In most cases, the owners were also able to keep costs to a minimum.
The kitchen has been a place of concentration for the whole family before. Here they not only organized family and friendly gatherings, but also made important decisions, sometimes of almost national importance. Needless to say, even ardent adherents of restaurant food appreciated this place in the house during self-isolation. Someone in “confinement” finally learned to cook the simplest dishes, remembering school home economics lessons, someone began to pamper households with culinary delights.
And someone took up the alteration of the kitchen itself. After all, when you are within four walls 24 hours a day for several months, even a perfect renovation starts to get a little annoying. And when both the walls and the ceiling, and all these cabinets of the color of grandmother’s hope are far from ideal, your hands are itching to fix all this disgrace immediately.
36-year-old Esin Prod from Broxbourne (this is in Hertfordshire in the UK) undertook the transformation of the family nest back in 2018. She and her husband then purchased a 100-year-old, four-bedroom Edwardian-style home. First of all, the modernization was … of course, the bedrooms. Life then seemed carefree, and Esin hired professionals, spending a total of £ 18 on repairs. But they did not have time to reach the bathroom and the second bedroom on the first floor – the quarantine began.
The mother of two children could not sit still, and in the intervals between classes with children and online work, she took up the alteration of the kitchen.
It was: white cabinets with brown accents, a countertop and a peninsula to match them, a kitchen apron made of sand-colored ceramic tiles. Many would consider it a dream kitchen. But Esin was categorical: “We live in the interior of the 80s.”
It became: all the cabinets were repainted in black (and there are 32 of them!), as well as the refrigerator and even the dishwasher. White rosettes were replaced with gold ones. The wall tiles, by contrast, gleamed white, as did the stainless steel sink. And thanks to the self-adhesive foil, the dark laminated tabletop has turned into a “marble” one. Wood slats appeared on one of the walls, as well as on the kitchen peninsula, and the vinyl floor was concealed with the cheapest flooring found in a popular UK retail store.
The woman needed a few liters of paint, marble-effect stickers and the ability to find products at a bargain price. “All in all, we only spent £ 300 on the kitchen renovation. But it feels like we have received a completely new kitchen that will serve us for two years, ”- she does not cease to admire the transformation of Esin.
Petersburg woman Elena Nikolaeva also moved to new housing in the year of the World Cup in Russia. But in the house of Stalin’s construction there had been no repairs since 1953, so literally everything had to be demolished inside the building. Elena talks in detail about the progress of the repairs, which continued during the coronavirus pandemic, as well as the nuances of life in the houses of that era in her blog.
It was: the old kitchen, left over from the previous tenants, had no chance of “life” initially. A pair of old, seemingly still Soviet-made, chipboard cabinets and a sink on the wall opposite from the windows is not a dream of a modern woman living in a metropolis. Over the ergonomics of the room, the hostess had to pretty much smash her head. The kitchen has an area of 8,4 sq. m, there were two windows with a wide partition, gas and a wet zone were initially spaced along different walls (once a house in each apartment had a wood-burning stove, because of which it was not possible to run a gas pipe next to the sink). Plus, there is a load-bearing wall between the kitchen and the nearest room, so there was no way to combine the kitchen and dining room either.
It became… The kitchen is of a linear type, spaced along two walls: on the one side – a work surface with a hob and a gas oven, on the other – a work surface with a sink (white made of artificial stone) and a refrigerator. All furniture and countertops are from Ikea.
A kitchen island appeared in the wall, created from wall cabinets 40 cm deep, offset relative to each other, and Ikea countertops. “For this ‘island’ or ‘peninsula’ I fought for a long time. First at Ikea, when we were warned that there would be no guarantee for this construction (because I invented it myself). Then at home, when Ivan with hope offered to hand over all these parts back, ”Elena shared with subscribers.
She abandoned the actual wall cabinets, replacing them with two open shelves. They store everything that you need to have on hand during cooking, but at the same time does not litter the countertop.
Victoria from the UK took on a global makeover of the house back in 2019. And if the living quarters were created literally from scratch, then in the kitchen the girl was satisfied with almost everything. The only embarrassing thing was the color scheme of the kitchen apron, and it was repainted in the first place even before the start of the coronavirus pandemic. But when the family found itself in self-isolation, hands reached out to brushes and paint in order to completely transform the room.
“I didn’t hate the kitchen before, it was in good condition except for the tiles. We’ll save up enough money for a brand new kitchen someday. In the meantime, I’m happy with the make up that we did. With white tiles, it looks cleaner and brighter, it feels like a part of the house, ”admits Victoria.
It was: the room seemed dark due to the shade of the fronts of the kitchen cabinets in the U-shaped kitchen. A kitchen apron complemented the gloomy atmosphere – squares of dark red and dark green, diluted with yellow, looked heavy. The powerful handles on the cabinets and the granite-like countertop did not add lightness either. The washing machine with the packages of detergent piled up against the wall by the doorway only intensified the impression of a kind of chaos.
