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kitchen details
First of all, a big thanks for all the positive feedback last week! Seriously, it made those six months of eating in our basement totally worth it.
Some people had questions about the innards of our kitchen, so we’re back to share the dets. In addition to the custom shelving units that we made, we also made some modifications to the IKEA units themselves, and thought we’d share those tidbits here as well.
But first, the view inside our fridge. It may only be 2′ wide and counter depth, but 98% of the time it’s enough space for us. Usually we just buy food and eat it the same week so we don’t need a lot of space for extras. The freezer portion below has 2 full size drawers and a half drawer at the bottom (to make room for the compressor). Our freezer mostly consists of coffee, ice cream and frozen veggies so it works for us. If, someday, we have lots of little Zerbeys running around and need more space, we could always do a full height refrigerator-only unit and then do a separate freezer in the basement. But for now, it does the job. (Note: since the fridge needs to ventilate at the top, we opted not to do another custom shelf in that area. The space is still useful for storing larger trays and the like.)
In addition to our custom shelves and plywood wraps, we also fabed up our own toekicks. The matching high-gloss gray was an option, but we decided that a solid wood piece would be more durable and add a little extra pizzaz. So we bought one length of IKEA toekick material and used it as a template to make our own. This basically entailed using the table saw to kerf out a notch that would accept the IKEA clip that then snaps onto the plastic legs that the cabinets are sitting on. (We also finished the wood with polyurethane.) Since the space under the island cabinets acts as a plenum for supply air, we simply incorporated a metal grille into that toekick. This is also a very good place to stand on a cold morning. (Did we mention that we went two years without heat in our house? Yeah, love us some heat.)
For the door and drawer pulls, we went with fancy Reveal pulls which are thicker than typical top-mounted hardware and thus needed to be recessed into the doors and drawer fronts. This seemed like a daunting and potentially risky job to me, but not for Kyle. He simply fashioned a custom jig that allowed him to router out the exact shape and size. Of course.
Love ’em.
The restocking and organizing of the kitchen was my territory. During the design stages, I laid out where everything would go (mainly to make sure we’d given ourselves enough space) and I think I followed the original plan pretty closely. The great thing about going the IKEA route is all the interior fittings. Really, I feel very sophisticated now.
…or maybe not. Yes Mom, the smiley face spoon gets used all the time. Tonight, it made polenta.
Something else I love about the IKEA drawers is that they’re deep. (Even though they’re more expensive, we did all drawers except the sink cabinet. Drawers are just way more functional. Period.) In an effort to avoid countertop clutter, I decided to stow the food processor, toaster and other infrequently used items in the drawers. With full extension drawer glides, it’s easy to pull things in and out and the wider drawers come with extra beefy drawer glides.
Lid organization – just one of the many new luxuries in our lives.
Originally, we were going to dedicate several of the island drawers for food storage (an idea we called the island pantry), but with the awesomeness that is our big pull-out pantry we didn’t really need more space. Except for this one – the all important snack drawer (the white bins are IKEA too).
Lazy Susan! (Where did that name come from anyway?) This is the space where we stash our pots and pans, strainers and mixing bowls. I love it. After years of apartment dwelling, this is another indulgence. On another semi-related tangent, the one thing that we just weren’t thrilled with was the vertical gap between banks of drawers. Even though there is adjustability built-in to the hardware, there’s just no way to avoid a small gap and using white cabinet boxes with a darker front only makes the issue more obvious. Our solution – a strip of black electrical tape on the cabinet box face so it now reads as a black reveal. Architectural detailing at its best.
Finally, la pièce de résistance – the IKEA pull-out pantry! For old houses or small spaces, this is a must-have. IKEA has a few different options, but on this particular model, the top and bottom drawers are permanently attached to the door front and the intermediate 3 drawers can slide in and out independently. And like everything else, it has soft closing dampeners so you only have to give it a light push before it retracts back into the closed position. In the small cabinet above, we store things like vases, the crock pot, and the ice cream maker. We also weren’t afraid to use those handy end panels. By installing one on the exposed side of the fridge, it gave the assembly a more buttoned-up look.
