Hello Ladies of Hive and Hivers!
Greetings...Happy 1st of May! It's been awhile since my last post, but today I am sharing about a hack I did in my kitchen. Some of you might have read that we moved to a smaller apartment, yes we gave up our 4-bedroom row house and garden because as we have aged and as retirees, we could no longer do the maintenance job. So we moved to a smaller apartment on one level and thank God, no stairs! Besides, what to do with a big house when the daughter has long been gone and has her own life some 500 Km away from us.
The rental apartment we moved into is in a brand new complex, it is small at 80 sqm that is all that we need and so the kitchen is also small... We have it designed by the kitchen makers, made with simple design and with basic kitchen machines like dishwasher, oven, fridge/freezer, microwave oven. And because I've also had hand-downs from Mom in-law, these things just doubled our kitchen wares. We gave some of them and we are keeping some of those with memorable value. We still have unopened boxes from the relocation in the store compartment in the cellar of the complex.
What the kitchen needs....
I needed a couple of wall cabinets to store some kitchen things. So I researched online but could not find the exact size because our cabinets had been made by another kitchen maker. If I would ask the same kitchen maker to customize wall cabinets, it will be so expensive. What I did was to go through Ikea´s kitchen catalog online. I searched the color because Ikea has plenty of whites to choose from. Once I have made my decision, I have drawn my concept according to the available sizes, even found the right ones and color that would match my original kitchen.
Before the Hack..
So far, the vis a vis side of this working table has only a double door-cabinet and open shelves on its sides. These additional cabinets will be used to store many wares which I do not use daily.
I chose the Ikea METOD wall cupboards that have glass doors. With these glass, I could see and get the things I need easily . The space of 14 cm seen in the middle between the two cabinets had been intentionally left as it is ( this has been the difference of the length of the lower cabinets that is 94 cm and the two cupboards of 40 cmx2 = 80Cm total). This is also the ventilation for the fridge/fridge and is now used to store my chopping boards.
Light needed...
The area needed a light, I have been lucky because there is a power outlet available below the cabinet which we use for the exhaust fan. We simply had it changed into a double outlet last year. At that time, I did not find a cover that was flat similar to the outlet below it, and so we let it be as it is.
This flat light was intended to be installed under the shelves in my craftroom in the former house. I never used it nor touched it for a decade and so I have installed this under the cabinet using a canal, that has an adhesive tape on its top (see below image).
The power outlet below the cupboard is a bit out of place since the outlet below it has a flat cover. I couldn´t find similar in the nearest hardware... but I have been thinking to camouflage it with something later on. I painted the black plug with a white acrylic paint to match the one of the exhaust fan.
I stored some of the cups and saucers in the left cupboard but I still need to arrange some wares in the right ones.
Cooking is my passion.....
I have to admit I have a lot of clutter but I like it this way. This reminded me of the shelves mom used to have when we cooked together in her airport canteen. I want to grab the spices readily. I cook a lot eversince I got involved in Mom´s kitchen as a kid ( with 5 brothers).
Now I have put the kitchen cutter and toaster on the working table and I am happy with the results of this project.
This project cost about 700 Euros, I sat with someone from the Kitchen Dept. of Ikea and discussed about the procurement of the parts, the delivery and the installation. The goods were delivered two days after the arrangement and the carpenter came the following day and installed everything according to my plan with perfection.
