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Kitchen Tour: An Ikea Hack and Mint Tiles Revive a Small Kitchen
Beautiful tiles were the start of a project that turned a dark kitchen into a fresh, open space
“When my partner and I first decided our 12-year-old Ikea kitchen had had its day,” owner Trine Lundager says, “little did we realise that falling in love with a detail would have us swapping the glossy black scheme for pale, lagoon greens.”
“Having been the core of our family activities for over a decade, and witness to everything from lasagna and baby food to failed experiments at fine dining, our black, high-gloss kitchen had lost its shine, and its fittings whined every time we opened a cabinet door.
“At the same time, we were over the black look, especially spiced up – as we’d done in a wild moment of decorative decisiveness – with a purple-painted wooden floor and a blood red splashback. It was definitely time for something new.”
“At the same time, we were over the black look, especially spiced up – as we’d done in a wild moment of decorative decisiveness – with a purple-painted wooden floor and a blood red splashback. It was definitely time for something new.”
“But where do you start when you’re going to strip an entire room down to the floorboards and rebuild? How do you find your own style within the endless sea of dream kitchens? In our case, it all started with the floor.”
“The story of this kitchen is a little backwards: we fell in love with a detail, which then set the mood and direction for the rest of the design.”
Search for tilers in your area
Search for tilers in your area
“The first time I saw the greenish herringbone floor was when I was scrolling through my Instagram feed. I spotted a living room with the most beautiful herringbone floor made up of tiles in shades of green. I was in love.”
“I found out the floor was by Made A Mano, a Danish-Italian company that specialises in tiles made by hand from lava stone from Mount Etna in Sicily. The tiles come to life when they’re heated to about 2,000ºC, in the process of which the glaze merges with the stone.”
Floor tiles, Made A Mano.
Floor tiles, Made A Mano.
“They are expensive – about 5,000 Danish kroner [£608] per sq m – so I knew they’d make a serious dent in the budget, even for our small space, but I couldn’t forget them.
“After serious consideration, we went for 6.5 x 40cm Cristalli tiles in lush lagoon and mint greens.”
“After serious consideration, we went for 6.5 x 40cm Cristalli tiles in lush lagoon and mint greens.”
“Since the tiles are handmade specially for each order, it’s impossible to know their exact shade in advance. The colours change from batch to batch, ranging from pastel to bold. So to work with these tiles you really need to suppress your inner control freak, let fate do its job, and wait for what comes out of the oven.”
“A benefit of lava stone tiles is they’re incredibly easy to maintain: they only require vacuuming and mopping.
“The kitchen floor has always been cold: it’s as if the wind blows through the roof panels on our sloping wall and seeps into the space between us and the downstairs neighbour. Therefore, the original plan was to install underfloor heating. However, it would have been both cumbersome and expensive, and the floor would have had to be raised quite a lot. As our carpenter said, ‘You can buy a lot of slippers for 20,000 kroner [about £2,432].’”
“The kitchen floor has always been cold: it’s as if the wind blows through the roof panels on our sloping wall and seeps into the space between us and the downstairs neighbour. Therefore, the original plan was to install underfloor heating. However, it would have been both cumbersome and expensive, and the floor would have had to be raised quite a lot. As our carpenter said, ‘You can buy a lot of slippers for 20,000 kroner [about £2,432].’”
“We could have gone completely classic from there, with white kitchen cabinets and a wooden worktop, but we’d already got off to a good start with colour.
“To save money, we decided to get the cabinets and drawers from Ikea [you can’t buy new fronts for the old carcasses as the size has changed]. So we ordered new carcasses to get a layout that’s similar to the old one, except that we chose drawers instead of cupboards wherever possible. It’s more practical to pull a big, deep drawer out completely and get a full view of everything than to crouch down and put your entire upper body into a cabinet to dig for a measuring cup.”
“To save money, we decided to get the cabinets and drawers from Ikea [you can’t buy new fronts for the old carcasses as the size has changed]. So we ordered new carcasses to get a layout that’s similar to the old one, except that we chose drawers instead of cupboards wherever possible. It’s more practical to pull a big, deep drawer out completely and get a full view of everything than to crouch down and put your entire upper body into a cabinet to dig for a measuring cup.”
“For the cabinet fronts, we fell for Reform’s Basis series, with its sophisticated circular, cut-out handles, smooth surface and simple design. And when we heard we could choose from 1,950 different colours, we were like kids in a sweet shop.”
Kitchen carcasses, Ikea. Doors and worktop, Reform.
Kitchen carcasses, Ikea. Doors and worktop, Reform.
“For a long time, we aimed for a navy blue kitchen. A navy worktop with an oak front would have had a beautiful tone-on-tone effect, which would have balanced the mint green herringbone floor well.
“At the same time, however, we were over dark kitchens and wanted something new, so we came up with the idea of matching the kitchen to the floor instead.”
“At the same time, however, we were over dark kitchens and wanted something new, so we came up with the idea of matching the kitchen to the floor instead.”
“To test potential cabinet colours, I got three different mint green colour samples from Flügger, a Danish paint store, mixed according to NCS [Natural Colour System] colour codes from the Reform catalogue. I painted all of them onto A3 sheets of paper and placed them against the kitchen wall, so we could watch them as the light changed throughout the day.
“One was too blue, another too warm. However, the last one had the exact, pure colour that reminded us of icebergs and the sea under southern skies. It also matched the hue of the tiles really well.
“Now the colours in the kitchen change with the light. The mint green is fresh and delicate in the morning, and becomes lusher and almost shiny towards the end of the day.”
“One was too blue, another too warm. However, the last one had the exact, pure colour that reminded us of icebergs and the sea under southern skies. It also matched the hue of the tiles really well.