So there you have it – the kitchen tour, MTV Cribs style.
Resources
This is an ongoing list of materials and products that we have used in our house. To avoid the nightmare of keeping links up-to-date, we decided to keep it simple and just list the stores/distributers in parentheses. All suppliers are in the Seattle area, unless otherwise noted. Happy sourcing!
General
Windows: Eagle Aluminum Clad Wood Windows (“chocolate chip” brown on the exterior and fir on the interior)
Skylights and Skylight Shades: Velux
Exterior Doors: Simpson (Frank Lumber Door Store)
Exterior Door Hardware: Emtek stainless steel Stuttgart lever with square rosette & stainless steel square style deadbolt
Interior Barn Doors: Paint grade doors (Frank Lumber Door Store) painted with Benjamin Moore zero-VOC Natura paint in “Thunderbird” and “Lakeside Cabin”
Interior Barn Door Hardware: Henderson by Pemko (Builder’s Hardware) painted gray with an automotive primer
Interior Barn Door Handles: Linnea Flush Pulls (linnea-home.com)
Flooring: Capri Cork 12″x12″ tiles in Mediterra Dark with OSMO hardwax oil finish(Ecohaus)
Trim: FSC VG fir & painted formaldehyde-free MDF
Vaulted Ceiling: painted beadboard plywood
Tension Rods (Tacoma Screw) and Turnbuckles (Fisheries Supply)
Recessed Can Lights: Halo
Roller Shades: The Shade Store (theshadestore.com)
Bathroom
Bathub: Kohler Tea-For-Two (Craigslist)
Shower Fixtures: Hansgrohe shower valve and shower bar & Kohler Purist showerhead, tub spout and handshower (Best Plumbing)
Toilet: Toto Aquia dual-flush (Morgan’s Plumbing)
Sink: Kohler Kathryn (Best Plumbing)
Faucet: Kohler Purist (Best Plumbing)
Vanity: IKEA Akurum with custom teak plywood counter and side panel (Crosscut Hardwoods)
Vanity Hardware: Epco aluminum pulls (thehardwarehut.com)
Toilet Paper Holder: Atlas Homewares Linnea (thehardwarehut.com)
Mirror/Shelf: IKEA Molger Series in walnut (no longer available)
Floor Tile: Technoline 12″x24″ tiles in “tortora” (Pental Tile & Marble)
Wall Tile: Dal-Tile subway tiles in white (Home Depot)
Shower Curtain: IKEA
Shower Rod: Moen Donner Collection (Amazon.com)
Shower & Tub Ledge: solid teak (Crosscut Hardwoods)
Wooden Mat: Crate & Barrel
Artwork: Custom DIY (inspired by this Apartment Therapy post)
Towel Bar: IKEA Gruntal bar with DIY teak plywood cover plate
Towels: Bamboo blend (NOOD)
Wall Sconces: Resolute Utility wall sconce (with opal shade)
Exhaust Fan: Panasonic WhisperQuiet
Electric Radiant Floor Mat: Warmly Yours
Paint: Zero-VOC FreshAire in white (Home Depot)
Clock: IKEA
Bedroom
Bed: Custom DIY (maple plywood)
Duvet: IKEA
Wardrobe: IKEA Pax with IKEA curtains and ceiling-mounted track
Nightstands: Offi TV stands (Design Public)
Reading Lights: Artemide Tolomeo with parchment shade
