Kitchen Renovation

Our kitchen renovation saga for the year has just come to an end - it lasted a good 8 months. Everything is looking lovely, new, and in working order (well, the only thing still missing is the finishing touch - two anthracite-coloured stools). A pleasure to spend time in and cook in the new space. But for those of you approaching your own kitchen renovation, we'll share our experience, recommendations, and ideas.

Built-in Kitchen Furniture

It all started on the cold days of February this year, when I began consulting all our friends and acquaintances and trawling through every possible website in search of makers and fitters of built-in kitchen furniture. I must say, the process did not go smoothly at all.

The first company had genuine Soviet-era credentials (Tērauds). The quoted price was good, but sketches were drawn on not-quite-fresh A4 paper with a plain pencil, with no way of seeing the chosen colour tones in the sketch, let alone any computer-generated visualisations. After five in-person meetings and several telephone discussions of details, three months later the company's representative arrived to take the first deposit and sign the contract. That put the final full stop on things - the contract was printed on rough-draft paper with some book in Russian photocopied on the back. Moreover, the annex to the contract contained a sketch that was not the one we had agreed upon but some careless scribble with the furniture pieces mixed around. On top of that, the contract text - which was, thank God, in Latvian, a language the company's representative spoke very poorly or not at all - contained a clause stating that within 10 days of production we were to collect the furniture from the warehouse and make our way with it wherever our eyes might lead, even though delivery and installation had previously been discussed.

The second company (Galants Plus), when I called them, never stopped promising to come - twice they agreed to visit but never once showed up to take a look at the old kitchen, citing their many orders as an excuse. For the second time we felt like unwanted and superfluous clients.

The representative of the third company (Mārtiņš Grīnvalds) arrived with a smart silver briefcase, took laser measurements, and photographed every corner of the old kitchen - but unfortunately did not listen to the wishes I expressed regarding the new kitchen. The result: he charged a fee for the visit and emailed over a carefully redrawn copy of the existing kitchen in a graphics programme. When I objected that I had been hoping for at least one new idea for the kitchen redesign, the response was that each change would cost extra - so much for each one. Full stop.

After three misses, the fourth was the one that truly worked. We realised that friends' recommendations weren't helping, and, as we are both social media people, we decided to look for a potential furniture maker there. We found one on Twitter too - the company Bemebel [1], with whom we made a verbal agreement, because from the very first meeting they gave the impression of being people who get things done and don't drag their feet.

We chose the tones, materials, and the layout of the built-in appliances (hob, oven, washing machine, dishwasher, extractor hood, microwave). Everything was complicated by the fact that the kitchen is small - a standard room in an ordinary Soviet-era multi-storey building, with a floor area of 7.4 m². Not much room to manoeuvre.

What I liked was that Jānis from Bemebel recommended the best solutions for the choice of drawers, corner shelves, frosted glass panels, handles, and hinges. The Franke sink we purchased and had installed also fits very well into the overall design. There was a slightly stressful moment when we received a call saying the chosen tone was no longer available, but in the end it was successfully resolved.

The furniture itself was fitted properly, installed over the course of two late evenings. The wall cabinet and the windowsill table caused some delays, however, which stretched the entire kitchen fitting process by a further 2 months.

While we are satisfied with the overall quality of work, there were a few small defects that slipped through unnoticed on our part during installation. The most notable is that the gap between the height of the wall cabinet and the work surface was for some reason 1 cm smaller than it should have been, which considerably complicated the tile-laying process, as every upper tile had to have 1 cm sawn off. The second, minor defect: the hot and cold water connections for the tap were mixed up.

Recommendations:

• Don't rush in choosing a furniture maker - pick one who truly understands your vision and who you intuitively feel you can rely on.
• Agree strictly on materials and tones and do not give ground on your requirements. This was something our furniture maker fell short on, and we also gave way when tones were changed during production.
• Build the extractor hood cabinet so that it can be opened and the duct accessed in the event of ventilation problems - we encountered this problem, but the cabinet cannot be opened.
• Choose laminate rather than MDF, as it looks far better in real life and is easier to maintain.
• For the extractor hood duct, it may be worth choosing rubber rather than metal, as at high air-flow the air turbulence creates additional noise.

Kitchen Preparation Work

It would have felt wrong to put new furniture into an unrenovated kitchen, so beforehand we carried out a full renovation. We were very lucky to have the professional and responsible tradesman Nikolajs, who levelled the walls, painted the ceiling, and finally tiled the walls - and did not fleece us for it all.

In addition to all of this, we also had to call in the authorised Latvian Gas service (Rīgas Gāzes serviss) to relocate the gas meter and re-route the pipe. The previous gas meter had been the absolute pinnacle of Soviet interior design - two rusty pipes twisted into several bends right in the middle of the wall at eye level. There was no question: it had to be moved out of sight. We relocated the meter into the corner of the room inside the sink unit, and bought a flexible gas connector to reach the hob.

Thicker electrical cables also had to be run, as the new appliances and the electric oven created additional load. Plus, of course, new socket positions and connections.

Another task - relocating the plumbing pipes and connections. As planned, all water pipes running to the washing machine and dishwasher were routed behind the furniture along the full length of the wall.

Recommendations:

• Paint the ceiling rather than wallpapering it with paper, special panels, or the like - due to moisture and temperature fluctuations, the corners will eventually come loose sooner or later.
• Old appliances and old built-in furniture can be sold off fairly quickly for a small sum by placing an ad on ss.lv.
• When planning the furniture and doing the renovation work, it is advisable to pay attention to how the plumbing connections will be accessible later. Even though the furniture is "built-in", the plumbing is connected afterwards.

Kitchen Elements We Are Proud Of

First of all, the windowsill table, which saved a significant amount of space. I am genuinely delighted that this idea of mine came to life. It also has a lush lettuce-green tone that gives the kitchen a certain freshness. Now we can enjoy our morning coffee looking out the window and taking pleasure in the autumnally yellow-red maple leaves that still cling stubbornly to the branches.

Secondly, the handmade stone mosaic tiles, which we ordered from Italy. The irregular little squares (alternately glossy and matte) give the kitchen a special charm. We do not regret for a moment having decided "yes" to this purchase, even though it was the second most expensive item after the kitchen furniture itself. At least 3 m² were needed.

Thirdly, we bought a simple greenish glass kitchen lamp, but the "cherry on top" is the insertion of enormous white frosted energy-saving globe bulbs. The overall look is quite amusing and original.

Recommendations:

• Regardless of glossy magazine recommendations, it is also important to trust your own intuition - and the main guiding principle should be the feeling of "this is my kitchen and I feel good in it".
• Don't scrimp on appliances, as it pays off with the years. We confirmed this by using our Bosch washing machine for the ninth year now - touch wood, everything is in the best of order.
• Don't be afraid to realise your own ideas, or ideas you've spotted on other people's websites. By the way, Russian internet resources (in Europe there are no such small cookie-cutter kitchens - Latvians are once again hiding their light under a bushel) contain a great many photos of flat kitchens from which you can draw inspiration for your own kitchen makeover.

[1] Built-in kitchen furniture and wardrobes - www.bemebel.lv