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My Summer Cottage Kitchen Renovation: Floorplan and Design


In paid partnership with Bosch
Quite a lot has happened in the last three weeks with the summer cottage kitchen renovation. I have spent the last couple of weeks measuring and sketching and now I think I may have arrived at a design direction - hurrah! Thank you so much for all your input - it's been invaluable! As you know, our little cottage is located in a small fishing village on the West coast of Sweden. The sea is a gentle grey-blue and I'm keen for the kitchen to reflect this. I'm therefore thinking about a soft, muted light grey or pale green palette blended with white and warm wood.

CABINETS
I've narrowed my search down to IKEA VEDDINGE cabinets (seen in the picture above) since I like the sleekness  - they feel less fussy for a small space and easy to clean 8as one of you pointed out on Facebook - thank you!).

As with any room that employs light colours and a clean look, I'm aware I'll need to add plenty of warm touches. I'm thinking accents of natural wood (hooks, chopping boards, stool etc), stone and tarnished brass.

MOODBOARD


FLOOPLAN
I took my scribbled measurements and pictures of our L shaped kitchen along to the IKEA kitchen design centre (you just book online and then rock up at the given time slot) - and lo and behold the designer happened to be an old friend I hung out with when I was on maternity leave (Jess) - who also happens to have great taste! Malmö's a small place and sometimes it totally pays off! This is the floor plan we arrived at:

CABINET POSITIONING
I would love to do away with the upper cabinets for a really fresh, up-to-date look - but the kitchen is way too small and we have way too much stuff (even after a Marie Kondo style declutter!). Sadly, I'm not sure a lot of open shelving is an option either since we are not at the cottage enough and the items would just collect dust - what do you think? I've left wall space to the right of the sink just in case!
All of the lower cabinets are drawers since they can be fully extended which makes them a more practical option than cupboards.

APPLIANCES
One of the beauties of selecting an IKEA kitchen is that Bosch appliances are a seamless fit (I am keen to use these in the cottage kitchen as we've always had them at home and I'm a firm believer in opting for reliable, good quality appliances that last). The oven and induction hob will be placed under an integrated fan (I love 'open' fans' but need to capitalise on storage). The dishwasher will be seamlessly hidden behind 'number 6' in the layout and the fridge-freezer will be built-in behind the cabinet door in position 11.


I hope you like these ideas. The plan is only preliminary so please do weigh in if you have any thoughts / advice - I'm all ears!
Even though there's a whole load of work ahead, this renovation is starting to feel real now and I'm getting SO excited. Weeeeee! 

Niki

Photography credit for main picture: Mikael Lundblad

*This series is in paid collaboration with Bosch. However, all words and pictures are my own and I only ever work with brands I love and think you will too. 

LATEST COMMENTS:

  1. Looks great. I like the cabinets and layout. I think you are right about the upper cabinets; I think it looks really good with that space on the right for a piece of art of a shelf with some nice pottery. If you hang two pendants (or wall sconces), one above the sink and one in that open space to the right, you will get illumination of the sink/counter but also able to spotlight whatever is on that currently empty wall. I think it will look amazing.

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    1. What a great idea re the dual lamps, thank you so much. I was thinking about just placing one pendant over the sink but maybe I'll now put one over the second section as you suggest!

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    2. I have a space like that and without under the cabinet light, it was pretty dark even with an overhead light and a light next to it (like you would mount over the sink). I couldn't use that counter space at all so I installed a sconce over some shelving i had on the wall. Much better :-). You could see how it goes with just the light over the sink and then rectify after if needed. There are a lot of clip on or plug in lights that could work. Good luck! I am sure it will be great either way.

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    3. Thank you - so helpful. Lighting is really important so it's helpful to get your input on this. A sconce could also be a good option for the bare wall (I'll see what works better, that or a pendant. I am also thinking about built in lighting under the upper cabinets to the left :)

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  2. Orkar inte skriva detta på engelska så hoppas svenska är OK.
    1. De, som jag uppfattar som passbitar till vänster både på bänkskåpen och överskåpen, ligger inte i linje. Kanske en miss på riktningen?
    2. Passbiten på höger sida, vid dörren, borde kanske vara bredare? Kan bli för tajt när lådan dras ut mot dörrfoder. Går ju att justera mot de på vänster.
    3. Om det är möjligt skulle jag sätta ugnen på andra sidan och högre upp, så mycket mer praktiskt. Då kan du ha lådor för grytor under hällen och en mindre låda inne i den övre för tex verktyg man behöver vid matlagning.
    4. Skippa den där liten under överskåpen och sätt istället en täckskiva under, då får du en tunn fin kant istället och det är betydligt snyggare.
    5. Jag hade nog kikat på en lösning för överskåpen med skåp som öppnas uppåt, de kan stå öppna när man fixar och tex plockar ur diskmaskinen utan att man behöver känna att man går in i luckan. Gör fyra skåp av de där två (alltså 2*2).
    6. Om det är möjligt skulle jag försöka centrera diskhon under fönstret.
    Ber om ursäkt att det blev på svenska!

