My Home | Kitchen

Welcome into our kitchen! You may have seen snippets of this room in a previous Urban Jungle Blogger post, however today I’m taking you on a tour from every angle.

The owners were quite clever modernising this kitchen without doing a full blown renovation. They left much of the original cabinetry in, threw in a lovely big double doored fridge and freezer along with a Smeg 50’s style dishwasher – you know, the one that everyone pines over on Pinterest. They replaced the old tap with a modern pull-out on the original sink and added some industrial style stainless steel cabinetry further up. Overall, it looks cute and wouldn’t have broken their bank account.

I’m going to be truthful here, I was super excited to have that 50’s style dishwasher, but while it looks cool, it would have to be the worst one I’ve ever experienced. Stacking is difficult so there has been lots of breakages, it doesn’t work great and it’s loud! Just sayin’ here… Perhaps other people have had a better experience, but not me. It’s always good to read reviews out there before investing money. The Bosch fridge/freezer on the other hand, is something I’d happily purchase for my home.

Adding that big plant on top of the fridge was a bit of a revolution for us. It brought so much more life to the area. I know that now because I left this plant outside for a bit to get some rain and before I realised, the frost over a number of evenings almost killed it. I’m trying my hardest to bring him back to his former glory, but he’s really not happy at the moment sadly. The area looks so bare without it and of course with us leaving the country soon, I can’t go out an buy another plant.

I always love a windowsill to display my bits and bobs. I’m hoping for some of those lovely big deep ones you get in Europe in our Stockholm home. I’m going to go crazy with plants if I do…

Soon I’ll be scooping these string of pearls out and giving them to a friend, although my favourite hanging ceramic planter made by my friend Tracy from TW Workshop in LA will be coming with me.

A little further up on the right and you come to the stainless steel addition. We’ve warmed it up with a few vintage touches. Some of you would recognise this portrait. She tends to move around house a bit and I have to say that having her in the kitchen has been my favourite spot so far, I love portraits in kitchens, they look so striking! We had to move her though because the steam was a little too close and I worried that it would damage it.

Note that these photos were taken in February and these juicy red tomatoes were picked from my edible deck garden. What I’d do to add these to my salad tonight!

Take a big turn to the left and here you have all of the original cabinetry. The owners kept it as is other than taking out a few doors to create some open shelving, painting it white and changing the door handles. A lovely blank canvas to display some pretty things.

Sometimes it pays to think outside the box. We all want a brand new kitchen, but there are so many ways you can modernise what you already have and feel proud of. Then of course, it’s about adding some of your personality with little decorative touches.

Turn around and you can see towards our living room. If you didn’t catch that post, you can view it here.

Mel x