Before & After: Some Smart, Scandi Kitchen Storage
Heidi’s kitchen got a sleek and storage-minded upgrade. Taking cues from her building’s style —and her own personal aesthetic — she created a space that added a lot of functionality, without sacrificing affordability.
From Heidi: The design was conceived around cues from my 1959 building’s clean aesthetic combined with a Scandinavian modern/folk influence. While the rest of the condo is furnished mostly in mid-century estate sale finds combined with a few furniture pieces and textiles collected during my world travels, going full-period retro didn’t seem the right direction for this kitchen. I travel a lot and when I come home I want to feel like I’m truly in my own space.
The priorities for this kitchen remodel were simple: counter space and storage. When I was ruminating over decisions, I kept these two things in mind, and they really kept me centered. Budget was a top consideration as well. I knew from the start I’d be using IKEA cabinets, and that allowed me to figure the cabinet budget quickly and find where I could splurge a little on things that could really have an impact, such as the hardware and tile. I hired a local contractor and worked part time at home so that I could be his second set of hands in a pinch. And, to make sure the cat wasn’t too freaked out by all the noise!
The biggest lesson I learned was to determine priorities early and stick to them – this helped me to avoid straying down many dead ends! I couldn’t be happier with the result.
Thank you, Heidi!