Kitchen Project 2

It’s been exactly one year and two days since the last time I posted about the Kitchen Project and promised you an update… in fact, I started this series which I originally thought would turn into something bigger, on April 20th, 2025, and completely by coincidence, today, as I’m starting to write this, it’s April 22nd, 2026…

There were many reasons why I stepped away from the world of blogging, one of them being the publication of my book. But here I am, to update you on the changes we made—and to apologize in advance in case I repeat things I may have already mentioned, since some time has passed and I haven’t had the chance to go back and reread what I have and haven’t shared about the kitchen updates.

This time though, even if I’m late, I’m coming back with more photographic material even if I’m sure the final result might not be everyone’s taste, but that’s completely okay…

The reason? The absolute black…

Those of you who know me will know that black is my favorite… in fact, if you’ve been reading me for a while before the changes or you follow me on social media, you’ll also know that our kitchen used to be the exact opposite. Black cabinets and a white marble countertop with white marble tiles as well.

The truth is that white cabinets combined with a black countertop and black tiles were the second option, something I’ve also mentioned before, as well as the fact that I couldn’t find a glossy black marble countertop anywhere (and I’ve mentioned that too—I didn’t need to reread it, I just remember it).

I’m sure there are options online, but choosing the countertop was something I wanted to do in person. Unfortunately, I either came across something that just didn’t fit, or nothing at all…

So we ended up with this particular countertop, and if you ask me, I’m both satisfied and not satisfied with it. It’s not marble, it’s not slippery, and it has a matte finish, so you can probably already imagine what that means… matte black equals more cleaning…

The second reason we ended up with this choice was that I couldn’t find the cabinets I wanted in absolute black. You might say, you couldn’t find black cabinets? That should be the easiest thing… and yet, we wanted to buy our kitchen cabinets from a specific store, and the only glossy options available were white, beige, and dark brown…

I won’t bore you with the intro any longer. Luckily for us, the house is quite bright, unlike what the photos might suggest now, and with the help of the LED lights we added (which also came in handy because of the dark color), things are a lot easier.

Below, I’ll share the kitchen photos with a few short descriptions and small additions that came up along the way…

The right side of the fridge

Coffee corner

On this side, I also keep all the coffee machines, the kettle, etc., while in the lower cabinet we placed the microwave, both so it wouldn’t be visible and so it wouldn’t take up space…

This decorative hand holding the sponge is one of my most recent purchases, and I’m absolutely in love with it!

A gift we received for our new kitchen

The left side of the kitchen

As I mentioned in my previous post, my husband paid a lot of attention to the details, like the way he applied the extra materials for a uniform finish around the tiles, how he shaped the corners, and the installation of the stainless steel underneath the cabinets. However, even though he carefully cut every corner with a special grinder, one mistake we made—and unfortunately it can’t be fixed without dismantling the kitchen again—is that we didn’t account for the thickness of the countertop, which ended up sticking out slightly from the cabinets, more than it should have.

But it’s okay, more surface area for me…

Left column

LED installation on all the cabinets, on both sides

The result

A few more details

Something else we hadn’t accounted for, but there wasn’t really anything else we could do about it, was the oven, which in the previous layout was not only different but also placed in another spot…

AEG sits in the premium mid-to-high range of kitchen appliances, offering strong performance and design 

My husband placed a thick piece of leftover wood underneath it to raise its height and also covered it with stainless steel.

He covered some gaps between the cabinet and the wall.

One more thing I think is worth mentioning is that the central shelf with the drinks above the window was actually made from four pallets from Leroy, which my husband cut and modified to create a single, unified shelf in the result you saw…

That’s it! I don’t know if I left anything out… but we’re not going anywhere, we’re here to keep talking!