No garage sales this post-holiday Saturday. Instead I have a glimpse into the well-hacked apartment kitchen of Ms. Andrea Newberry, who runs ForkableBlog.com and is hosting the first of her many food events this weekend.
Everything you see here, with the exception of the stove, was added by Andrea.
I wrote about Andrea’s kitchen hacks in an earlier post, where I explained that apartment living requires a creative use of space. What is a kitchen “hack,” you ask? “Hack” is borrowed from geek slang, where it generally means, “an appropriate application of ingenuity. Whether the result is a quick-and-dirty patchwork job or a carefully crafted work of art, you have to admire the cleverness that went into it.” There are entire blogs devoted to household hacks, including one of my favorites, Ikea Hacker, where people brilliantly repurpose Ikea furniture and accessories.
Urban apartment dwellers have a unique challenge in that they must work with what’s available to create inspired living spaces in uninspired places. Andrea does this with kitchens. And in exemplary BackGarage fashion, she does it second-hand.
Looks like someone else collects Michigan magnets!
Before Andrea hacked the kitchen it was pretty barren, containing only a stove and a counter-top sink with about ten cabinets. Not enough work or storage space for a food blogger and frequent party hostess. (We’re regrettably short on “before” photographs, sorry!)
Let’s take a look at some of her DIY additions:
These cabinets were dumpstered by Andrea’s aunt. Andrea painted the red detail. The vintage “Savory” roaster came from an antique mall in Flint.
Here you can see the dumpstered cabinets in their modular brilliance, acting as extra pantry storage and holding up a long shelf that runs the length of the work space on the south kitchen wall. The accent lamps are Ikea.
Andrea hung hooks for pots and pans underneath the shelf that runs from the top of the dumptered cabinets across to her fridge, over the stove.
This is an Ikea addition, with S hooks for hanging utensils or cookware near the stove.
Sturdier hooks were installed for cast-iron cookware.
Andrea points out that cast-iron cookware is the only cookware that should be hung near the stove, as the oil and grease build-up won’t damage — and is actually good for — them.
Andrea put a table island in the middle of the kitchen and painted the cabinet door details red. These cabinets are the only original storage in the kitchen.
Vintage stool purchased at a garage sale for 3 dollars.
Another dumpstered cabinet added to the end of the original kitchen counter.
A vintage metal shelf used as additional pantry storage — this was left behind by a tenant in Andrea’s aunt’s apartment building. The red step stool is a contemporary copy of the original Cosco variety.
Detail of metal shelving unit — what a cool color!
Andrea installed an additional chest freezer and a milk-crate shelving unit between the fridge and stove. The milk crates provide ideal potato and garlic storage (dark and dry).
The top of the milk-crate shelving unit: a slab of granite cut-out Andrea found in a dumpster.
An additional table on the west wall provides seating for guests, space for meals and a large hanging rack for more storage.
Window tier curtains made by Andrea’s sister.
Some sweet Ikea kitchen accessories that Andrea nailed into the base of the cabinets — I like the hanging basket for sink sponges. When I took this picture she was hanging cheesecloth, making homemade seitan. Magnetic knife holder and sub-cabinet lighting also from Ikea.
You can check out the entire ForkableBlog BackGarage photoset here.
I’m adding a new book to the BackGarage library today as well, for those who love to live large in small spaces, one of my favorite books on the topic:
Super-cool because it’s organized by square-footage.
