Joris started building our kitchen Tuesday, June 5, and it’s coming along beautifully! Saturday, June 15, Jeff and I had our second appointment to select our granite countertops, and the granite will be measured in the next few weeks. I’m hoping the kitchen will be done and functional no later than the end of July (because “Nothing happens here in August” – everyone’s on vacation in August.) Perhaps our kitchen will be my slightly late birthday present!
Here’s what it looks like today without our granite countertops:
Below: Here’s what it looked like in Feb. 2018 when we first viewed the house.
And below: Here’s what it looked like when we moved in on Aug. 1, 2018. So we had to get rid of (donate) these old couches.
This new kitchen is on our second floor, which is the same floor as our bigger salon/dining room and the deck that we dine on every night. The kitchen we’ve be using is on our third floor. So when this new kitchen is done, no more traipsing up and down stairs to take dinner to and from our deck.
It’s quite a project. Because it wasn’t originally a kitchen, we’ve of course had to have sufficient plumbing and “electrics” brought to the room from our ground floor (first floor), and during the next weeks, they’ll be installed in the right places. And, of course, everything that you do with IKEA here is in French 🙂
Below: A few more “today photos” and below that, our “Kitchen Timeline” and some additional photos.
- Thanksgiving, Nov. 29, 2018 –  While enjoying Thanksgiving phone calls with my cousins on the West Coast of the U.S., I realized that even though our house isn’t small, we didn’t have a place for groups of people to gather together — for example, for a Thanksgiving celebration. Voila – let’s create a brand new kitchen on the second floor!
- January 2, 2019 – First trip to IKEA in Toulouse (1 hour drive from Carcassonne), to start designing our kitchen.
- Early January, 2019 – Wallpaper steaming, and Jeff painting.
- January – Jeff finds and purchases our dining room table.
- March 2 – Trip 2 to IKEA
- April 3 – Trip 3 to IKEA
- During the whole time, we visited several other kitchen providers in the Carcassonne area, to look at alternatives and make absolutely sure that our IKEA kitchen was our top choice.
- Late April – We found Joris, a home remodeling artisan, and learned that he would be available in June to build our kitchen. (Photo below.)
- Early May – Power sanding the existing oak parquet floor, and Jeff applies the first two coats of varnish.
- May 21 – Trip 4 to IKEA – I finally finished the design and ordered the kitchen, and scheduled delivery.
- May 29 – IKEA delivers kitchen.
- June 4 – Joris starts working.
And, yes, we know would could have done some things differently, but for example, we didn’t want to break through the floor to create an island with a sink or a cooktop, even though there’s plenty of room for an island. We’re very happy with the way it’s progressing!
Below: Joris and me while he’s assembling our kitchen.
Oh, and here are a few photos of the kitchen, in containers, in our dining room and in our pantry.
Related
- April 22, 2019
- April 28, 2019
- June 10, 2019
Fantastique, et luxe!!!
Thank you so much, David!
Lots of counter space; what good planning. Ikea seems to work very well in Europe. I have used about a dozen Ikea kitchens over there, primarily France, and they are all very good quality. And the dining room table is lovely!
Thank you so much, Pat!