Kitchen Storage

11:51 AM Unknown 0 Comments

The one thing about a tiny house is that

there is never enough storage space,

there are never enough cabinets, and the closets are always too small. When you are a young twenty something couple with a young family this may not such a big deal. You are just starting out and chances are you have yet to accumulate all those gadgets and things.

Fast forward sixteen years and your little

house seemingly becomes smaller and smaller.

Bread makers, panini presses, blenders, crock pots, and food processors take up a lot of space.

Apparently pantries weren't big in the 50's or maybe it's just that our little house is lacking.

Our kitchen is not huge and we do not have a lot of cabinet space,which leaves us with

our first dilemma. Where do we put all
those groceries?

The only empty wall in our kitchen happened to be right in the doorway of our kitchen, so regular kitchen base cabinets would block the doorway.

After using a pie safe for years we were ready for a more permanent built in look.

After a lot of looking we found the Ivar cabinet from Ikea.

Two of these cabinets would fit perfectly in our narrow space and the price was right.

So off to Ikea we went. We grabbed a couple shelf brackets as well and of course a hot dog and some frozen yogurt.

Shopping is hard work and hubs is a

sucker for the frozen stuff!

Next, I put these two together. Yes you heard right I did it all by my lonesome. They were super easy to assemble. My only tip or should I say my husband's tip is, always add glue. The instructions for build it yourself furniture never actually called for glue, but you won't regret it.

A couple drops of glue in those screw holes will ensure a sturdier end result.

Then, came the fun part.

Off to Lowe's for some lumber.

My husband built a base for the two cabinets to sit on. He made the base smaller than the cabinets so that it would match our existing kitchen cabinets. The base raised them up a bit and made them

look more built in. Then he cut shelves to fit those brackets I bought at Ikea.

You may have noticed I painted the cabinets white.

We were not finished yet though.

Next, my husband built a top for the cabinet.

Here is a peak at it.

We built it using pine lumber and I stained it using a mix of strong coffee and stain
to get the right shade.
I simply add a little bit of super strong coffee to the stain to add depth to the finished project.

Next the doors went back on and the other shelves were added.

I accessorized my newly made shelves and filled my new cabinets.

Then of course because I am crazy, I felt the need to paint the walls a lighter color.

Here is the before and after.

The entire project was under $250 including the shelves.

We are thrilled with the end result.

Here is a peak at the inside.

She is a little messy. What can I say it's Summer.

So why the Ivar?

Well for one our cabinets in our kitchen are flat front and a lot of the other cabinets I had looked at had raised panels and other trim that did not really match our cabinets.