Kitchen ideas for a condo

Recently we've been considering updating a condo (emphasis on considering). The budget is pretty small so we'll need to be resourceful.

Ikea cabinets immediately came to mind for a new kitchen. The poor guy in their kitchen showroom was stuck with me for hours, but we have some good ideas. And the best part was that our fab new kitchen cabinets would be less than $2k. Mr. Big initially wrinkled his nose about this possibility, but after viewing few of these beauties and a test run in their showroom, he was sold.

From styleathome.com

Ikea website

Living etc. April 08

Living etc. December 08

Designer Carol Reed has a great blog entry about using Ikea cabinets. She uses them quite a lot, but emphasizes not to go with an entire Ikea fit out (i.e. use other brand appliances and fixtures).

Any experience with Ikea cabinets?

Open kitchens

Just a few pictures to enjoy wide open kitchens

Need more countertop space?

Here's an interesting idea for a small kitchen. No surprise, but the neutral colors are lovely as well, especially with the slightly iridescent tile backsplash.

Designed by Carl & Company

Tea time

Any girlfriends out there that might be interested in a cup of tea? Lisa Cohen's photography makes me want to skip work, invite over a few gal pals, and enjoy the morning.


This kitchen that she captured is fantastic as well. With a big farmhouse sink, lovely tiles, and folding doors to hid the range (why didn't we think of that?), this looks like a cozy space to congregate.


I think that my style is starting to soften up a bit from when we first started the house. I notice that I'm getting drawn more to "comfortable" as opposed to "modern". Perhaps that's a good thing...or perhaps that means we'll have a really confused home. :)

If you are designing a new kitchen...

You may just need to plan for one of these.

From J Weiss Deisgn

They also show a similar option for storing away your laptop in built in cabinets. Toys are so much fun!

Product review: Miele steam oven

Is it possible to live without a microwave? We weren't sure. But when we were trying to decide between our old faithful and a steam oven, we were intrigued by the health benefits of cooking with steam. As this is a product review on the steam oven, I suppose you can guess which option we chose.


Pros:

• Perfect steamed vegetables. Really perfect. We eat more broccoli and asparagus now that we live with this cool cat.
• Maintains original flavors when reheating left overs. It's virtually the same as the original day you cooked it.
  
• The use of steam must be healthier than microwaves. Listen, I'm no expert and don't know all the nitty gritty details, but it has to be.
  
• It's easy to use. The display walks you through everything. Fill the water tank and you're off to the races.
• Pretty much everything can be cooked in it. Other than popcorn (boo hoo), this puppy can take care of virtually any dish.
  

Cons:

• Takes a while to heat up before it starts cooking. We didn't expect it to be quite as long as it is. Now that our expectations are adjusted, it's no biggie. It's definitely a transition from a microwave.
• Need to look closely at your settings. I've had a few times where the broccoli has come out very overdone. Once I experimented with different vegetables and dishes, it has become clear. But there was a tad of learning necessary at the start.
• No popcorn
  

It was a bit of an adjustment, but we would go this route again. A year after getting it installed, we've learned to s-l-o-w d-o-w-n our cooking expectations a bit. In our rush, rush, rush society, it's been a good thing.

Hope this might be helpful to someone going through similar dilemmas at the planning stage!

Obsessive compulsive at all?

Owning our own house/condo/apartment has been a long time coming. Now that we're settled in, we've started setting up the house exactly how we want it (it was pretty much in shambles for the first year). My lovely husband started to get a bit concerned when I purchased a label maker. "What are you going to with with that?" Ummm...


Not only do we finally have an organized kitchen gadget drawer, it's also been labeled. Yes, a bit over the top, but hey, I love it. :) No trying to remember where "that thingy" is. No frustrations sifting through various items for "the one tool that I need". And in a really silly way, it makes me feel like I live in a Williams Sonoma store. Yes, it might be slightly disturbing, but I've waited a long time to finally have a home of my own...and I'm going all out.