Light/Fan: Modern Fan Company – Cirrus Hugger with maple blades (Seattle Lighting Supply)
Paint: Benjamin Moore zero-VOC Natura in “ashland slate” (Mallory Paint Supply)
Floors: Flor Carpet Tiles
Kitchen
Cabinets: IKEA Akurum with Abstrakt fronts in white and gray
Drawer/Door Hardware: Reveal Designs “Washington” pull (Builder’s Hardware)
Counters: Silestone quartz in “white north” (Precision Countertops)
Butcher Block: Lyptus (Crosscut Hardwoods)
Backsplash: colored glass (Distinctive Glass)
Sink: Kraus stainless steel single basin (Craigslist)
Faucet: Grohe Minta in SuperSteel (Morgan’s Plumbing)
Soap Dispenser: Danze Parma (Amazon.com)
DIY Open Shelving and Plywood Wraps: fir plywood and edgebanding (Crosscut Hardwoods)
Wall Lights: Purity Reach Lights (Resolute)
Island Light: Bruck V/A Linear Chandelier with Rainbow I glass shades in “smoky” (Pacific Lighting)
Undercabinet Lighting: ET2 Contemporary Lighting LED tape lights (Seattle Lighting Supply)
Range: GE Cafe 30″ dual fuel (Albert Lee Appliances)
Dishwasher: Bosch SHX46L (Albert Lee Appliances)
Refrigerator: Liebherr
Microwave: GE Spacemaker II (Albert Lee Appliances)
Range Hood: Vent-A-Hood PRH9-230 (Albert Lee Appliances)
Waste Bins: Rev-a-Shelf (Lowes)
Paint: Benjamin Moore zero-VOC Natura in “super white” (Seattle Paint Supply)
Barstools: IKEA Sebastian
Metal Ledge: West Elm
Spice Jars: greenfeet.com
Hanging Planter: Boskke
Dining Room:
Drum Pendant: West Elm (with custom cover plate)
Table: IKEA
Chairs: Vintage Eames Shell Chairs with Maple Dowel Bases (Modern Conscience)
Metal Picture Ledge: West Elm
Stair Cabinet: IKEA Akurum wall cabinets with custom VG fir wrap
Paint: Benjamin Moore zero-VOC Natura in “super white” (Seattle Paint Supply)
Living Room
Couch: BoConcept Indivi 2 in “felt”
Coffee Table: BoConcept
Side Table: Custom DIY
Rug: Crate & Barrel
Lighting: Techlighting Kable Lites with Jane fixtures (Seattle Lighting Supply)
Media Cabinet: IKEA with custom fir top, cushion from Crate & Barrel
Paint: Benjamin Moore zero-VOC Natura in “super white” (Seattle Paint Supply)
Nursery
Glider + ottoman (from early photos): Land of Nod Monte Luca in charcoal
Crib: IKEA Gulliver in birch
Crib and toddler bed mattresses: Naturepedic ($260)
Toddler bed: Perch bed from Oeuf (Amazon)
Wardrobe: IKEA Pax
Curtain track: IKEA Kvartal
Curtain fabric: Texas Susannie Fabrics
Dresser: Craigslist with white plastic laminate plus yellow paint (BM in “luminous days”)
Changing pad: Naturepedic
Area rug: Custom DIY using Flor carpet tiles
Hanging vessels: West Elm
Air plants: Air Plant Supply Co.
Squirrel Coat Hook: Land of Nod
Frames: IKEA Ribba
Christian Jackson “Princess and the Pea” print: Imagekind
Roller shades: The Shade Store
Fan/light combo: Modern Fan Co.
toy/book storage cubes: Custom DIY
Paint: Benjamin Moore Natura in “Baby Seal Black”
Loft
Wall Sconce: Purity Reach Light with silver shade lining (Resolute)
Roof Window: Velux
Paint: Benjamin Moore zero-VOC Natura in “super white” (Seattle Paint Supply)
Flooring: Flor carpet tiles, style is “Love Ewe”, color is “Dorset Brown” (Flor.com)
Desk: custom (made from reclaimed fir beams and steel – built by Kyle)
Storage: IKEA Stolmen units on casters
Loft Ladder: custom (designed and built by Kyle)
Mudroom
Flooring: Flor carpet tiles in “house pet” and “coir”
Paint: Benjamin Moore Aura Exterior in “soot” and Benjamin Moore Aura in “super white” (Seattle Paint Supply)
Ceiling: T&G VG fir 1×6 boards (Limback Lumber)
Bench: IKEA Molger Series
Coat Hooks: Bach Coat Hooks (Amazon.com)
Light: Red Dot vaportight lights (Home Depot)
Basement Bedroom/Office
Paint: Benjamin Moore Aura in “super white” (Seattle Paint Supply)
Flooring: Flor carpet tiles (“flats and cords”)
Lighting: Halo recessed cans and Sonneman “puri” sconces (Lightly Supply)
Door: Paint-grade hollow core door painted with Benjamin Moore Aura in “spellbound” (Frank Lumber, “The Door Store” and Seattle Paint Supply)
Sleeper Sofa: IKEA Manstad
Desk: IKEA
Basement
Furnace: Trane XC 95 gas furnace with CleanEffects air filter (Ballard Natural Gas)
Tankless Hot Water Heater: Rinnai 75 LSE (Ballard Natural Gas)
Exterior
Siding: original cedar beveled siding taken down to bare wood using a PaintshaverPro
Shingles: new cedar shingles with Sikkens Cetol 1 translucent stain in “cedar”
Paint: Benjamin Moore Aura Exterior in “soot” (Seattle Paint Supply)
Stoop: Ipe (Craigslist, Limback Lumber, Dunn Lumber)
Gutters: steel “s-line” (Gary’s Gutters in Marysville)
Soffits: painted beadboard plywood (Dunn Lumber)
House Numbers: Richard Neutra (Design Within Reach)
Mail Slot: Ives (Frank Lumber Door Store)
Doorbell: Atlas Homewares (thehardwarehut.com)
Dryer Vent: Seiho SFB aluminum dryer vent
Rangehood Exhaust Vent: Seiho SFX aluminum vent cap
Lights: Red Dot vaportight lights (Home Depot)
Gates: cedar 1×2 boards
Fence: cedar 1×6 and 1×2 boards
Deck: IPE
Steel Planter Boxes: Custom DIY
custom kitchen shelves
During the design phase for this project, we thought about doing custom or semi-custom kitchen cabinets. After a lot of research and soul-searching, we decided on an IKEA/DIY (let’s call it IKEADIY) hybrid approach that would use IKEA base cabinets and wall cabinets with a few custom wood shelving units thrown into the mix.
Truthfully, I’ve been a little nervous about the DIY part because we’ve never really built custom shelving before (and when I say we, I mean Kyle). But I should have known not to doubt Kyle’s skillz. I don’t have the patience for this type of project and so I am very grateful that he does. He’s built two of the four shelves (plus the cabinet wrap) and it’s gone rather smoothly with hardly any hiccups.
The first step was to cut the basic pieces from larger sheets of fir veneer plywood.
For Bailey’s custom dog bowl holder, we used the bottom of a tart pan as a template and a jigsaw to cut the holes. The diameter of the tart pan was just a tad bit smaller than the diameter of the bowl, but this ended up working nicely as the lip of the bowl is about 1/4″ above the shelf, making it easier to pull the bowls out.
All the joints are glued and biscuited, so there are no fasteners.
We chose to apply a fir edge band to the exposed plywood edges. Normally, we like the striated edge of nice, cabinet grade plywood. But nice, cabinet grade plywood is expensive (and typically maple). So – edge band. The edge band comes in a roll and has an adhesive backing so you simply iron it on.
Here’s a close up look of the exposed plys compared to the (yet to be trimmed) edge band.
After the band was adhered, Kyle flipped the shelf over and trimmed any excess with a sharp Exacto knife.
Then he sanded it down which created a bit of a rounded corner where the two faces meet. This step was really effective in blending the two materials and giving the apperance of solid wood.
Before applying the finish, we dry fit the built unit to make sure everything was going according to plan.
Next, Kyle applied one coat of wood conditioner and two coats of polyurethane to all of the pieces.
Finally, it was time for installation. High gloss IKEA panel, meet DIY fir panel. You are now best friends. (The fir panel at the island was glued to the pony wall behind.)
