I always knew that it's going to be a while to see this through to fruition!
The last time a wrote about the re-design of our kitchen, we were planning on repainting our existing cabinetry to breathe in a dash of fresh air. It's not an overly old kitchen but due to our substandard paint quality choices and some less than great 'visions' on my part (thankfully I think I've grown out of those now!), there are areas that certainly need improvement.
Having a whole new kitchen is not a viable option for most people without planning, budgeting and a substantial waiting period for anyone worthwhile waiting for (I'm still waiting for our cooker surround cabinetry!), so it's in our best interest to look for other options, even if they're a temporary measure.
We haven't found the time to clear out the kitchen to repaint it, but there are a couple of corners in our kitchen that were just missing something:
Other than the now glaringly obvious door for our wall cabinet (open wall unit = aforementioned 'vision'!) this wall next to our fridge and pantry was empty and limited in terms of functionality. My original plan was to choose a painting for the wall but I never found anything I liked enough that wouldn't detract attention from the features of the kitchen.
When re-designing this space, I discovered that this area would be perfect for a baking zone, with one fundamental flaw: it lacked storage. For this reason I planned wrap around wall units joining the tall cabinet to where the existing wall unit is.
Since this initial plan, this corner has evolved into a coffee/tea station and my newest appliance - my ice cream maker (!). Now, anyone who has a coffee zone knows that it very quickly becomes cluttered: we have ground coffee, instant coffee, tea bags, hot chocolate, sugar, plus all of the paraphernalia that comes with the appliances... This area very quickly became messy and disorganised. We had to come up with a solution to clear the worktops that didn't involve additional cabinetry.
Here's what we did this weekend - a simple open shelf:
Now we have a place for all of the small things - ice cream toppings, sauces, coffee, tea, baking utensils, and the stand mixer has now found it's way home since it was kicked out by the ice cream maker!
The shelving now gives us the visual interest on this wall that was previously lacking, and instead of blending into the background like a painting, it adds it's own flair to the design features of the kitchen... I couldn't be happier with the result, and this simple addition now makes me in no hurry to rip out what we have when all it needs is a new (now more experienced!) vision.
We still need a door for the wall cabinet, but varnishing some oak is a great deal less time-consuming!
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