Giving the Kitchen a Little Facelift

Our little German house didn’t get a single trick-or-treater this weekend, which was good.  (We didn’t have any candy.)  It also meant we were able to pull together something worth phoning home about.  And we are beyond excited to share the latest.

In the beginning:


Tearing down the house:

chipping-off-tile

And the facelift.

So what do you think?

The original kitchen was a poor design for such a small space.  There was storage under the sink and where our new freezer is now (the white box to the right of my knees).  The cupboards went up 3/4 as high as our new kitchen.  We couldn’t even figure out where to keep our few things.  Half of it ended up on the table when we had the old kitchen.  Now we’ve put everything in the little cubbies.  Drawers and shelves come later.  So does a better internet system.  That wire through the window and across the kitchen might be a bit too un-classy, aye?

Spot the European Pieces

  • The fridge (the white rectangle to the right of my arms).  Let’s just say when I called my mom, she was cleaning out her American fridge.  Something had gone bad, and she had no idea where it was.  But she could smell it!  Her fridge, like most American fridges, is two or three times bigger than mine.  In Germany, we don’t have the problem of mystery food smelling our fridge.  It’s just too small – it’s really growing on me.  You can see it doesn’t have a handle.  We’ll be building a wood cabinet door front on it to blend in with all the cabinets.  It was kind of weird to adjust to the idea of a hidden fridge at first.  I’m used to the big white or stainless steel guy hovering beside me.  Now I kind of prefer the smaller guy.
  • The freezer (right below the fridge).  This space was the only place to store food and dishes in the original kitchen.  We think a freezer will be much more useful, especially since we managed to organize storage space for everything else.  The last tenants had a second fridge/freezer combo in the living room.  We’re glad we don’t have to do that!
  • The little cooker (right of my hand). Well maybe that’s not European.  But like everything in Europe, it’s tiny, and we may be completely crazy by American standards for picking this out.  (More on it here)
Now tell us.  How big are your appliances?  And do you love them for every inch that they are?