Designing a French Kitchen

The post of my whole blog that has the highest page visits is the ones about my kitchen renovations. It is one of my very early posts and I've been meaning to write this post since then!  I wanted to share how I designed and built a $45,000 kitchen for around $17,000 and also to share what I learnt in the process.  Now I know that $17K is still a lot of money but this is our forever house, we started out with a kitchen that was terrible and needed completely gutting - the floor was n't level and was just packed dirt with lino over it, also we both love cooking and cooking together  and the price is great for what we ended up with and not for a completely new kitchen.

When we were commencing our kitchen renovations two years ago, I poured over home magazines, blogs and cruised around Sydney's kitchen shops getting ideas for months. I had three different kitchen companies come in to assess the space and provide quotes but for what I wanted, the quotes all came in between $40,000 and $45,000 and I couldn't bring myself to spend that amount of money. I decided that I knew what I wanted, how we used the kitchen and what we needed so I would design my own kitchen and that would eliminate the need for a kitchen designer.  You know I love the whole concept of DIY.  I have since had several builders, kitchen company people and even magazine people tell me that my kitchen is worth $40,000 so hopefully I can save you some money also if you are planning a new kitchen.

What I wanted was:

• more bench space
• more storage
• a big pantry
• a double sink
• a new dishwasher
• separate work zones
• a specific cupboard for the garbage bin

Things I used to give that French look:

• A French rangehood chimney
• crown moulding
• moulded cabinetry doors
• painted cabinetry (Colorbond Dune for a soft French taupe)
• Nickel and Porcelain handles
• a wicker basket for potato storage
• Ceramic sink and beautiful faucet
• glass cabinets for my stem wear

Using Microsoft Visio and Google SketchUp, I was able to develop very good detailed plans that we were able to build from. Using these two tools I was also able to move around cabinetry to get the best layout for the available space and be able to virtually walk around the new kitchen (via Google SketchUp) and see how it would look like and be to work in. French style is often very symmetrical so I moved the window over slightly to be centred in the room as much as possible and made the upper wall cabinets symmetrical around the new window.

Visio plans

I measured my space in all directions about 5 different times to be absolutely accurate - you really need to be millimetre perfect. I was also knocking out a wall and extending the kitchen cabinetry into what was the dining room to make the kitchen 300mm bigger (as you can see on the left hand side of the above plans. This has made a big difference to the cabinetry either side of the stove and the fridge and is such a small amount to lose from the dining room (that is now open to the kitchen anyway). One thing I learnt during the build process was to measure at different heights up your walls. The walls in our 90 year old house are not plumb and the wall cabinets needed to be shorter than the base cabinets along the side wall (the wall is about 3 cm out of plumb).  I then measured my appliances and worked out the allowances I would need around those items also.

I looked into IKEA kitchens but because I was fitting the kitchen into a room with 3 sides I needed a bespoke kitchen to make the most of the room. in the end, by using a cabinet maker I was able to build my French kitchen for just over $17,000. I costs a similar kitchen size using IKEA cabinetry and bench tops and it was around $13,000 so for me I preferred spending the extra money and having something that made the most of the space without filler spaces and also that was of a better quality and longer lasting.  I also contemplated building my own cabinetry and had it costed by two different flat pack kitchen places but the cabinetry costs alone (un-constructed and not even including delivery) were around $12,000 and then the stone benchtop would have been several more thousand on top of this.  I would then have had to build the cabinetry which can be tricky and time consuming especially when your walls aren't plumb. In the end we ended up doing the kitchen as part of a much larger renovation and we bricked up a doorway, pulled down a wall and inserted a steel beam as well as built a new floor (joists and floorboards) so I used my builder's cabinet maker who did a beautiful job and it all cost not much more then it would cost.

I did the initial plans in Visio (above) and then drew them in Google Sketch Up which is a fantastic free tool. (Download here) Even though this took several hours I found this to be very useful especially showing the plans to my husband and also the cabinet maker who hadn't built a kitchen in a French style before.  I have included some 2 dimensional snap shots of the 3D model below.  If you are interested in having a copy of my 3D model then feel free to email me or leave a comment below with your email address and I can send you a copy.

