Kitchen with a twist

Materials: Abstrakt cabinets with high gloss gray/white door fronts and drawers, Abstrakt refrigerator/fan cabinets, Nutid oven / microwave (30 inch) Besta Burs media storage unit, Numerar counter top (black with steel look edging) Numerar birch conuter top, quarter inch iron brackets (made at local foundry), Medium Foto pendant lamp over table,

Description: Our inherited kitchen was old, badly planned and left me with little inspiration to cook!

After looking at numerous styles, designs and crazy prices, I came up with a design which catered for all of the family needs and budget.

Welcome to Form meets Function and the savvy use of Ikea above Fridge Freezer Cabinets and Besta storage unit.

After the removal of the existing kitchen and the re-positioning of a door way, we were good to go.

We built a studded and drywall frame to house the 30 x 80 oven/microwave cabinet, the fridge/freezer and a 24 x 80 pantry. To make the poorly designed oven cabinet fit we had to cut down several of the drawer fronts. Several trips to Ikea were fruitless so we had to improvise.

The kitchen island was made using the standard double sink unit, the dishwasher and two drawer units on either end. An Ikea Numerar birch wooden counter top was cut down to make the side pieces with a high gloss white cabinet end piece used for the back. We cut down more wooden worktop to make the breakfast bar.

The most unusual part of the kitchen was the use of six over refrigerator/fan cabinets. We put three of the 30 inch units on the floor topped with a cut down counter top. We then stacked another cabinet on the end unit with two more "floating". This was done by using thick iron brackets screwed into studs to take the weight.A straight iron bar was put underneath to spread the load. On top of the middle unit we put an induction cooker top with extractor fan above a stainless steel backsplash.

We used a a Besta Burs media storage unit on a wall of slate. This storage unit holds glasses and mugs. The slate wall as well as being a design feature absorbs the mid day heat to add natural warmth to the kitchen.

The lighting on the ceiling was replaced using the existing fittings with a mixture of Ikea lighting and lights from another big box store.

To frame the large chalkboard we used the left over birch counter top.

~ Sharron Matthewman, Alberta , Canada