Painting myself into a corner

Before I moved into my present flat, it was essential to refurbish the kitchen entirely: the existing fittings must have been installed in the 1960s, and many of the cupboards had been severely damaged. This was a great opportunity to restore some of the original 1930s features as the rest of the interior was still quite authentic, with the original wooden parquet and boarded pine floors, paneled doors and Art Deco door handles.

My design intention was to keep the layout of the kitchen as simple as possible, respecting the symmetry of the building design and its strong horizontal emphasis, seen in the exterior treatment of the building which has a "streamline moderne" aesthetic. At the same time, I wanted to use modern fittings, such as granite work-tops, and built-in stove-top and oven. 

The kitchen is quite small and compact, 3m wide by 2.5m deep, so the design needed to be carefully tailored to be able to accommodate all the fittings and leave space for the large appliances. At the same time, I wanted the room to look spacious and uncluttered, with a streamlined effect that emphasised the granite tops. The symmetry of the room would focus on the wall with the washing machine, enhanced by the placement of three hand-woven baskets which echoed a larger basket in the entrance area.

View of the kitchen from the entrance space

I then made a decision that I was to regret: I planned for the fridge to be a small "under-the-counter" that would slot into the one corner, symmetrically balanced by an alcove for the waste bin. The high-level cupboards on this wall would reinforce the symmetry, with two central glass-fronted cupboards to display some of my more beautiful cooking artefacts such as an old steel meat mincer and a wooden coffee grinder.

The side with the original fridge

On the opposite wall, the symmetry was established by the position of the window, which I continued in the central placement of the stove-top and oven, with two flanking high-level cupboards. One of these hides the unsightly electrical distribution box while keeping it functionally accessible.

The window wall

The renovations were finally complete and I moved in, very enthusiastic about my pristine white kitchen with its pale gray epoxy floors imitating the original grano (smooth finished concrete). As I live on my own, I thought the tiny fridge would be quite adequate for my needs, but as time wore on, I found that the lack of freezer space was a serious disadvantage. On top of this, fridges small enough to fit under a counter are quite rare, so one does not have the same choice in terms of price, energy rating or internal layout that one does with a more conventional size.

The problem was that the design of the kitchen was so rigidly conceptualised around the symmetry of each wall, that I struggled to imagine a layout that would accommodate a larger fridge that would allow me to buy and cook in bulk and have enough space to freeze the food. I thought about swapping the fridge and washing machine, trading in my existing top-loader for a front loader that would fit under the counter, but this would introduce plumbing problems. 

After much measuring and trial layouts, I finally took the plunge and bought a new fridge, and decided to try it out with my existing washing machine side-by-side to see whether I would need to replace this as well and address the more complex plumbing problem. The space is quite tight, as you can sense from the photo, but manageable. I am certainly enjoying a larger fridge, with plenty of freezer space that allows me to economise with my cooking and diversify my food intake.

The new fridge viewed from the entrance space

The important lesson that I learned from this was that one needs to design with a degree of flexibility, even in  very small spaces. Even if one can come up with a perfect design for the present, this will not necessarily suit one's needs and lifestyle in the future, potentially leading to costly alterations.