Say hello to our new kitchen! If you follow me on Instagram, you will already have seen that I’ve done a kitchen makeover at home – and if you caught the blog post about our new flooring, then you probably also know that our landlord recently agreed to a small budget for some upgrades in our villa. Flooring was priority level one, but some changes in the kitchen were a close second. Lucky for us, this villa had already had a kitchen upgrade at some point because it has an IKEA Kitchen rather than the original Meadows spec. The space had ‘good bones’ but I wanted to elevate the aesthetic and put my mark on it.
Having a standard IKEA base to work from made the makeover relatively simple because I didn’t have to start replacing core carcasses, although I did make some changes to the upper wall cabinets. For the purpose of this makeover explanation, I’ll make a list below of the work we carried out.
The overall plan was to change the colour scheme in the kitchen to something a little bolder than the all white cabinets we started with. I also wanted to reduce the number of upper cabinets in the hope of it looking less cluttered. The black worktop is in great condition, so there was no need to change that. I was actually using the kitchen at our holiday home as inspiration for the new look. I used black cabinets there and really love them, so I wanted to aim for a similar aesthetic.
PAINTED WALL TILES
The first step was to paint the existing wall tiles – a bit of a controversial topic in the renovation arena but a solution I was willing to live with in a rental home. Whilst it’s not a particularly durable long term solution, there was no way I would consider ripping out and replacing all the tiles (mostly because the tiling goes all the way up to the ceiling) – it would have been a really messy and extensive project. Painting over them was going to have to suffice. The problem with painting a glossy tile is that whatever you cover it with is unlikely to stay in place if scratched or subjected to wear and tear. Aside of the occasional wipe down, the walls in our kitchen are barely touched, so I am hoping it will hold up for some time. We removed all the top cabinets and started with an enamel primer to coat the surface and provide something for the paint to adhere to.
My initial choice of colour for the tiles was white, but as soon as I saw the paint dry, I decided it looked too stark and switched to a warm, light grey colour (Jotun Sheer Grey) instead – it’s actually the same shade I have used in our living room. The idea was to have black cabinets below and a light colour on top. I’m so glad that I changed my mind and went with the gray because I love the colour combination. However, choosing grey for the walls meant that I needed to get side panels and doors for the upper cabinets custom made in the same colour as the walls – a slight deviation from the original budget, but well worth it
NEW DOORS, HANDLES AND SHELVES
I replaced all the lower cabinet doors, drawer fronts, side panels and plinths with new black ones from IKEA. I chose the KUNGBACKAseries for it’s matte finish, but I later discovered that the doors are made from recycled wood and recycled PET bottles, which was fantastic surprise.
I reduced the number of wall cabinets in favour of including some open shelving above the coffee-making area, which is also the first thing you see as you enter the kitchen. This small change has had a huge impact on look of the space. Replacing the wall cabinets with shelves also forced me to do a major clear out in our kitchen and I’m happy to report that we have substantially reduced the amount of ‘stuff’ we had in there.
The handles were ordered online, but this same spec (matte black, 80mm) will soon be available via fronteriors.
LAMINATE FLOORING
If you haven’t seen the recent post on our new flooring, that is worth a look. The new water resistance laminate floors were installed ahead of the kitchen makeover, but without them, the final result of this project would just not be the same. For me personally, what I love most about the matte black doors is the way that they contrast against the light wood flooring.
So that’s our kitchen makeover in a nutshell. Swipe below to see before and after pics and if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask in the comments section.
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