Modern Mediterranean: The Kitchen
“I get that you think it should go across the room, but YOU don’t cook, and I DO. So unless you want to start cooking all of the household meals from now on, [INSERT KITCHEN ITEM] STAYS WHERE IT IS. - Or something along those lines. I’m real fun, aren’t I?”
I spend a lot of time in the kitchen. As an avid cook and baker, I have very strong feelings and opinions about the kitchen, from how it looks to how it is laid out and functions. This is also probably why out of all our renovation tiffs, the kitchen has drawn the most impassioned response. I find it hard to separate myself from even minor things such as where a spice drawer should go, because I get really emotional about it. “I get that you think it should go across the room, but YOU don’t cook, and I DO. So unless you want to start cooking all of the household meals from now on, [INSERT KITCHEN ITEM] STAYS WHERE IT IS.” - Or something along those lines. I’m real fun, aren’t I?
But, spice drawer aside, we have managed to come to an agreement on most things, although for right now the exact location of the sink and dishwasher are still up for (potentially contentious) debate. Maybe we’ll bring in a mediator.
“ I’m a basket of contradictions when it comes to entertaining. I love to host parties, but I don’t cook well with many people, however I do enjoy company, but don’t like people hovering. ”
The Problem
In case you needed a reminder, here is the “before” of the kitchen. Cute, isn’t it?
Our kitchen is old, probably original to when the house was built, and the flow is not conducive to cooking. The stove is placed on the opposite side of the kitchen from the sink, with about 9 feet in between them. I don’t appreciate the distance and right now, to get from the bedrooms to the living room, you have to go through the middle of the kitchen. When I’m cooking, this drives me insane. There’s also not a lot of counter space, which makes cooking challenging to say the least.
The other thing is entertaining. I’m a basket of contradictions when it comes to entertaining. I love to host parties, but I don’t cook well with many people, however I do enjoy company, but don’t like people hovering. The problem with this space is that in order for people to be near me, they have to be in the middle of the kitchen, which gives me anxiety. I basically want people to be around, drinking, chatting and snacking, but not actually in the middle of the action.
The Solution
We are completely gutting this kitchen and changing the layout. The courtyard walls in the kitchen and dining room are turning into floor to ceiling glass doors. We’re removing all the cabinetry and running it against the long side of the kitchen and then we’ll have an oversized kitchen island for people to hang out at. The wall next to the hallway gets removed completely, opening up the kitchen space. Then we’ll add a doorway to the bedrooms that we can close for privacy. Movement from the dining room will flow along the courtyard walls, rather than through the kitchen. Guests will be able to sit at the island or, when the weather is nice, we’ll be able to open up the courtyard doors for a lovely indoor outdoor feel - lots of options for socializing while keeping the cook company, but staying well out of her way.
The Look
After all-white and marble in our last kitchen, this time we’re leaning toward warm wood cabinets balanced with natural stone or a neutral countertop. Increasing the amount of windows will add more natural light, and we want the overall vibe to be modern, but warm. I’m not a neat person, so I want lots of concealed storage (to strategically shove shit into when I need to “clean up”), a really deep sink (to hide the dirty dishes), and single shelf for decorations.
Cabinets
We’ve narrowed down our cabinets to Reform, a design company out of Copenhagen that partners with independent designers to make their ktichen designs. They originally started out making fronts for IKEA boxes, but have grown to making their own complete kitchens. The most expensive room in the house is usually the kitchen, and we considered a range of options from IKEA with Semihandmade Fronts to custom cabinets to luxury European brands. But we felt that while we didn’t want to buy the Rolls Royce of kitchens, we also felt that at the price point our house sits at, IKEA wouldn’t be ideal. Reform sits nicely in the middle, and unless we find a custom maker we absolutely adore, this will be it. The cabinets we’ve chosen is the Frame line, designed by Note Design Studio.
Floors
Right now, one of the big decisions we have to make is what to do with the floors. Ideally I want wood floors in the kitchen, but it would involve us re-doing the whole house because we have lovely parquet floors throughout the house, except the kitchen. If we decide to save the floors, then we have to pick an alternative material, probably some kind of tile, for the kitchen. I definitely don’t want to attempt to match a new wood with our old wood - that’s a recipe for disaster. So it’ll all come down to what our contractor says when we meet him, and how much everything is going to cost. Keep you posted!
Counters
For countertops, I’m still undecided. I love natural stone. In our loft, we had lovely honed marble countertops and were lucky to find a slab of carrara marble with dramatic veining, reminiscent of a more expensive slab, which we bookmatched as a backsplash. I adored our marble countertops and felt like the maintenance wasn’t that hard once we got used to it. We formed habits like putting towels down under cutting boards, making sure we didn’t slice anything directly on the counter, wiping up spills quickly, and using coasters to prevent water marks.
But my husband has another opinion and in this renovation he is requesting a more easy maintenance material. I’m leaning toward lighter countertops, so that eliminates things like soapstone. Granite is definitely still a mid 90s faux pas and I don’t like the plasticy look of Corian. Butcherblock and stainless steel are also not my faves, at least for this project. This leaves us with quartz or concrete, alongside my beloved marble.
The decision will come down to dramatic or simple. If we opt for a dramatic countertop, similar to our loft, then my husband and I are luckily in agreement that an artificial stone is not going to work. A pet peeve of mine is when things attempt to be something they’re not and a quartz countertop with dramatic “marble” veining is just a no-go for me. Luckily with a dramatic countertop, the little etches and wear and tear is less obvious. If we opt for a simpler countertop, one that doesn’t make a statement, then quartz is a serious contender. I mean, why not? As long as it’s not the centerpiece, it’ll be durable and easy to maintain. I prefer the quartz that isn’t flat, it has a little depth to it that mimics stone, but isn’t trying hard to make a grand gesture.