In this blog post I want to talk about my long-term experience with my kitchen and the design.
In August 2022, my dream kitchen was completed, designed from scratch by my mum and me, and made by a dear family friend who is a carpenter. Nobody paid for anything, everything was financed by us.
This was the kitchen when we bought the apartment:
This is the kitchen of a small apartment, 3 × 2 metres with a ceiling height of 2.2 metres. As it is not a new build, when we bought it, there was a kitchen that we demolished. Then the electrician came to cut the electrical outlets along the wall. Don't you know how dusty it was - and we lived in it all the time!
It's important to work out how many sockets you want and where you want them, because if you don't have enough, you can get sucked in later. Mum and I sat down, measured the walls, looked where the windows were etc. and started planning the kitchen: where would be practical, what dimensions, how many drawers, how many cupboards, where the appliances would be etc. Mum even drew it to scale.
If you don't have a newly built apartment or house, it always complicates the process in terms of adjusting for windows, water outlets, electricity outlets, etc.
Design and construction:
First of all, after a long search and reading millions of reviews, I chose the kind of kitchen appliances I wanted. For me, it was important to have everything that could be built-in - even the fridge and the microwave.
As we had good experience with AEG and Electrolux in the family, I chose Electrolux for the 90%.
I ordered the machines, and when they arrived, one by one, I pulled out the specifications of all the machines, got the exact dimensions, photocopied the drawings, and put everything together for the carpenter.
I have experienced the following with the machines:
Extractor hood: High performance was the main consideration - it's not just a "fancy" hood that doesn't even plug in (I've heard of such things). Well, the hood does its job, but it has one annoying feature: too smart. This function is completely superfluous, because it is constantly self-regulating as it is connected to the hob. Because of this, it often suddenly jumps from the default setting to the highest setting, and becomes so loud that it can 'rip your head off'. If it didn't do that, it would really be perfect.
- Hotplate: Well, unfortunately it's glass - very nice, very stylish, but within a year or so it cracked because I dropped a plastic jug on it. Maybe it was just my bad luck, but I didn't think it would break after so much.
Includes the SensBoil function, which is supposed to prevent boiling water from running out. Well, it doesn't always work for me either - most of the time it runs out anyway. The new hob I ordered, AEG, and there is a frame around it. I wonder if it will be more practical in the long run or if it will protect the glass better. I would note here that if you are like me, it is worth checking what your home insurance covers. Luckily for us, glass breakage was covered, so the insurance paid. - Oven and microwave: They do their job, as they should, although I find the Wi-Fi function superfluous here too. Not everything has to be "smart". A pyrolytic cleaning is a very good thing, although of course it also needs cleaning. Unfortunately, I got my kitchen before I fell in love with baking, but for my next kitchen I'm definitely going to choose an oven with steam function, defrosting and drying programme, because they would be of great help to me.
- Refrigerator: An AEG built-in fridge, which I bought when there was not much choice in terms of sizes. The fridge is on the top and the freezer on the bottom. Next time side-by-side, I want a double door fridge to fit comfortably.
- Dishwasher: 14 place settings, also Electrolux. The only problem I have with it is that my large 27 cm diameter flat plates barely fit underneath, I have to unclog them so that the spinning head doesn't get stuck. Mum has an AEG at home, and it has higher shelves and can comfortably fit larger dishes. For this reason I would prefer the latter.
- LED lighting: The LED strip is integrated in the bottom of the upper cabinet. I could have asked for it elsewhere, but I didn't want a casino bathed in all the light.
- The corner cupboard: It is also important to make the best use of the space available. There are lots of great, but expensive, solutions for this: various "kidney" shaped corner shelves etc. I didn't ask for these because I thought I could probably bend down and save a few hundred thousand, and I have more storage space. Obviously, if money was no object and I was going for total convenience, I would ask for it, but it's not a necessity.
YouTube video: I'll bring you one soon kitchen demonstration video to my YouTube channel, where I explain and demonstrate everything in detail. 😊
- Kitchen tiles: I wanted to combine the kitchen with a dark colour, and when I saw these beautiful Tau Corten cards, I knew I had to! Enough extra, because it shows a different face from each side, with a metallic-rusty effect.
- Design and inspiration: I saved some kitchen photos from Pinterest that I liked and printed them out. When the carpenter came to measure the dimensions of the kitchen, we talked about what and how we could make it.
- Handles: I definitely didn't want a handle, modern, clean matt white kitchen I wanted to combine it with wood, so I used the for doors with handles was my choice. But today I would amend this decision, because there are a lot of nice, modern handle so I'd rather ask with that. In terms of practicality doors with handles are not the best, since very easy to get dirty, and the recesses should be wiped over with a damp cloth almost daily.
