Design follows function, right?
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"The kitchen is your thing. You decide everything on your own." Sarah said something like that when we started planning our kitchen. In a way, that makes sense. I can't remember ever having seen Sarah cook seriously before. But from the start, I had a feeling that the roast couldn't be trusted. I found out just how much a few weeks later, when it came to the details.
We had just returned from the Reform showroom (more on that here ) and were completely euphoric that our floor matched the fronts we had chosen as if they were made for each other and I was already mentally planning the details when the first design guidelines for my kitchen plan were presented to me: "I want all the fronts to be the same width and without interruption."
Say goodbye to your plans
What may not sound like a big deal to someone who is dealing with kitchen planning for the first time is, when you look into the details, a gigantic challenge. However, the image of our kitchen that Sarah conjured up in my mind's eye was actually really good. It was just that my original plan was ruined. So back to the mental drawing board and starting again.
Designing with Obstacles
I had already planned to put the fridge and oven in our tall cupboards. It was clear from the start that we would have interruptions in the fronts and without this restriction, the planning was relatively easy. The kitchen unit opposite was even more tricky :
If we only want to use one front width, that obviously has to be clarified first. Three spaces are already allocated: sink base unit, dishwasher and the cupboard for the hob. Our kitchen is 3.2m long. If we went with 80cm wide fronts, there would still be space for exactly one cupboard after the three cupboards. That was far too little for me. 40cm was not an option, as I can only fit a narrow dishwasher and no decent hob in a 40cm cupboard. So 60cm was the measure of all things.
It's the inner values that count
The width of the front was decided. So the next not so straightforward restriction follows: uninterrupted fronts everywhere. Usually, shelves are hidden behind a closed front. For me, there is absolutely nothing worse in the world. In a kitchen, every base unit should have drawers, from top to bottom, all drawers, that's it! Why? Because in a kitchen that is lavishly equipped with drawers, you can simply store an incredible amount of things, and we have a lot. My collection includes not only a wide variety of pans and pots, but also all kinds of special tools, and everything from a frying iron to a nutmeg grater needs its place.
Luckily, there is a solution to my dilemma: internal drawers, i.e. a door on the outside and a hodgepodge of drawers behind it. And the whole thing has another advantage that I hadn't even planned for: since the drawers aren't visible from the outside, I can mix them up as much as I need and don't have to worry about the look. Good thing.
From Plan to Action
Planning a kitchen is one thing. Building a kitchen is quite another. The lovely people at Reform had put us in touch with a competent fitter, but I was of the opinion: we'll do it ourselves! Why, you ask yourself? I asked myself that too, but since this wasn't the first kitchen I was building, I was firmly convinced that I could do it.
As you can see, the kitchen is now finished, but I had obviously forgotten how long it takes to build a kitchen. Putting cupboards together, putting them in the water and connecting them together. Cutting and fitting cover panels, filler pieces and skirting boards. A flood of drawers that need to be built. The work just seems to never end with a project like this. I was all the happier that I didn't have to do anything with the worktop. We had opted for a ceramic worktop from Reform. Slim, elegant, beautiful and indestructible. The latter is particularly important to me in a worktop, because that is exactly what I use it for: as a worktop. I have to be able to put hot pots and pans down on it for a short time, I have to be able to mess around on it without having to worry at all about stains and it also has to be shock and scratch resistant. Our ceramic worktop has all of that. But you don't just cut the hole for the sink in something like that on the side. It has to be made to measure.
Finally a worktop
Shortly after I had finished building the kitchen, the man who would take measurements showed up at our home, which at that point was more of a construction site than a house. To be honest, I was sweating quite a bit. After all, my work was being measured with a laser and every little inaccuracy would now be revealed . To my delight, my kitchen was not only visually appealing, but also surprisingly square and straight. You grow with your challenges.
Barely two weeks later, two young men were standing at the door with our worktop under their arms. Less than 30 minutes later, it was assembled, our sink was glued in and our hob was installed. The shortest time a tradesman had spent during the entire construction phase. I was very impressed, especially with the result. Because there it was, barely half a year after we had held up our floor sample to various fronts in the showroom: our kitchen.
trial by fire
No matter how good a plan is, it has to prove itself in practice. New Year's Eve was our kitchen's first big appearance: there had to be five courses, but not just any old ones, of course. So we had to use pretty much everything that I and my collection of small and large kitchen gadgets have to offer. A stress test for every kitchen plan and the ideal opportunity to show whether what we have thought up will prove itself in practice. By the time we had dessert, it was clear: this kitchen works fantastically.
So does design always have to take a back seat to function? Our kitchen has shown me that you can plan the other way round. You might take an unusual path and say goodbye to your favourite habits (yes, you mean the 80s chest of drawers), but the effort is worth it. Because in the end there is no compromise where you give up something to reconcile two opposites, in the end there is a symbiosis of the best of both worlds.
Facts
Model: Profiles with 60 cm fronts
Color: Sand
Worktop: Dekton by Reform
Bodies and drawers: IKEA
Splash guard: Elephant skin is added to the wall paint
Wall paint: 'White Sand' by Studio Wohnglück x Kolorat, available in our online shop from February 13, 2022.