Once I was happy with my plans I had a meeting with my builder ( the delightful Barry from Serenity Constructions) and the cabinet maker he uses. Reba, his cabinet maker has a factory out in the western suburbs and is a delightful hardworking man with beautiful quality and craftsmanship... and wow he prices his cabinetry reasonably.  I would definitely recommend finding a cabinet maker to give you a quote rather than using one of the bigger well known Kitchen Companies.  Especially if you have an eye for design and space and know what you want. 

To achieve the French look that I wanted, I knew I wanted hand painted cabinetry so I had the doors made from MDF.  I don't see any point building cabinetry from wood that you are just going to paint over. Wood cabinetry for a kitchen this size would have cost $4000 more than using MDF. With wood there is also the chance that it will warp overtime. MDF doesn't ever warp. Great news.

The cabinetry doors were sourced through Sydney Doors.  This is a very economical way to buy moulded (or plain) doors. If you have an existing kitchen that is okay but you want to update the look then you can always just replace the doors of your cabinets. My door profile is code number 6009 XSQ.

Another way I saved money is to use the IKEA Domsjo sink rather than a fire clay English butler sink. I actually prefer this sink to the fire clay ones. I like how it fully extends the depth of the bench top and has the double bowl. At only $430 is sure saves a lot compared to others I have seen for around $1500.  I have blogged more details about the IKEA sink here (Domsjo product codes etc) and here (a one year review of the IKEA farmhouse Sink)

When designing a kitchen it is always good to think about where you will store your appliances. Are you someone who likes to leave your mixer, kettle and toaster etc out for easy access or do you like a clear bench top?  I am someone who likes everyday items out on the bench. I find that if my mixer and food processor aren't out then I don't use them.  When planning my kitchen, I made a little nook next to the fridge so that I could store my coffee machine, toaster, kettle and food processor there on the bench but out of sight from most of the dining room and kitchen. 

I wanted a good pantry as we like to store a quantity of dry goods. We bake and make a lot of food from "scratch" and I've got a wonderful collection of Tupperware (I won them years ago) so I built the pantry specifically around my Tupperware collection. Sad I know but so so practical especially in combating the Pantry Moth that is prevalent in Sydney. The best thing about using plastic containers to store your food though is the neatness factor. You can find everything at a glance, things stay fresher longer and you can easily see what you need to go shopping for.

The first two drawers below the pantry were built to easily store cans and other packaged goods (that are not kept in Tupperware). I love these drawers, and I especially love how I can see everything at a glance and don't have to delve back into deep cupboards. 

The big bottom drawer holds all our spare Tupperware containers, plastic glasses for the kids so they can get their own water, and lunch boxes etc. I think it's a great idea to plan a specific drawer for your plastic containers etc so they are all in one spot and contained (yes, contain the containers!)

The porcelain and nickel handles I have used are pretty expensive but I managed to buy them wholesale which saved an absolute fortune. I bought them from a very expensive kitchen company (that since has gone out of business) and I'm not exactly sure why the guy gave me such a good deal but it meant that for my whole kitchen I paid just $400 for the handles instead of the retail price of over $1000. My suggestions is always shop around and negotiate.

Crown moulding is another way to really jazz up your cabinetry. It is not expensive to add to your cabinets but I think it really finishes of the kitchen.  The other feature in my kitchen is the rangehood. My builder and I just made this out of MDF. It's basically a box that houses the actual ILVE rangehood and then a chimney that houses the exhaust pipe. It was very simple to build.

If you have any questions on how I designed my kitchen, how to save money or what products I used, feel free to leave a comment below.  I'll do another kitchen post soon on what I learnt by planning and building a kitchen.

I have to say I put so much thought and effort into this kitchen - lots of late nights and research and two and a half years down the track I still would not change a single thing so I think that's pretty good.

Yours in happy cooking!

Fiona xx

Photo Credit: Photos number 1,4,8, 12 and 19 were taken for the Country Home Ideas Magazine shoot. Thanks Tony!