- Choice of materials: Mum and I went to the cutting room, where we chose the matt white painted fronts, and the golden oak worktop and fronts. I was tempted by the matt anthracite fronts, but in the end reason won out, that even though I like it, it doesn't fit in a very small space. It makes our kitchen look much bigger and brighter with white walls and white fronts.
I have spoken to several carpenters and all proposed the painted front, because in principle the foil is not as durable. Many people are afraid that the fingerprints how much you can see on it, but for me this on matt painted white only minimally. Obviously you have to clean it, white is inherently more delicate than other shades. - Production and assembly: We ordered the elements according to the dimensions calculated by the carpenter. within 1-2 months the parts arrived at the carpenter's workshop, where he started to assemble the main elements, and we brought them to the apartment and helped him to assemble the elements. My partner and dad were a great help alongside the joiner.
Anyway damped hinges and spindles I wanted them not to be fooled.
- Extra requests: There were some extra request, for example socket recessed in the workbench, which very practical I'm holding. When you get a a blender, hand whisk or any small food processorthat you don't use on a daily basis, you don't have to think about "where is there a free outlet, can the cord reach?" A recessed socket I ordered it myself from the internet, with all the machines.
- Hidden dishwashing liquid dispenser: I would have liked to have no bottles in front of youbut also aesthetically be hidden, therefore I got a Blanco concealed - built-in dishwasher detergent dispenser. Unfortunately I had a little negative experience with it also: a plastic bottle hidden under the worktop after a while surrendered. Fortunately, there is a my clever partner, who fixed by, so now it works perfectly again. 😊
I don't like to have a lot of stuff in the front of the countertop, because it gives a cluttered effect in my opinion. It's better to have everything hidden in the cupboard, except for the appliances you use on a daily basis, like the coffee machine, food processor and air fryer. I don't like glass "display cabinets" in the kitchen either, because although they look nice, especially when lit, but then there always has to be a neat and tidy place to keep it neat and tidy.
- Dishwasher tray: Black matt Blanco Silgranit I chose a sink tray and a tap, ordered that too, it arrived quickly and the carpenter put it in place. I have to say in parentheses that this one can be cleaned daily, because the scale will soon show on it, but I really like it, so I would definitely choose this one again. You don't need a carpenter to do it either, if you have the space cut out in the worktop - a clever man can hook the right pipes to the water (my partner did it for me), and spray it around with clear silo and it's done.
- Faucet: As for the faucet, I would definitely put a pull-out head faucet in my next kitchen, because I also regularly struggle with cleaning the sink tray. How great would it be if it could just be easily pulled out! Also, it would make it easier to rinse the bigger pans after washing.
I wanted the kitchen to the ceiling anyway, because in a small apartment the storage space is worth its weight in gold, and I think it's nicer too. If it didn't go all the way to the ceiling, it would look a bit unfinished to me - but that's a matter of taste.
A lot of people say I have a very good sense of interior design, which I can already see, so it was easy for us to design and commission everything ourselves. Of course, a lot of people don't have the flair, but they can be helped by the right professionals. There are kitchen furniture companies that design, organise and order everything from scratch, so the client doesn't have to worry about that - they just tell them their ideas and they do it all. Obviously this will cost money, but it's definitely worth it for someone who doesn't like to spend a lot of time planning, ordering and researching. I really enjoyed this.
My finished kitchen:
I hope this blog post will be helpful to some of you who are on the verge of creating the kitchen of your dreams. If you spend a lot of time in your kitchen and love being there, then by all means make your dreams come true, even if it's something more expensive, because your kitchen is something you'll be looking at for decades, unless you move.
In 1-2 years, hopefully our house will be built and I will have another dream kitchen. What I definitely want there is a kitchen island. It has always been a dream of mine, but unfortunately there was no space for it in the apartment. In the house, it will be easier because everything will start from scratch, so it will be easier to plan. I can't wait to get back into the kitchen, and until then I'm dreaming and collecting ideas and inspiration.
When we sell the house, the kitchen will be my biggest regret, because I really loved designing it, buying everything for it, and to this day I often just stare at how beautiful it turned out.
- Prices: In terms of prices, the sky's the limit in a kitchen, there's a lot of extras you can add, which will increase the price. Everyone needs to know how much they are spending. I think I made the most of the space available, I would say my kitchen is a strong mid-range, because nothing in it is in the shoddy category, neither the materials nor the appliances. But you can always go higher. One thing's for sure: I love it, the end result is totally my taste 🙂
- Plans for the future: When our house is finished and we start the new kitchen project, I would definitely like to make a comprehensive video series about it for the My YouTube channel, and I will also blog about it here.
I would like to have a outdoor kitchen is with oven, with different barbeque areas and a barbecue, I have some ideas for that, and I would like to show you in detail. 🙂
