We decided last year to take the plunge and renovate our strangely laid-out kitchen! A previous owner had put an extension on the house and laid the counter out at an odd angle, hiding a portion of the exterior wall of the house, which was kept for support. Once we made the decision to become permanent residents, making our house our home seemed like the next logical step.
Before (from 2018):
Things do not happen overnight and my patience was tried through the design phase, which lasted from August until January (!). This did give me plenty of time to obsessively research kitchen designs and get things just right. My instagram feed was all kitchen for at least 6 months!
Another silver lining of the delayed process was that the actual production and installation period lined up with when our friend's mom was out of the country for a few months, allowing us to escape the worst of demolition and construction.
Before we left for Christmas break, our contractor took down the triangular wall, exposing the exterior wall and allowing the kitchen company to take their final measurements for the custom cabinetry.
One of the reasons we didn't renovate the kitchen sooner (apart from the cost and wanting to spend our disposable income traveling) was because of the waste of perfectly good materials and the impact on our (quickly deteriorating) environment. So I instructed our contractor to keep all of the cabinetry intact during the demolition and then I posted it all online for free. Within a few days, someone came and collected the lot and I'm happy knowing that it did not go to the landfill and will get a second life.
After the demo took place, our contractor spent the next few weeks leveling the floor, changing the plumbing and electricity, plastering and painting the walls, replacing the ceiling, and tiling the floor.
The base cabinetry arrived and was installed along with temporary countertops.
It was really exciting to get in the house and explore all of the new features.
Shortly after, the kitchen company returned to install the appliances. We didn't experience any chain supply issues as we went with readily available mid-range appliances. We were excited to switch to an induction cook plate and further reduce our reliance on gas. We also kept our dishwasher (old, but functional) and our fridge/freezer, opting to buy a second one to get a double-wide/American style setup! The old exterior house wall was covered with a tall, shallow cabinet, which is perfect for our spices and cooking oils.
At this point, we were able to move back in while we waited for the cabinet fronts to get their final coats of paint.
I spent the most time thinking through the layout/drawers/cabinetry, planning out where everything would go home organizational style. So I was very excited to unpack and organize!
The cabinet fronts, hardware, and open shelving were (mostly) installed! Which coincided with our week of dogsitting Lucy. We had them color matched to Benjamin Moore Hale Navy (an agonizing decision that I'm really happy with). I bought all of the hardware in the US over Christmas. They sent the wrong knobs right before we left for home, but thankfully a friend had a coworker coming to Amsterdam for work and he brought them over for me!
I was most excited about having an island, which they built around the support post.
And second most excited about the appliance garage/tea station. The entire top drawer is full of tea!
After the cabinet fronts were put on, the countertops were measured and then we waited a long 4 weeks for them to arrive. Sadly one of the countertops was not quite right, so another 2 weeks passed before they were all in and the backsplash could be installed.
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| Silestone Eternal Calacatta Gold countertops |
I couldn't wait to get the backsplash in. I had selected 8
StoryTiles to incorporate and was anxious to see how it would all turn out. I love the end result.
The final touches were put in at the end of April and now our kitchen is complete!
