Follow my kitchen renovation

Part 1

The current kitchen is a Myrdal kitchen from when the apartment was built - 1998. It therefore feels like a refresh is now in order. As you can see in the picture, the kitchen is also quite small and not quite smartly planned. The idea is to rearrange the furniture a bit with the goal of creating better workspaces.

What will be included in the project is the following:
All the kitchen frames will be replaced, new white goods will be purchased, a new worktop (I was thinking of pouring a concrete worktop) and laying new tiles.

Join us, it's going to be fun!

Part 2

Today's kitchen is, as I wrote earlier, a kitchen from Myrdal that has been there since the house was built. As the frames by the sink in particular started to get quite worn, I quickly ruled out the option of just changing the doors. The cost of new kitchen frames is also not such a big expense in terms of the whole project. In addition, I would have more freedom to change the planning. To make the kitchen feel bigger and airier, I thought of taking down the small wall at the short end of the worktop. I will also remove the upper cabinets on the wall above the sink and instead have open shelves.

Choice of cuisine

I have chosen a glossy, dark gray kitchen from IKEA. Since the old kitchen is white, it felt a little more fun to choose something other than just white again. In addition, the apartment is so bright that I am not too worried that it will feel too dark. Can highly recommend booking an appointment with IKEA's kitchen department.

Countertop:

As I work at Stenbolaget, you might think that a stone worktop would be the natural choice. Personally, I think that a concrete worktop can be very stylish. I therefore thought about casting the worktops myself. The concrete I use is our regular Fine concrete from Combimix.

Tiles:

Above the wall cabinets, I have chosen a white faceted tile from Konradssons called Rib White Matt Facade . On the wall with the open shelves, I have chosen a tile called Kerion Optique Raspberry Decor . If you want a room to feel as large as possible, a good tip is to choose shiny white tiles.

Part 3

Finally demolition! Armed with a screwdriver and a crowbar, I set loose on the old kitchen the other day. I recommend two people when screwing down the upper cabinets. As the walls turned out to be pure concrete walls, everything was very easy to get down and free from the walls with the crowbar. The tile was also not installed with real tile fix but glued on, which made things much easier.

Now I just have to screw all the frames together, then the carpenter will come and mount them.

Part 4

Now the new kitchen is assembled in place! My carpenter Johan has now assembled the entire new kitchen. I know it's not that huge of a kitchen, but I'm still very impressed that it only took 3-4 hours to put in place. And then he also screwed together a couple of cabinet frames that I hadn't had time to finish.

However, there were some last minute changes in the planning! When the plumber came by to turn off the water, I showed him how I had planned to change the kitchen. He then pointed out that it would not be possible to place the dishwasher in the place that I had thought and that the IKEA drawing had planned. The reason is that my drain goes straight into the floor and that's where I would have liked the dishwasher to be. The solution is to move the dishwasher to the far right and build the corner cabinet in the other direction. The waste water is then led from the sink through the corner cabinet at the back to the drain.

Now that the frames are in place, we have measured for the worktops. The next step is to start molding these. Come along!

Part 5

A choice I was faced with early on was what kind of worktop I would have in my new kitchen. A wooden board went straight away as it doesn't feel quite worthy of a stonemason. The natural choice is of course a worktop in natural stone or composite. However, I had opened my eyes to a slab of concrete instead. My carpenter had also molded a number of worktops for himself before so he would also be able to help with this.

From the beginning, I had intended to cast the record in one piece, but I quickly realized that it was taking water over my head. It would probably be far too large and heavy to be transported and lifted on site. Instead, there were two worktops, a full board that is about 190 cm long plus a smaller one that is about 140 cm with sockets for the sink and the stove. As I told you before, I had to place the sink and the stove next to each other instead of on each plate. In order for there to be enough space between the sink and the hob in terms of durability, I have chosen a smaller sink that is 34 cm wide. In this way, I get about 15 cm of space between the sink and the hob.

As a form, we used a building ply to which we screwed 45 studs as edges. The hole for the hob was also made using the studs while the hole for the sink was made using foam plastic. When the form was ready, we mixed our regular fine concrete, poured about half of it, put in rebar and rebar, and then poured the rest of the concrete. After that, it was just a matter of tapping the sides and bottom to get rid of the air bubbles. A more original instruction how to cast a concrete countertop will be here on the site in a few weeks.

Part 6

After letting the concrete harden properly, it was time to finish the countertops. Since the surface that lies against the plyfa disc is what will be the top side, we started by turning it right. It is only then that you can see if you have tapped properly to remove air bubbles in the concrete. There were a few small holes that we filled back with some concrete but overall they were very smooth and nice. Then the top side was lightly sanded and the edges were fixed with an angle grinder. Finally, the under-glued sink was mounted using universal glue CT030 from Illbruck.

Now it was time to lift the discs into place! As one disc weighed close to 180 kg, I had the help of three strong friends to get them in place. Heavy, but now they are there and won't be moved in the first place :)

Part 7

Now that the worktop is in place, you can install tiles and clinkers. Some craftsmen install the tile before the worktop and leave room to be able to slide in the board below. However, this requires that you have really measured correctly, so we always recommend that the plates above the sink are installed after the countertop is installed.

From the beginning, I had only intended to have tiles under the wall cabinets and below the lowest shelf on the other wall. I was worried that the kitchen would feel too industrial if you continued with tiles up the entire wall. However, I was persuaded that it would look best to put tiles all the way up. So that it wouldn't look too much, I instead chose to invest in a slightly more vibrant pattern on the large wall and a more classic white plate on the smaller area under the wall cabinets. After looking around a bit in our exhibition in Barkarby, I chose Rib Vitt Matt Fasad and Kerion Optique Framboise Decor from Konradssons . For the white tile I chose a white joint and for the other tile I chose a gray joint. Without saying too much, the result was insanely good!

Results

Now the last door has been hung and all the kitchen stuff has been unpacked again. And the result was so damn good! Even though I removed a whole row of wall cabinets, the kitchen still feels bigger. Guessing that it is partly due to the fact that Ikea's frames are a few centimeters higher and that the interior is better. I treated the worktop three times with Akemi Nanoimpregnation before I started using it and now it resists dirt and stains very well. However, can count on treating about twice a year.

Before:

after: