"Kitchen Counterspace Solution" Reveal...

I think it is safe to say that every {mom} one loves a well thought out kitchen. A kitchen that is not only pretty to look at but one that it is organised in such a way that whatever you're making everything you need is at your fingertips. 

For me, the perfectly designed kitchen has been elusive. It has literally been the thorn in my side ever since we moved into our house. As I have mentioned before, my kitchen was picked out and fitted for me when we bought the house. Although one of the major selling points of the house was in fact the kitchen with its granite worktops, lovely cream cabinets, fitted out by one of the best kitchen suppliers in our area, the reality has been much less inspiring. 

It turned out to be too small to make cooking an enjoyable experience and really even making a piece of toast created a huge mess due to the lack of counterspace. To add insult to injury, because the kitchen was so "high quality" it was ridiculously expensive to make any additions! Nothing I was trying to add would come in under €2,000! So I  really had resigned myself to the fact that I would have to wait until my next house to have a well designed kitchen.

That was until I had a brainwave. I was always thinking that the only way for me to have more space was to either add a breakfast bar or an island that matched the kitchen and as I said, this was just way too expensive. But then I was thinking, why does it have to be an exact match? Maybe adding some different pieces could look more rustic rather than mismatch and cheap. 

The end result has been more brilliant than I could have hoped. I picked up this stand alone kitchen island from Ikea.

  

Rather than use the island as a space to actually "prepare and cook", I have used it to house all of my essential kitchen "gadgets" {well you can't really call a kettle a gadget, but you know what I am getting at}. Now that my kettle, coffee maker and {monster} bread machine are off the counter, I now actually have space to cook there! 

And to add extra utility to the island, of course, I had to put wall shelves above it. 

And a nice little tea holder over the kettle. 

In total, rather than spending €2,000 on an island or a breakfast bar {which I'm sure would have been lovely, but €2,000!!}, I got:-

• Kitchen Island = €170
• Wall shelves x2 = €40
• Spice rack = €3
• Total = €213

So while it's not a state of the art, fancy shmancy, breakfast bar with granite work tops and cream cabinets, I think it looks pretty good and it serves the all important purpose of creating more space for storage and prep. 

While I was shopping for all of the above, I managed to score a few things for my {actual} kitchen as well which I will post up next. See you next weekend!