It became: the fronts of the kitchen cabinets were repainted in gentle green, and the kitchen peninsula was also hidden with paint and wooden slats. The granite countertop has turned into a marbled one thanks to the vinyl film. The multi-colored tile was painted solid white, the floor was also painted and stenciled.
The place in the corner by the doorway, where the washing machine used to stand, has undergone a major overhaul. She is still there, but disguised with the help of a kitchen module decorated with slats. And the door itself was laid and the space was decorated with a poster.
A few years ago, Ellie’s house from British Manchester delighted with bright Scandinavian-style interiors. But gradually the woman, who is fond of decor, decided to add color to her home. Hands reached the kitchen almost last: by that time, the white facades of kitchen cabinets were definitely out of the general color scheme of the house, where deep green prevailed. When she was locked up during the coronavirus pandemic, she used improvised means to transform the kitchen beyond recognition, spending a total of about £ 300.
It was: white glossy fronts of kitchen cabinets, kitchen apron made of tiles that imitate stone, granite countertops, laminate flooring, stainless steel appliances – cute, but so boring!
It became: kitchen fronts have acquired a shade of spring green, the hood above the hob has been repainted black, the countertop has been covered with a foil imitating a marble surface. The main pride of the hostess is the pale pink tile of the kitchen apron with white stars stenciled on it. “We have more stars here than in the night sky,” Ellie sneers. Well, the girl temporarily hid the laminate on the floor under two rugs in the hope that someday she will replace the floor covering.
“My kitchen is very bright, very funny, very daring. Some people hate her, some love her … But she certainly does not compare with what was. It’s amazing what paint and primer can do! ” – adds Ellie.
Alicia from Liverpool also lives in an Evardian house. Together with Guy, then a boyfriend, and now her husband, the girl bought it three years ago. A lover of color and eclecticism, she used details that emphasize the historical characteristics of their 100-year-old home in the remodeling of her home. She made her first attempts to update the kitchen back in 2019. But the prices were biting: £ 4000 – excluding the cost of appliances and fit-to-size.
“The thought of spending about 10 thousand on restyling the kitchen in a house in which we will not live forever did not inspire me,” the girl admits. But in the life of Alicia and all of us, a pandemic happened, and she decided to update with the help of a specialized kitchen planner. In total, Alicia spent 20 hours just arranging all the furniture the way she liked. I also had to do the assembly myself. But the result was worth it. The difference between “before” and “after” is simply colossal.
It was: L-shaped kitchen with almost no work surface. Black facades, boring tiles on the backsplash and on the floor. “This part of the house used to feel so dark and dirty when we had an old black kitchen,” Alicia recalls.
It became: the layout was changed to U-shaped. The kitchen set was chosen in a light gray color, the tiles on the apron were pale pink (pink boar along the work surface, pink and white with a geometric pattern – a vintage accent at the hob). The refrigerator with the freezer was completely moved to the utility room, leaving a small one in the kitchen, under the countertop – for the most necessary things like milk. In the corner near the window, instead of wall cabinets, there are open shelves, which made it possible to let in more light into a small space.
“I originally wanted the new kitchen to be dark blue. But I’m so glad that I completely abandoned this idea in order to end up with a super-bright space, – Alicia does not cease to admire now. “Although we technically lost floor space and made the room smaller, it seems much more spacious. Maybe it’s because of the light colors. “
Maxine and Nadia from Melbourne are professional organizers of space in homes. But in the case of this house, they could not resist and showed how you can turn “grandma’s kitchen” into a modern space for preparing delicious dishes. After this alteration, by the way, its owners were able to sell their property more profitably.
It was: dark, dull space. Outdated kitchen cabinets with dark countertops and outdated appliances.
It became: kitchen set remains the same. The girls changed the fronts of the lockers and the handles on them, painted the walls and tiles on the apron. The owners of the house changed the countertop in the color of the wood, and the kitchen island was decorated with white square tiles.
In addition, new household appliances appeared in the kitchen, as well as a white sink, several open shelves were hung by the window.
Zoe Martin from Derbyshire has updated her kitchen before the pandemic. Nevertheless, she did not dare to go for global changes. But this is the very case when the color changes literally everything.
It was: a dark room that “looked so orange”.
It became: the fronts of the kitchen cabinets were repainted white, this visually expanded the space, made the kitchen brighter. In addition, Zoe removed one of the kitchen cabinets in the partition, placing a fun elephant head decor in there.
“I will never love an old countertop or cabinet handles. But for now they will do too, ”added Zoe. – I look forward to designing my dream kitchen. But now I am glad at least that it is not orange and dull, but light and bright. “