We have a small kitchen, so we thought about building an extension for the kitchen and knock the walls to make the living room bigger. The main reasons we didn’t do that was because we couldn’t find good developers. We had a few chats, including measurements and quotes, visits to their showroom, but decided against it in the end. Regardless of what changes we wanted to make, the salesperson would give us the same quote more or less (+/-a few hundreds) and the same time-frame. They were adamant that they will build the thing in 2 weeks, and were saying that we either need planning permissions or we don’t. If companies with huge showrooms are so “trustworthy”, we’ve decided to skip the headache and renovate the kitchen instead of building a new one. It was the best decision ever.
We had a small window between the kitchen and the living room before, but I wanted more, so we made 2 more, bigger, to let more light and give it an ‘open-space’ feel without it being open-space.
A black&white colour scheme was something we both loved. It works nicely for a kitchen.
The floor is unique. We spent a lot of time thinking of the design and it ended up nicely. It is shiny and beautiful, but I love the most that it is seamless.
We decided for build-in appliances: oven, hob, fridge/freezer, dishwasher, and washing machine. For a small kitchen we managed to put a lot inside.
I love the Neff slide&hide door. Due to the limited space, this was the best option for us. It is more expensive, but for me this is worth the price. Also, I love how it cooks. I had a fan oven before, but this one is better. My bread is cooked perfectly without me having to turn it after 30 minutes.
The plant is in a 3D printed pot, which looks gorgeous, but it is slightly hidden by the plant. The kitchen tap’s nozzle can be taken out, which is very useful.
This is the washing liquid dispenser and the gray&black one is with liquid soap. For the sponge, see above, we picked a matching soap dish, but it’s perfect for drying up the sponge. These are small things, but make a lot of difference in how the kitchen looks. Also, as they are used daily, it is worth thinking of them and get some nice dispensers. Before we had identical dispensers, we had metal ones, but I like matching and slightly different ones instead.
I found these plant pots in a supermarket and they are stunning. It looks like we had them commissioned with those colours and style.
As you can see, we have a small cupboard with worktop on it, in an L-shape. These are small, but so useful. I keep the cleaning stuff in a dedicated cupboard near the sink, including bin rolls and washing up liquid. In the other one I have what is needed for cooking, oils, and so on.
I kept the jars where they were, with new shelves, of course. These new shelves are deeper, so I can store all the flours on a shelf. It’s better as it saves space. I also moved my favourite cookbooks in the kitchen, on top of the flour shelf.
I am loving my kitchen, it’s so beautiful and well organised. It took us a long time to decide what to place where, but it was worth the effort.
update: I forgot to share a picture of the hob. It’s on the right, black on black, hence I didn’t select this picture with it. The L-shape with the sink-window-hob combo is clear here too. Underneath the hob I’ve put the pots. In the two small drawers I have spices in one and knifes and ladles and spoons and so on.
Do you remember the artwork? Those prints are still there, but I will buy a couple more, from the same artist, and change it for spring. I will keep these and replace them once again for the winter season.
Your kitchen is really beautiful. What is the floor like to clean? It looks so beautiful?
I abhor our pebble-coloured ceramic-tiled floor- you just have to look at it for it to get dirty!
Thank you Kezzie. xx
Black is not an easy colour to keep clean, dust is the main issue. But, with it being so easy to mop, it’s not a big deal.
Well, this is really beautiful, Anca. Very sophisticated and very workable. You did fit a lot in there but it all looks like it belongs, very organized and well positioned. That black and white is very sleek and I like the wall behind the sink and your dispensers as well. You must just love it!
Thank you Jeanie. I appreciate your comments. xx
We were only looking at that Neff ‘slide and hide’ oven door last week in a kitchen showroom and were really impressed with the quality.
I am also impressed with that beautiful floor surface, can I ask what it is? We have quite uneven floors and can’t decide quite what to do about resurfacing it.
We are also thinking of a kitchen / utility room makeover, rather than a complete renovation, as we would want it the same throughout, so everything would have to go for at least 3/4 months apparently. When the showroom designer got to a ball-park figure of £40,ooo minimum, our eyes glazed over and we rather disengaged with the idea instantly.
Given that if we decided to sell the place, someone would probably come in, re-model completely and start taking down walls, we decided that money was just too big an investment at our time of life – Maybe in a new, smaller place!!
Your finished room looks great 🙂
The Neff is really worth it. The door sliding underneath is a great feature and the oven is fantastic, better than the one I had before, which was a Hotpoint (expensive when I got it).
The floor is resin. We’ve made it ourselves, so thank you so much for the kind words. xx
That quote seems quite high. We were quoted about £25,000 for the extension, without anything else, so floors, electric, furniture, and appliances would have been on top of that. The 2-weeks deadline was too good to be true, your 3/4 months was realistic. Our situation is similar, we are spending our time between home and London and we might move next academic year if I continue my studies, it was pointless to spend months doing an extension and then move somewhere else for most of the year.
It looks like you have done a great job with such a small space! It does sound like a headache about getting an extension. The floor is gorgeous and really is unique. I haven’t seem anything like that before. x
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Your new kitchen looks lovely. You did a great job!
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This is wonderful and I enjoyed your “tour”. (you might remember I have a design background) The only thing I’m confused about is the location of the hob. I don’t see a cook-top anywhere. I’ve never used a convection over. This is an excellent example of maximum utilization of space.
I think you made a wise decision in remodeling rather than trying to renovate the entire area. Things can get tricky when you start taking out walls if you’re not positive what is weight-bearing.
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Thank you. xx I’ve added another picture, above the artwork one, it’s on the right. The hob is black and the worktop is black, so I missed it. 🙂 The two cupboards I mentioned are visible too. I love those little cupboards.
The internal walks are not weight-bearing and the extension was planned on the other side of the living room, but it was too much of a hassle. Also 2 weeks for building a kitchen, with foundation, exterior walls, gas, electric, and water, windows and everything else it was not realistic. We might have pressed ahead if they would have said 2 months, which seemed genuine.
Thanks for the update with the extra photo. It looks like a very efficient workspace!
No, realistically that would never have been done in two weeks, and maybe not in two months. Contractors are notorious for underestimating time and costs.
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Thank you. xx
I agree, 2 months might have been a stretch, but 2 weeks was just too unrealistic. What was disappointing was that the company was big, showroom with many buildings inside, not a 2-dudes+1-van combo.