Don't feel too bad for Mr. Big. He's sorted out a few critical drawers as well....atta boy!

What she's really thinking

We're all thinking...This lovely lady has a gorgeous kitchen. Look at that amazing island and countertop. And it's all designed so simple. Ahhh...to be in her shoes.

She's no doubt thinking...I wish that I had listened to my designer when he said that it was difficult to get into these upper cabinets. He told me that I wouldn't want to use them, but I insisted. Now I have to haul out the ladder every time I want to get up there, which is a drag. Livable, but a drag. Oh and I keep banging my head on my hood range.

Sucker for accessories

When I was ordering our kitchen sinks, I fell victim for the optional accessories (wood cutting board and stainless grids). I was not sure if Mr. Big would being rolling his eyes at me (once again) when they arrived. When the sinks were installed, the accessories didn't materialize, and to be honest, I completely forgot about them...

...until about a month ago when we found them stuffed away in a forlorn cabinet. It was like receiving belated birthday gift.

Mr Big: Ohhh, what are these?!?
Moi: Wow, in the madness of building, I forgot that I ordered those.
Moi to myself: Oh no, here comes the eye roll.

The first grid went in and I got a lukewarm reaction. Ugh, here we go. But then the cutting boards went on and it was all high-fives and "right on's".


Honestly, the cutting boards have been really nice. Obviously they are good for cutting veggies at meal time, but they also serve to hide used coffee mugs, that forlorn plate that hasn't made it into the dishwasher, and all the ugly scrubbers that we have. We also use them a lot for drying pots and pans. And it's so nice that they exactly match our sink size.


So while I was pretty unsure on whether this would end up being a silly indulgent purchase, they have been worth every penny of the $49 we spent. Yeah for wives...even if we are suckers!

Lovely kitchens

We are well past needing inspiration for the bones of our house, but I just couldn't resist sharing these few.

How cool is that built in burner? And the sinks? Photos rom Alexander van Berge via Desire to Inspire.

Swoon over that ceiling and high windows. Home featured on Bo Biedre. So much to love there. Thanks to Style*Files for the links.

Lovely color choice for cabinets. Love the hidden down draft and wall cut outs. Photographed by Hotze Eisma.

Lots of light and "built in cabinets" that give a tailored look. No need for fake plants here. Designed by Andi Pepper Interior Group.

Beautiful natural colors on a lovely monotone floor. And what a great down range (or whatever it's called...oops). Photographed by Carlos Domenech.

All around lovely by Kelly Hoppen Design.

Another by Kelly Hoppen.

Love the dark wood (very similar to ours) and the mix with white stays refreshing. And the downdraft does not become an obstacle. Designed by Kristine Woolsey.

I notice that a lot of kitchen designs are moving away from upper cabinets. Is this because we are making kitchen spaces larger (and what was previously in the uppers can be stored below)? Is anyone living with an "upper-free" design? They look great, but I wonder how functional they are...?

Kitchen so close to complete

When we first met with our fabulous kitchen designer two years ago, he walked into our rental unit and immediately began planning our future kitchen around our dining table. This sounded great to us because we loved the table (it was actually purchased on our honeymoon). It's a simple, rustic, dark, sturdy, social table.

Our cabinetry color was matched to the table and we tried to accent the room with slightly more modern elements. Concrete ceasarstone countertops, polished chrome fixtures, stainless appliances...all juxtaposed against the big rustic table. The final piece of the puzzle was a smaller replica made as a kitchen-bar-type-table.

Well, today was a memorable day, because that final, special replica finally found its way home.


I'm so happy with the woodgrain next to the Caesarstone countertops. It has really pulled everything together. The poor original table has taken a back seat this evening to his new buddy...he can be seen at the back of the photo below...surely to be elevated back to his prominent position tomorrow.


Besides our under counter lighting and a few recessed lights, the kitchen should now be finished. It's amazing how different the space feels with the final element present...it feels done, complete. !!!!

Backsplashes galore!