“Now the colours in the kitchen change with the light. The mint green is fresh and delicate in the morning, and becomes lusher and almost shiny towards the end of the day.”
“We opted for a navy blue linoleum worktop. Linoleum is a natural product consisting of, among other things, cork, resin and linseed oil, with a surface that feels a bit like an eraser: soft and slightly rubbery. It’s generally easy to maintain with little effort.”
“Now we just had to tear out the old kitchen and its heavy stone worktop – and carry it down six flights of stairs.
“Luckily, our contractors were resourceful and suggested we put an ad on Dba.dk [a Danish classifieds site] to sell our old kitchen for a token price of 1,500 kroner [about £182], because the buyer would have to take it down.
“Two days later, a young couple came with a helper to disassemble it and take it away.”
“Luckily, our contractors were resourceful and suggested we put an ad on Dba.dk [a Danish classifieds site] to sell our old kitchen for a token price of 1,500 kroner [about £182], because the buyer would have to take it down.
“Two days later, a young couple came with a helper to disassemble it and take it away.”
“The money we’d saved by giving up on underfloor heating we spent on a square brass sink. It measures about 50 x 40cm, making it big enough to hold both frying pans and roasting trays.“
Sink, Ono.
Sink, Ono.
“The sink was expensive, so we teamed it with a brass-plated tap [yet to be fitted in this photo].”
“Is a brass sink for everyone? Definitely not. If you’re more comfortable when everything is shining and polished, then you’re probably better off with a different material, because brass quickly acquires a patina in all shades of gold and brown. It’s like the sink changes character every day.
“It can be brought back to its original sparkling sheen, but trying to maintain it constantly is too much work. At first you just have to take a few deep breaths; the moment you realise the variegated look is patina, not sloppiness, you’ll fall in love.”
Tap, Zeromix.
Browse a range of kitchen taps in the Houzz Shop
“It can be brought back to its original sparkling sheen, but trying to maintain it constantly is too much work. At first you just have to take a few deep breaths; the moment you realise the variegated look is patina, not sloppiness, you’ll fall in love.”
Tap, Zeromix.
Browse a range of kitchen taps in the Houzz Shop
“The splashback is also by Made A Mano – it’s a single, 50 x 70cm tile from the Ossido series. We painted the wall beside it with Jotun Lady Minerals lime paint in St Pauls Blue, covered with a sealant so it can withstand steam and cooking splatter.”
“The renovation took seven weeks from the moment the old kitchen was torn out to when the new one was ready to be installed. In those weeks, we went through all possible emotions, from excited expectation to disappointment and frustration, and finally on to gratitude and joy.
“We weren’t really prepared for how long it would take or how much the renovation of such a small kitchen could test our nerves and patience. When there are many items, dates and deliveries to orchestrate, there’s a lot that can go wrong.“
“We weren’t really prepared for how long it would take or how much the renovation of such a small kitchen could test our nerves and patience. When there are many items, dates and deliveries to orchestrate, there’s a lot that can go wrong.“
“For example, a small adjustment of a crooked angle meant the worktop suddenly didn’t fit and had to be remade. The old dishwasher was unexpectedly too short for the new setup and a new one had to be ordered, which caused additional delays.
“Besides that, handmade and custom-made items are a bit of a strain on the timeline of a renovation. Things simply take the time they take, and it can be a bit of an ordeal. On the other hand, the joy you get from finally seeing them when they arrive is extraordinary, and any frustration is dissipated surprisingly fast.”
“Besides that, handmade and custom-made items are a bit of a strain on the timeline of a renovation. Things simply take the time they take, and it can be a bit of an ordeal. On the other hand, the joy you get from finally seeing them when they arrive is extraordinary, and any frustration is dissipated surprisingly fast.”
“We chose white appliances – fridge, oven and cooker hood – so they wouldn’t draw attention. Unfortunately, there was no room for a built-in fridge, but the white front of the model we went for blends in well.
“The chrome handle on the oven gave me a lot of grief, because the rest of the metal in the kitchen is brass. Maybe one day I’ll get a smith to make a new brass handle – or maybe I’ll just live with it.”
“The chrome handle on the oven gave me a lot of grief, because the rest of the metal in the kitchen is brass. Maybe one day I’ll get a smith to make a new brass handle – or maybe I’ll just live with it.”
“We made the shelves from an oak board from a hardware shop, and used brass fittings. We left the front edge relatively rough to give it an organic look.”
Mugs, Studio Arhoj.
Mugs, Studio Arhoj.
“A concealed radiator by Silvan and the worktop over it tie the kitchen and living room together. We painted the radiator shutter with the leftovers of the kitchen colour sample.
“Some people have asked us where we found the courage to invest in a mint-green kitchen when we might grow tired of it. The answer is that, one year after the renovation, we’re still enjoying our little lagoon every day.”
Tell us…
What do you think of this small kitchen? Share your thoughts in the Comments section.
“Some people have asked us where we found the courage to invest in a mint-green kitchen when we might grow tired of it. The answer is that, one year after the renovation, we’re still enjoying our little lagoon every day.”
Tell us…
What do you think of this small kitchen? Share your thoughts in the Comments section.
Who lives here Trine Lundager, 41, a journalist and owner of webshop Don’t Tell, her partner, Jakob Rasmussen, 42, a key account manager, and their two daughters, Svea, 12, and Vilde, 8
Location The sixth floor of a building in Frederiksberg, Copenhagen, Denmark
Size The kitchen is about 86 sq ft (8 sq m) in a 1,184 sq ft (110 sq m) flat
Contractor De Jyske Håndværkere
Cost About £20,674 (including labour and appliances)