completely blocked the bottom few inches of the window, which is where we could see all that terrible equipment down there on the ground. If all else fails, put a plant on it, or on the other hand, twenty altogether.
ELIMINATING THE BACKSPLASH
Before you think “how could you at any point eliminate a backsplash” or “wait, what backsplash?” let me explain. I’m discussing the 4’ x 8’ piece of matching laminate that stretched out from the back of the countertops. You can see it in the photograph beneath, alongside the old racks.
With respect to how we got the backsplash out, Sherry just grinned at me when I left to get things done, and afterward pried it off and fixed/smoothed/painted the drywall behind it while I was gone. She cherishes a major reveal in that way. Our eventual plans are to tile this whole back divider all the way to the roof, so presently we’re one bit nearer. Additionally, I love a task that eventually happens when I’m gone.
Eliminating it left a little hole at the back of the ledges, but we think we’ll simply snag a little piece of trim and paint it to match the counters and push it back there. It’s not large to the point of losing food or spoons in it or anything (and it will ultimately be filled by a real tile backsplash, so, all in all, we’ll get new counters), but to make sure we don’t have a bizarre little crumb valley, the wood trim piece will be a great stop-gap.
KEEPING MORE RACK STORAGE
Subsequent to moving the Falinge racks, we realized we actually adored having our dishes, cups, and glasses on the divider by the dining table. Enter this CB2 stepping stool rack, stage right (we just removed the last two racks and it settles right in with our similarly glossy white table, as if they were generally intended to be together).
This rack had been higher up, but it was displaced by the two Falinge cabinets that we climbed up there (which appear as though they were generally intended to live up there). Here’s where Sherry would applaud and agree. What could possibly go wrong?
The level of the rack is great since it adjusts the level of the windows (and the future door!) And since we have some art hanging in the sitting region or on the kitchen racks, it’s great to have a showcase spot or useful capacity here rather than simply one more framed piece of art.
Sherry’s quick rack styling tip is to add a little plant or some art, assuming that things look excessively sterile-and a plate can assist with containing like things and causing them to feel less jumbled (each of our white mugs gets stacked in our own).
While we’re here, we should continue to twirl around the room and discuss our sitting region that is near the kitchen.
TWEAKING THE SITTING REGION
This has probably been the hardest space to sort out for us in the house since we expected it to do a great deal in a small region. Back in January, we showed you how we amplified it with a comfortable loveseat, a few comfortable seats, and a focused storage coffee table.
Those elements are as yet unchanged, but they’ve gotten a touch more space to breathe now that the enormous Fjalkinge racks are upstairs.
The main thing we’ve changed is that I constructed a custom-sized four-three-dimensional square cubby right next to the door that perfectly fits against the side of the loveseat’s armrest and gives us a spot to store our ordinary shoes and a tonne of other stuff we get on the way out the door (like facemasks, sunscreen, an umbrella, and so on).
Along these lines, it functions admirably as a “foyer” of sorts, since we have shoes in the cubby and coats and backpacks held tight to the back of the laundry closet’s double-door.
It seems like it took us some time to sort out the flow in this room (I think there were probably 10 or so furniture arrangements in this front sitting region before we figured things out), yet we’re actually pleasedly astonished by how well it functions. I even allowed Sherry to have a “told you so” moment because I felt a little uncertain during some of our earlier layout attempts. We hang around here each day with the children before school and use it whenever companions drop in or in any event, for perusing at the apathetic ends of the week. It seemed like we’d never have a comfortable seating region here, and now it gets more use than the couch upstairs. # NEVERGIVEUP
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