The day has arrived. Our kitchen is finally complete! When all the tools make it off the countertops, I'll put up some proper photos. I just couldn't resist a few for the moment. The backsplash adds depth and color into the area. (No mom, not your colors, but it still qualifies in my eyes...)



The mudroom will be grouted today. The wrong size tiles were shipped to us (these were supposed to be similar in size to the kitchen but in cream colors), but fortunately, the larger version is appealing. And just because I was thinking that I'm itching to take the house just a tad more modern, I decided not to offset these boys. (yes Friedemann, I'm sure that you are shaking your head "nooo...keep it simple". I just couldn't help myself!) Hopefully I can get some photos of a complete mudroom this weekend as well.


So after a lot of quiet days, everything has burst to completion very suddenly. Wooohooo!

Caesarstone countertops

Progress has slowed down substantially since the holidays. Substantially. But apparently today was a good day because we came home to find our kitchen and mudroom countertops installed. (Enter sigh of relief here)

They look fabulous. Full stop. Caesarstone was definitely the way to go. It has all the characteristics of concrete without the upkeep.


It has a nice consistent color to it, looks very impressive and seems easy to clean (based on the first wipe which no doubt tells a lot...). In fact, it looks almost identical to the real concrete countertops that we put in our bathrooms. I'm not sure if I'm ready to admit it, but I'm pretty close to committing that we would have been better off with Caesarstone everywhere. Gasp. They are beautiful and easy. What a combo.


The wall tiling is scheduled to be completed tomorrow. It doesn't seem feasible to do it all in one day, but I've certainly been proven wrong before. These two items get us much closer to the "complete" feeling. Then again, I'm sure there is something else waiting around the corner to get done that we haven't noticed yet. Let's just hope it's not a biggie...

Slowly coming together

Last weekend I was bit by the decorate bug. A few changes (hopefully enhancements) were made to the general living areas. A week has passed and they still feel right. There will be months and months of more changes to come, but here's a peek at our current arrangements.


The dark leather couch will be finding a new home once we have the drive to start looking for new couches. For now it works. I'm also looking for a slender side table for between the two linen chairs. We saw the perfect option at a gorgeous store in Healdsburg, California last October, but didn't ultimately decided not to take the plunge. Just goes to show that sometimes traveling treasures should be taken more seriously...


The first thing my talented mom imagined when she walked in our (still being built) home back in November was a little sitting area to the side of our big wall. She was completely right! Now we have a cozy little nook. In a fit of luck, she and I found this great Oly chair here on island. We had some time to kill due to a flight delay and stumbled across these charmers. We shopped at virtually every furniture store in Orlando and New York only to come back home and decide that these were at the top of our list. Score!

Our final countertops should be installed in the next two weeks. After that, the will tiles should follow very quickly. We're definitely eager to see the kitchen and mudrooms completed. The stools in the picture above will be outside eventually, but we really don't have a better place for them at the moment. And I'm still pining over the Kou chandelier, but that is at least another 1-3 years away. In the meantime, an inexpensive light from Bo Concepts is working fine to give us some ambiance.

What a nice feeling to have a livable house!

Casesarstone countertops

Our kitchen and mudroom countertops have been a bit of a trouble spot for us. We found a gorgeous limestone that manufacturers warned us about time and time again. Apparently it was just too porous and would be very difficult to maintain. We went back to the drawing board and considered granite, concrete, and pretty much any surface under the sun.

Our designer had suggested that we look at a product called Caesarstone, which is a manufactured quartz product. For those that have already raised their nose at a surface that is less than 100% natural (it's only 93% natural...), feel free to move onto the next post. For those that are interested, let me tell you that this product is FAB!

Caesarstone is more heat, scratch and stain resistant than granite. But more importantly to me, they have lots of options that are fairly uniform in color. Because we have floor and wall tiles with lots of movement in them, I was looking for something exactly along these lines. While I pined over concrete, this will give Mr. Big the comfort of countertops that won't require loads of maintenance.

