My Dream Kitchen with Electrolux {Sponsored Post}

 

 

When we moved into our current house, it had a very nice kitchen. Quartz countertops, cherry wood cabinets, matching blinds, built-in banquette, built in desk. It works perfectly well, but it’s not exactly my style.  It’s not in the budget right now, but a kitchen redesign is one of my top “wish-list” items for our house (I just wish I could get the husband on board.  The kitchen is really my domain, of course).   Daydreaming is one of my favorite ways to pass the time, so when Electrolux and the Clever Girls Collective asked me to write a sponsored post about my dream kitchen, I jumped at the chance.

 

Thank you Electrolux for sponsoring this post. Check out sleek Electrolux matching kitchen suites for a stylish, consistent design look with innovative product features for your kitchen.
I have a dream of a farmhouse kitchen. I have a dream of a farmhouse, too, but that’s another story. My dream kitchen would have the following:

1) White cabinets. The cherry cabinets in our kitchen are perfectly fine, but they make the kitchen feel dark and cramped (and warm, which is absolutely unnecessary in Los Angeles). The first thing we’re going to do in our kitchen is paint all the cabinets white, which should open up my galley kitchen enormously.

2) Built in Appliances. I love the idea of a giant range that warms the whole kitchen, but in Southern California, it’s just not practical. The next best thing (and one that’s probably a heck of a lot better for resale value) is appliances that blend in seamlessly. Electrolux’s concept of “Suite Design” is kind of amazing – the idea is that you choose a suite of complementary appliances that work together and blend in seamlessly. Their designs are very sleek.

3) Natural Stone counters. We have quartz. It’s very nonporous. It’s also green. I don’t mind that “lived in” look, and I pine for Soapstone counters like those featured in Stefanie’s kitchen over at Brooklyn Limestone:

Photo: Brooklyn Limestone

Or these gorgeous Carrera marble counters:

Photo: Electrolux

4. Lots of light. I spend a lot of time in the kitchen, and I am like a plant who needs sunshine (which is why I was so miserable in New York.) Fortunately, our kitchen has a lot of windows, but I wouldn’t be averse to a skylight or two.

Of course, a kitchen, more than any other room in the house (with the possible exception of the bathroom) needs to be as functional as it is beautiful. The kitchen is your arena, your workshop. These are some of the functionalities of my dream kitchen:

1. Not too big. I know this is counterintuitive, but imagine this scenario: You have a big, overfull bowl of cherries and ice water chilling in your fridge. You want to drain it. How many steps to your sink? Or You have a large, heavy roasting pan with hot grease just coming out of the oven. Do you want to carry it across a vast expanse of floor in order to set it down? We have a galley kitchen (long and narrow) and I actually really like the layout. Nothing is too far away. Of course, if you have a galley kitchen, a counter depth refrigerator, like the ones available from Electrolux, is a must have. We have a counter-depth refrigerator and I never miss the extra depth.

2. Lots of counter space. I know I said not too big, but I’m also not the neatest cook (I would last maybe a second in culinary boot camp school), and I need a lot of counter space for my projects. (I also like to have small appliances, like my mixer or food processor or toaster oven, out and available and ready to use). Since I’m a shorty, I actually love the height of my kitchen table, and that’s my greatest workspace. I use it for chopping, rolling out pastry, mixing dough, you name it.

3. Lots of storage space. I know I can’t be the only one with a tiny pot and pan problem. And a condiments problem. And possibly a kitchen tools problem. And I know that every food blogger has a dishes problem. We have pull out shelves, which would be great if my heavy heavy Le Creuset collection weren’t always breaking the brackets. And tiny drawers, which are too small. I want a pantry. A full on pantry. And I also totally covet these GENIUS dish drawers from Chinese Grandma. Seriously, how cool are those? Actually, I covet her whole kitchen – pantry, farmhouse sink, soapstone counters and WOOD BEAMS (which would look completely ridiculous in my 1946 bungalow, but while we’re talking about dream kitchens I might as well throw in a dream 1880 farmhouse, right?)

Photo: Chinese Grandma

(Here’s Lillian’s amazing kitchen.)

Photo: Chinese Grandma

4. Appliances. I know this seems like a given, but I need my appliances to work. I want a stove that’s responsive, a (double) oven that calibrates correctly, and a dishwasher that cleans dishes. Electrolux’s suite design appliances have some extra features that make them hyper functional, like a refrigerator door that keeps food items (OR WINE) at the perfect temperature, or a dishwasher with racks that reconfigure to fit everything you want to wash (like giant baby high chair trays). These are the little things that take a kitchen from a good kitchen to a dream kitchen.
What’s your dream kitchen?  What features and finishes do you dream about?  I can’t be the only one.
I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective, and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.