Week something of covid!
At this time, there are two rooms that have become pivotal in enduring this confinement, the bathroom and the kitchen. The kitchen offers comfort for food and drinks. My husband is happily entering the world of baking and realising it is a science. I am mixing cocktails and buying decent wine. Over the years we have had the classic country kitchen of blue, white and wood, the modern black and white kitchen and currently, a cream and cafe latte galley kitchen. All have had three key aspects, the best that we could buy at the time, good bench space to prepare and a wow factor.
Our first kitchen renovation was on a budget. We painted wooden cupboards, changed over the bench top and door knobs and tiled the backsplash. Our recent kitchen renovation was at the top of our budget and we will miss it when we move. It feels like a restaurant kitchen and has a fun sky blue fridge/freezer that always makes me smile. Many friends are renting and in Germany, you often rent a place without a kitchen. It isn’t always possible or practical to build in a kitchen so we need to be creative.
Rental Kitchens
If you can’t afford to build in a kitchen or if the kitchen is shabby, there are some areas that you can work on. First, ask your landlord if you can paint or renovate at all and give them a plan. I rented a shabby apartment for eight months in France a few years ago. There were mismatching cupboards that had been added on, a really greasy bench top and a horrible peeling linoleum on the floor. I couldn’t do much and rental space was hard to find. He agreed that we could paint the cupboards all white and rip up the old Lino. We painted the concrete floor and put a mat down. I scrubbed the baked grease off as much as I could and placed some plastic placemats to cover it up. While it wasn’t perfect, it made a difference. Some added white and blue accessories, a Nespresso machine and some framed cheap greeting cards made a massive improvement.
You Have Some Money
A lesson learnt, look at your budget and add a quarter of it. There will always be an unexpected cost. Other advice includes, buy a good range of white goods, they don’t always have to be the top of the range. Pay as much as you can for the finishing, we love glossy cupboard doors and push doors that shut on their own. I have written other posts around kitchen renovations and lighting, so check those out as well. You don’t always need to spend a lot. We saw a great concrete bench top and were surprised to see that it was laminate! It looks great and is easy to maintain.
Our French Kitchen
We loved the retro ivory cupboards but to be honest, we would have loved them to have gone right around the walls. We are not fans of the faux wood bench top or the round sink either. Our next steps are to replace the bench top and go for a square sink. We will add shelves to pull the cupboards together for a cohesive look. We have already added touches of blue including a French dresser we painted. We are now looking for a French cafe table to finish the 1940s look. Of course, I have vintage champagne glasses that are perfect. Bon appetit!