We decided on the Desert Limestone color for our kitchen and the Concrete color for the mudroom. They look gorgeous with our door, tile, and floor samples. I positively cannot wait to see them once installed! With our dark cabinets, the kitchen should roughly look like this:


For the mudroom, we decided to go with the Concrete color to add a bit of contrast to our light cabinets and wall tiles. Once again, it looks fab together. (This color also looked great in the kitchen, but the lighter color seemed to brighten everything up).


Boy, am I ever excited that we've made a decision...and hopefully such a good one!

Cabinet update

Here's a quick peek at how the cabinets have come along in the past week. The drawers and doors haven't been put up/on yet, but the boxes are all in place. We were keen on having lots of storage. Apparently we achieved that objective.

The kitchen

The mudroom

The first floor bathrooms will be started soon. The floors for the second floor bathrooms were done so those rooms can start quickly thereafter. I am thrilled with the terracotta tiles in the second floor shared bathroom.


L-o-v-e-l-y!

It's looking like a house (again)

Those words have been used here a few times already. Truth be told, we seem to say it to each other, albeit with a bit more emphasis, virtually every time that we are at the site now. There must be another way to convey our excitement, but apparently we are just that dull.

The cabinets arrived on the site on Tuesday. As expected, we scurried out to the house to find all sorts of boxes ready to be unloaded and installed. Boxes in the shapes of tall cabinets, short cabinets, drawers, mirrors, and all sorts of other treasures were divvied up into their respective rooms of installation. This truly feels like Christmas.


A mid-day trip on Thursday revealed a great deal of progress had been made on the installation. The kitchen and mudroom are taking shape very quickly. The installer is a lovely guy who is fanatical about getting it right. No doubt that this is the guy that you want on the job.

View from mudroom through to kitchen (sorry for the ladder in the way...)

It's a pretty busy place at the moment between the installers, the electricians, and the framers on the outside pavilion. And in the midst of all that commotion, I heard someone quietly proclaim "let there be light". And there was! The first lights have been witnessed. No, the angels did not start singing, but there was a bit of triumph nonetheless. :)

When we were planning the kitchen, we planned for ceiling height cabinetry given that Mr. Big is so tall. Well, he may be tall, but even he is going to need a stool to get to those top shelves. As for me, my reach will be more concentrated in these...

After months (ok, years...) of planning, it's very exciting to see the final product. Up to this point, the house was really a shell with simply walls and doors. There was a lot of possibility with it at that stage. Now that the livable features have been introduced, it's looking like a house...

Modern marvels

At times, building this house has made me realize how out of touch we are with the real world. Life is great on an island because it's simple. But at the same time, we aren't always aware of the latest and greatest improvements or products on the market.

Going back to the toilet fiasco, I was completely unaware that there are now quiet-close toilet seats on the market. Am I the only one in the dark on these? What a good improvement...toilet seats that slowly release themselves with a mere touch, thereby alleviating the dreaded seat slam. No, I do not need that loud proclamation that my business is done. Surprisingly, they are virtually the same price as a regular toilet seat.

Kohler Cachet Quiet Close Seat with Quick Release Technology (spiffy!)

And how about remote sink drains? Apparently there is this new gadget that you place on your sink counter top that will drain your dirty water so that you don't have to fumble through murky left-overs when you are done cleaning your dishes. For some reason, I always find myself tentatively wading through less-than-fresh water when there are sharp knives deep within. This little gadget may just save me a few stiches...

Franke pop up sink strainer

And the final advancement that I will leave you with today are mirror de-foggers. This is my absolute favorite advancement. A thin heater installed (even retroactively) behind your mirrors keeps your bathroom mirrors from fogging up while you are taking a shower. No more handtowel wipe-downs needed! Mr. Big is uber-excited for the shower model that allows for shaving in the shower.


These are all relatively inexpensive little options (all less than $100). And for those of us living in remote locations, they sure are exciting. What improvements are you aware of that we wouldn't have seen yet? (can't wait for these answers!)