Kitchen Design & Building
The process can be summarized as follows: it all began with designing the layout of the new kitchen, creating and optimizing board-cutting plans, researching and finding sustainable and upcycled materials, keeping track of the overall cost, learning about the required tools and cutting techniques, designing the assembly plans, and carrying out the construction.
Additionally, it involved adjusting to unforeseen circumstances and overcoming problems such as plywood bending, uneven walls, or small imperfections in cut elements.
Behind the Scenes
The Backsplash
After analyzing most of the commercial backsplash options, I have decided to give this backsplash a unique personality and texture. As I am so passionate about nature, I also wanted to have a piece of the forest in my kitchen. I went to the forest behind the apartment and collected several fern leaves, which I then pressed against the micro cement layer that I started spreading on the wall. As soon as it dried, I decided to even a bit the texture to reduce the possibility of dust and dirt collection. The micro cement brand that was chosen was made of recycled cement. To waterproof the backsplash, I used two layers of homemade hard wax oil (equal parts cold-pressed boiled linseed oil and upcycled wax from candles).
My takeaway from this project
This project was another lesson on how to navigate the unknown. I started this learning journey by watching several YouTube videos to understand what the in-house cutting process would imply and better grasp what could go wrong. As soon as I started to feel a little comfortable with the idea that we were going to build our own kitchen, I started designing the cabinets and optimized the cutting plans, decided on which materials to use, started looking for local FSC-certified plywood distributors, rented tools, and did thorough research in terms of cabinet hardware (screw types, different types of hinges, sliding roller runners for the drawers, etc.).
This project has also had a lot of ups and downs, and I had to adapt and change the plan along the way. The biggest challenge was related to the cabinet's fronts, as the plywood started bending right after we mounted the fronts. That was a crucial moment when I decided to upcycle the fronts and transform them into shelves to save the material. I ordered new MDF boards that wouldn't bend so easily. The new material implied also looking for a new surface finishing treatment. The initial idea was to seal the plywood with pigmented hard wax oil, which wasn't any more suitable for the fiber boards. In the end, I decided to cover the fiber boards with 'svanenmärkt' water-based pine green paint, which also reinforces the overall forest theme of the kitchen.