For the open shelving that flanks the range hood, we’ll install small strips of LED lighting on the underside to provide additional task lighting. Routing our power supply required some creative problem solving though. We needed to connect the lighting strip to the transformer located in the cabinet above the range hood and the connector cord isn’t rated to go through the wall. So we recessed the back panel and notched the cabinet, allowing a chase for the cord to run. (The lights aren’t installed yet, but the connector cord had to go in before the shelf could be installed – you can see the end hanging down in the image below.)
Next, Kyle installed the shelf. We didn’t add extra blocking in the wall, so we decided to fasten the shelf to the IKEA one above. We used 15 screws. It’s solid. (I later installed some sticky-back cork shelf liner in this cabinet to hide the screw heads.)
Finally, the fir panels went up. The one next to the pull-out pantry went up first and was fastened by installing a few screws from inside the pantry. The horizontal panel went up next. It’s times like these when I wish we had a third person to take photos, because I’m pretty sure the best photo ops are when we’re moving 11′ panels above our heads and through tight spaces. This panel is actually two pieces glued and biscuited together, so moving the piece from the basement was a delicate (but swift) operation. The shorter end panel went up last and was adhered with good ol’ Liquid Nails and a few screws through the top.
There will be another open shelf to the left of the range hood and vertical wine storage between the end panel and wall cabinets. We also ordered a piece of blue-gray colored glass that will go at the range hood and extend up to the underside of the spice rack.
So in general, we would recommend this hybrid DIY approach. We don’t have any fancy cabinetry tools – in fact, Kyle built all of these pieces with only a hand-held circular saw, jigsaw, and biscuit joiner (plus biscuits and glue). He would also like to stress that using a guide and clamps is key to cutting accurate and straight pieces. You could definitely go cheaper on the wood (especially if it is paint grade), but we wanted fir to match everything else. Finally, we carefully chose what pieces we would DIY and tried to make them as simple as possible (i.e. – no moving parts). For us, it was a reasonable amount of things to build without getting completely overwhelmed. Although it’s not terribly difficult, the process can be tedious in that there is a lot of planning, prepping and waiting. We did all of the construction during two weekends and then moved the finish work to the basement so it could be tackled on weeknights. We lose our sun around 4:30 now, so evening tasks are limited. In fact, I think it’s time to start watching TV again. What should we start with, True Blood or Mad Men?
kitchen sneak peek
We are not done with the kitchen yet, but we are getting close. Close enough for a few sneak peeks.
One (of the two) open shelves that flank the range hood is done and installed. Kyle made the box out of fir veneer plywood (with a fir edge band to cover the exposed plys) and we cut a piece from a leftover IKEA Abstrakt cover panel for the back face. I love the contrast of the blue-gray with our white dishes. The steel ledge you’ve seen before – it extends from the range hood all the way into the dining room where it becomes a picture rail. We used a thin strip of fir wood to cover the exposed fasteners.
I’m really pleased with how the “spice rack” project turned out. Here’s a peek because it isn’t quite finished yet.
The fir plywood cabinet wrap is up! Really, I think the world would be a better place if everything was wrapped in vertical grain fir. I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one who feels this way. Because our kitchen is just one element within a larger space, we wanted to do something that would provide more definition. The wood wrap helps create a cohesive composition – a cabinet of cabinets if you will. It also solves the issue of awkward upper cabinets that don’t go all the way to the ceiling.
The fir will turn more orange over time, but the blue-gray, orange and white are really working for us. I hope we never get tired of this color palette, because it’s pretty much our whole house.
We also finished the island custom shelving. The back face of the island is covered with fir plywood, which extends out to accept the microwave/dog bowl unit. Yes, the microwave is no longer on the counter! LIFE SUCCESS! (Installing toe kicks – fail.)
The small space to the left of the microwave will feature cookbooks du jour (for now, it’s my Ina Garten collection). The remaining cookbooks go in the stair cabinet.
Dinner time! Bailey is more or less indifferent to his new set-up. Spoiled dog.