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    1. Wow! What amazing feedback, thank you so much! I understand Swedish so no problem at all - I hope you don't mind me writing back in English - my spelling in Swedish is awful! I will indeed try to put the sink as centred as possible under the window - completely agree, unfortunately the space doesn't quite allow for it which is a bit frustrating! I'm going to work through your other suggestions and see what I can incorporate too. Thanks again!

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  3. Looks like a great base plan. I am interested in what accent pieces you will use. I am rooting for a few splashes of saturated color.
    Good Luck
    Bernadette

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    1. Thank you Bernadette! I'd love to add a little saturated colour - did you have any particular shades in mind? If there's an old wood floor hiding under the laminate flooring I'd like to paint in white and add a rug of some sort - perhaps this could be one good way.

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  4. This looks great! It there a reason for the high cabinet next to the fridge being narrow? I'm not familiar with the METOD line sizes.
    If it's possible, I'd recommend adding an under cabinet light to the left of the stove, it can be hard to get enough light in those kinds of corners.
    I can't wait to see how it comes together!

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    1. Thanks for pointing this out. I would have really love to have been able to put a 60 cm cabinet in beside the fridge but there's a fireplace behind the wall and being an old house it has some mechanisms on the kitchen side of the wall which we'll need to leave some room for. We'll nom more once we rip out the old cabinets, I'm still hoping there might be a way to get a larger cabinet in. Fingers crossed. Also a good point about the lighting under the upper cabinets, I'll add that to the plan :)

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  5. Beautiful plan! I wonder, though, if marble is the right material for a cottage in a fishing village.

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    1. Thank you. I have been going backwards and forwards on the marble. We've had oak at home for years and it's driven us insane - we haven't been able to leave on glass on it or leaves a ring (and we're not the tidiest of people!). We're really keen for this look to last for a long time. Any thoughts on other materials for the worktop?

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  6. Looks great! Maybe for a cottage-y look (my fave), you could either do glass-front doors on the uppers, and/or take the uppers all the way down to the counter for a built-in cupboard look (would prob be better to make more narrow to lose less countertop). Then run an open shelf over the windows to span from the uppers to the right-most wall, with hooks for pots under and then possibly a lower shelf or two on right. Make sense? Just a thought (or two!). Love the gray and copper and shaker pegs and green living things...

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    1. Hi Sarah, thank you so much for this input, I am very keen to add a cottage feel. I honestly didn't want any uppers at all - but kind of felt I had to do it this way too get more counter space (at home we hardly have any and it's so frustrating)! I am thinking of potentially putting in wood shelving on the right hand wall with hooks underneath - or even on the wall beside the door as I think it could be nice to have some open storage. I like the idea of hooks underneath too! :)

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  7. Just realized my last comments doesn't take the stove into account! So maybe quite a bit more narrow on a to-the-counter cabinet, with some side shelves for cooking utensils and spices, with a matching to-the-counter cab on the extreme right, long high shelf above to marry the two with cottage-y brackets (we did this type of shelf over windows in our last cottage home, completely made the room).

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    1. Just seen this! Do you have a picture of the long, high shelf? I'm keen to see more of what you did! Thanks :) Might have to be via email!

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  8. This looks like a great plan. Maybe I like it so much because of the La Pavoni espresso maker in the first picture, I have one of those and I love it...
    I hope you have left enough space on the side of number 7 so the drawers doesn't come into conflict with the door.
    I think open shelving on the right would look great and complete the look, but I do agree with your concern about dust. I have two cabins, one is used each month, the other one two or three times a year, and there is always dust and spider webs to clean off, especially in the latter on. Maybe just going for some nice lights would be a better plan, two pendants would be both a nice look and practical. You can never have too much light in a kitchen.
    If you go for the marble counter top, then I would go for a light, pale grey wall color to warm the space up a little. Preferably I would choose that color on the cabinets, but IKEA doesn't have any in the right color.

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    1. Hi Rita, Thank you so much for sharing all these thoughts with me - so helpful! It was especially useful to hear your thoughts on dust. I might start without open shelves and can always add later if the space feels too bare. Funny you should mention light grey cabinets - I've actually been in contact with a local professional (Swiss Metod) about getting the cabinets spray painted in light grey (pale green is also in the running). Great minds think alike! :)

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  9. This is shaping up very nicely. Keep the cabinetry - I like the style and you can always remove an upper cabinet if you decide you must have open shelving - in case they are discontinued later. I love the brass knob (last row, middle photo) - beautiful!
    Cannot wait to see the reveal!

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    1. Thank you for vote of confidence on the upper cabinetry :) I am happy you like the brass knob as I have found a near identical one which I think will look really pretty. Getting there.... :)

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