Date: Location: Task: Challenge #1: Challenge #2: Challenge #3: Challenge #4:

2008 450 square foot apartment in Berlin, Germany Remodel the 36 square foot kitchen Building in the 36 square feet next to the kitchen Working in a new country (we don’t even know where to buy a hammer) Making everything fit Following German quiet hour laws

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Before

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Our kitchen in Berlin, Germany left a lot to be desired when we first saw it.  It’s easy to see why.  At 36 square feet, there were no drawers, counter spaces, dishwasher, or places to store anything.  The last tenants kept a fridge and freezer in the living room with dishes stacked on top of it.  Martin and I thought that there just had to be a better solution.

We began brainstorming before we even came to Germany from the United States.  With everything else that we had to deal with on our arrival (getting a bed, sheets, towels, a couch, dishes… basically everything we needed for a home that couldn’t fit in our suitcases), it was nice to know we had  a semblance of a plan for what we wanted to do.  We just didn’t know what to expect in a new country.

First we had no idea where to get tools or construction supplies.  Our apartment also didn’t have any lights except this one dangling hazard.  When people buy or rent in Germany, their homes don’t come with any light fixtures.  People prefer to take their lights with them from home to home.  We were considered lucky, though:  most homes also don’t come with kitchens.

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During

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Germans call American homes “cardboard houses”.  I don’t think we truly understood why until we started to tear down our kitchen walls:

They were solid drywall, and they weren’t even load-bearing!  Each of those drywall bricks weighed at least 50 pounds.  The load-bearing walls (like the brown one I painted on the left of the pictures) are concrete with reinforced rebar every 2 inches.  We were used to American interior walls that are made of 1/2 or 3/4 inch thick sheets of drywall nailed or screwed onto 2×4 inch pieces of lumber.  They’re notorious for breaking when a doorknob smashes into them.

The moment we tore down the walls and opened the space, Germans announced our kitchen was “an American kitchen!”  I’m not entirely sure they were enthusiastic about the idea.  They like their divided spaces.

With all the drywall dust in the beginning and sawdust to soon follow, we divided our tiny living room/kitchen in two with enormous plastic tarps that our mattress came in.  We lived on one end.

We worked on the other.

We didn’t order pre-made cabinets.  Our space was so small that any pre-made cabinets couldn’t maximize our little space.  We decided to build our own.  We hauled enormous sheets of wood into the house and set up power tools.

And slowly, we progressed without breaking the law… What law?  The notorious German law that enforces strict quiet hours every single day.  It makes work for young remodelers who prefer late nights over early mornings nearly impossible because we were heavily limited to when we could run power tools.  We even had to be careful not to use the vacuum during quiet hours as even that is considered unnecessary noise.  So while it’s a pain for us as we remodel, I imagine the enforced quiet hours will be like bliss should any of our neighbors feel inspired to remodel down the road.

Our space was so cramped.  With a 36 square foot kitchen and an additional 36 square feet of work space next to it, I often found myself hanging out the window to catch wood as Martin ran the table saw.  And if the table saw wasn’t cutting something, it was unplugged and serving as our work bench.

We gradually got there.

We ate a lot of sawdust along the way, trying to make our kitchen function.

We also sneezed a lot.

Then when it was time for countertops, we couldn’t find our dream products.  We’ve always wanted to use recycled glass or other reused material.  No luck.  A granite countertop it was.  Our only major hiccup happened when our countertops didn’t fit right.  Twisting and tweaking, we finally got it right.

Then we took everything apart.  I know that sounds nuts, but it’s a heck of a lot easier to varnish something that fits than it is to rebuild something after you’ve sanded and varnished.  We chose a natural, environmentally friendly varnish.  It meant we could keep living in our house while everything dried, which not only was the environmentally smart choice but also far cheaper in the end.  We didn’t have to move to a hotel.  (We’ve got a quick varnishing tutorial right here.)

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After

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And then finally, we were done.  We tore down the tarp.  We packed up the tools.  And we scrubbed everything (sawdust-covered ceiling included), trying to recover from the shock of actually being finished.

For the first time since the leaves were on the trees months before, we got to see our entire living room all at once.  We didn’t have to put on our shoes to walk in half of our house because the sawdust was finally gone.  Well mostly.  It’s sort of like Easter grass or pine needles at Christmas.  You keep finding it months later.

Our little kitchen had become this:

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How the heck we fit it all in there

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Our cabinets extend all the way to the ceiling, utilizing every inch of vertical space:

Our oven is too small to cook a turkey, which is fine with us.  (We’re vegetarians.)  It also happens to be our microwave, too.  This little fella is an oven/microwave combo unit:

We picked a two-burner stove.  It turns out we hardly ever use three burners, let alone four.  (Fewer burners saved a few bucks at purchase, too!):

Our dishwasher is half-sized.  It really feels like just the right size for a family of two:

Our fridge is a standard German fridge… which happens to be the same tiny size Americans have in college dorms.  It’s covered by wooden panels, which is traditional in German kitchens:

Our recycling system is super compact… and still manages to provide us with a way to sort our recycling in TEN ways (required by German law):

Dishes are kept in a drawer. We can stack more in less vertical space this way, and it’s a whole lot easier to access things in the back of a drawer.

Our food is kept in drawers, too.  We have one little cupboard with three drawers in it.  Our inspiration came from American kitchens that keep pots and pans stored in pull out shelves.

We like to think that good living can come in any size.  And so far, so good!

(Images by Making This Home)

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Proudly sponsored by:
Signature Contractors - Remodeling a kitchen can be challenging, but the results are very rewarding.