I didn’t want to bombard you with photos, so I have another post planned that is less eye candy, more process photos. Actually, it’s Poker Night and Kyle is hosting so I’ve escaped to a local coffee shop. I’m feeling very urban, and slightly self-conscious because I have the biggest laptop here (and not in a good way). I’ve got two hours of free wi-fi and a double latte – LET’S BLOG!
living room design
Progress on the living room is well underway, but this is the current state of our space.
I know, yawn.
In June, we picked your brains about audio systems and setups. Ultimately, we decided that because our house is so small we could get away with one pair of good quality tower speakers in the living room and nothing else. A few months later we found these beauties that you see above, on sale because of small imperfections that I have yet to find. We also invested in an all-in-one sound system that is a fantastic solution for small spaces. Basically, it streams music from wherever you have it stored (ours is on our laptop now, but eventually we’ll move it to a dedicated external hard drive), it has internet radio (we’ve been listening to some Swiss and French stations lately), and a USB port for easy ipod/iphone access. Oh, and there’s an app for it too…meaning we can turn on NPR in the morning without actually having to get out of bed. I have to say, I’m really not an audiophile but I love this thing! And the system has plenty of oomph to rock the whole house. The only sad part is that it is living on our little IKEA side table that I have had for ten years (it was the first thing I ever ordered from IKEA). But keep reading, we have plans.
But first – we ordered our new couch and coffee table! They’re similar to what you see below (minus the floor to ceiling glass and scenic view), but the couch is a little different and the coffee table is white lacquer and gray glass instead of the walnut and gray glass. They’re from BoConcept and will be delivered in December via Denmark(!). This is our first time to order something from them, so we’ll report on how it goes (so far, so good).
I admit, I was resistant to the coffee table. It was more than I wanted to spend and I had been envisioning a piece of reclaimed wood on hairpin steel legs. But Kyle was in love. LOVE! He gave me the sad puppy dog eyes and everything. Needless to say, I caved.
I do love the colors (imagine white lacquer instead of the walnut) and the hidden storage. Remote controls, you are hereby banished!
This past week, Kyle’s been finalizing the design for the media unit. We’d been envisioning a low slung, fir plywood cabinet that would house the audio system. We’re also hoping to acquire a turntable in the near future. That’s right, we’re going low-tech/high-tech at chezerbey – records and digital files but not a compact disc in sight. So here’s what we’re thinking – the size of the unit is bound by the speaker locations and window. The unit will be floating (i.e. – attached to the wall), with a recessed area for the record player (which will be mounted to the wall for optimal sound isolation qualities). And yes, the turntable is centered on the window mullion above. (I knew you’d notice.) The cubby to the left will have a series of notches for record storage (we have approximately 5 records now, but are planning for 75 or so).
Behind the sliding doors on the right, we’ll store all the less than stylish tech stuff (and more records). Even though I am still a strong supporter of not having the TV in our living room, it’s going to be a while before we do the media haven in the basement. We also played around with doing an L-shaped piece that came up the right side of the cabinet and over the TV so you wouldn’t see the backside when you come in the front door. But it looked too fussy. Delete.
The cabinet box under the record player will serve as additional storage for even more tech stuff.
So, now we just have to build it!
Sadly, the Artemide floor lamp that we have in the model is too big for the space (and really, too expensive). We’re going to stick with our IKEA version that we’ve had for years but is actually really well-designed. And then there’s the Eames LCW. It wants to live in our home, it really does. We’re going to wait until we have the rest of the pieces in place and then see what kind of space we have. Our living room layout is a little awkward in that the main circulation path clips off one corner, making it hard to layout furniture.
We’re also in the market for a rug (more to define the space and bring in some layers and texture). So dear Anthropologie, if you’re reading this, could you please add this rug in yellow back to your website? Thanks!
I know the space will evolve slowly over time, but we feel like we’re starting with some good solid pieces that will last a long time and be adaptable to different decorating whims. But for now, we’re minimalists.
