Anyone who has ever moved to a completely empty apartment/house knows how god damn exciting EVERY little home improvement can be. That’s why I am here to once again share the look of our lovely little kitchen which we have now enjoyed for some months I think.
Buying an empty apartment is probably not for everybody but we knew that we wanted to create everything to our own liking and that’s why we were not that bothered by the fact that our home comes without a kitchen. Few months forward, after living without a kitchen and struggling to find motivation for cooking we began to see that it’s actually not that easy and we will probably never buy a home like this again 😃. That’s mainly because we didn’t really have much money saved for the kitchen and we all know how expensive kitchens can be. So it took some time but I think it was worth the wait because I am truly happy with our kitchen and it came out exactly as we wanted!
What were we looking for?
I think the first thing that we agreed on was the color of the kitchen and it had to be black. I’m not even sure why but this idea had been with us for years. One thing we also had always been dreaming about was the kitchen island and this idea came with us from the very start too. We were considering buying an Ikea kitchen for some time and that’s how I came across this two-level solution for the upper cabinets. I knew I wanted this similar look because it looked so cool! I spent so much time just browsing through Pinterest and started seeing these black kitchens with wood accent and I fell in love with the idea. My boyfriends also liked the look so that’s how we eventually knew exactly what we wanted our kitchen to look like. That made it very easy to visit the salons because I kept asking the same thing from different companies. Finally, when we made the order, it took about 5 weeks until it was ready to be installed and then the guys came and installed it in 9 hours. Nice, easy, and quick!
What I am loving the most in our new kitchen is that I finally have space for everything. Although it might seem like a small kitchen there is plenty of storage room and I still have some empty cupboards which is super nice. I think that this is the best part of custom furniture – every little corner gets used for space and with small homes, it means a lot. That is ultimately why we ditched the Ikea kitchen idea and recently ordered a custom closet for the bedroom too. We have quite high ceilings and I was determined to use that space for our advantage. So far so good!
Of course all the doors are closing slowly and quietly but since we didn’t have that function in our last apartment, I am really appreciating it. It’s something that you don’t think about when you don’t have it but once you are used to it – you can’t imagine having it any other way.
If there was something that we were concerned about it was the fridge. We bought it right after moving in because we knew that we would live without a kitchen for a while and it wouldn’t have been possible to store any food if we didn’t buy it beforehand. Since we knew that we wanted a black kitchen we chose the fridge accordingly but we were still so happy to see that it matched perfectly with the rest of the kitchen in the end. So I can say from the experience that it’s totally okay to use a non-integrated fridge even in today’s modern home design.
Plans for decorating
Although the kitchen is pretty much finished there is still the decorating part left. The main thing is that we don’t have any lamps in the apartment and I’m sure that our home would look way more put together once they are all in place. But this is again our own decision not to put lamps in before we have all the big furniture in place. That way we know exactly what the rooms will look like and it’s easier to buy decorations that actually fit the vibe of our apartment.
I am planning to keep the kitchen pretty simple and I am going for a black and white aesthetic. The one thing at the top of the list is this Alessi kettle which has exactly the kind of characteristics that I am looking for in our kitchen design. The price of this is pretty heavy but there’s just nothing like it in the market. That’s another reason why everything takes so much time with our apartment – we always like quite expensive things and we will not settle for anything less. Fortunately, Christmas is only 4 months away! 😁
Recently I started to notice the empty wall space between the island and kitchen cupboards and now it’s really bothering me. I’m thinking of adding some wall art or a shelf there maybe. I’m not entirely sure how it will look but we’ll have to try. What do you think? Would it be a good space for some artwork or would it look weird?
Anyway, here are all the decorations I have in mind at the moment:
- Markslojd lamp Harry
- Oil and Vinegar Cruet Set
- Dr. Vranjes Rosso Nobile diffuser
- Desenio poster
- Ceramic storage jars
- Similar plates
- Similar coasters
- Tefal Loft toaster
- Marble coasters
- Woven pot holder
- Basil in a white pot
- Alessi Plisse kettle
Living without a kitchen
Many people have asked me how did we live without a kitchen for over 6 months and I thought I would share my experience here as well. Maybe some of you are planning to buy an empty home as well haha. It actually wasn’t THAT impossible for us because we had 2 very useful kitchen appliances – microwave and an air-fryer. And the kettle as well of course. At first, we mainly eat pre-made salads from the store + some meat that we could heat up in the microwave. After a while, we discovered Uncle Bens microwave rice and it became our go-to because it was so yummi and easy. And way better than just buying pre-made rice or potatoes from the store. Sometimes I would just make a fresh salad or cottage cheese salad and we would have it with some pre-made meat from the store. And that’s an isle I walk waaaay past now in the grocery store! I’m so over these processed chicken and pork things.
After getting an air-frier we could cook some new foods again and I enjoyed it SO much. I looooved cooking sweet potato fries and vegan “meatballs” and breaded fish – these were all frozen foods and they came out perfectly in the air-frier. I also cooked fresh fish, bbq pork, and chicken fillet in the air-frier, so you can pretty much cook anything that you would normally fry or put in the oven. And so we did until we got our kitchen installed!
Thank you for checking out this post! Leave a comment down below what is the color of your dream kitchen, I would love to know. Talk soon! xx
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