The Cottage Kitchen: Is it Perfect?

We waited a year for our cottage kitchen to be built and usable. The layout did not change a great deal from the final iteration on the plans. A few of my design decisions did change, however. In today’s post, let’s look at the kitchen progress so far and talk about how things are stacking up with what I envisaged in my head. Is the kitchen perfect? Can a room ever be perfect?

In the image above you can see the kitchen layout as it was when we bought the cottage. It was so dark and very pokey with a low ceiling. The laundry was facing the view of the bay. We wanted to maximize this, so our plan was to open the entire area up and make the covered area part of the room. It was a useless undercover porch. As is ended up, council would not allow us to use the entire covered area, so most of the space went to waste. We were, however allowed to build inside the area where the chimney was so that’s what we did. It meant our final kitchen dining area is far smaller but we worked with what we had. Would I change this if I could? I don’t mind the smaller area that much but I would have like a bigger dining space for hosting and a larger pantry space.

The Appliances

We chose our appliances before the kitchen layout was finalized. In a post last year, I talked about not being about the justify spending $4000 on a fridge just to achieve a look, and I remain happy with our choices. Despite concerns over whether there would be enough space for the French door fridge, it turned out well. I love the contrast between the black freestanding oven and the cabinets. The decision to have induction rather than gas was one we definitely stand by. It’s been a game changer. We also decide to ditch the microwave. I have to admit there have been two times in the past month I wanted to get it out of the shed, but overall, we don’t miss it. We can use that space far more productively.

The colour scheme

My original idea was for kitchen cabinetry in the same olive colour as the dado in the lounge. The idea was to tie the kitchen and lounge together. However, when it became clear we were not having flat pack cabinets, I ditched the green in the kitchen all together and painted everything in C.R.E.A.M from Tint Paint. This colour features throughout the cottage and it’s perfect to add softness to the kitchen space. I love how it allows the cabinets to have their moment.

Open Shelving

I had my heart set on this from the beginning. I’d pinned so many looks and tossed around a number of options, including using a vintage bookcase for the shelves. In the end, we made some shelves from framing planks and I could not love them more. The chuck you feel is perfect. Will they get dusty? Yes. But doesn’t everything? Honestly, the amount of literal extra minutes I’l spend wiping these shelves down is made up for in their sheer wow factor. And not having many other places to display and tinker with decor in the cottage, I can see these shelves will get a workout.

That Sink

A porcelain sink was always in the plan. Did I have to have one that big? No. Did I start to regret this choice on install day when we encountered one problem after another? Yes. Do I care now? Not one bit.
I deliberately chose a big sink that will fit baking trays for washing because the one we had at the farm drove me nuts. This is a single bowl, also chosen for the reason. And I discovered yesterday it’s also deep enough to fit a dish rack inside, so we can stack dishes and hide them away while we wait to wash. ( the dishwasher isn’t functional as yet).

Moving The Oven Off Centre

When I said we we contemplating putting a longer bench on one side of the oven and nothing on the other my Instagram DMs went nuts with people telling me we needed to have prep space on both sides.
I thought so too until we did it, but now? We both LOVE having a 1200mm expanse of bench next to the stove We use the space for most prep. At the farm we had standard 600mm on each side and I can honestly say all we used the door side for was a key storage area. Now we have room to lay food out and prep an entire meal, right next to the stove.

Not Getting Flatpack Cabinets

Three words, people. Best decision ever. Our cottage kitchen has so much personality now. We’ve reused items that may have ended up in landfill and not filled the air with more harmful materials. Does our kitchen have optimal storage? No. But my aim is to buy inserts to make it more functional with the feel of drawers but the look of cupboards. Was it more effort to install? It gave us a few sleepless nights trying to get the look right. Do we love it now? Absolutely. And we are so glad we went with it? I’d do it again in a heartbeat.

The dining nook

has been a problem from day one. To make Gavin happy, I let them build the bench five centimeters too high, now it’s uncomfortable. My idea of a round table added to the nightmare when the one we bought did not fit. It overlapped the cabinetry too much and caused functionality issues. Then the light was in the wrong position. It’s still a problem I’m determined to solve. As it’s the only dining area we have.
None of these issues are unsolvable can be worked through. They’re the kind of things you don’t really.use until you begin to live in the space you’ve created.

So, is our kitchen perfect? Not by any means. We would change some things if we could. But I can live with them.