kitchen Archives - KREATING HOMES

RV Kitchen Upgrades

December 31, 2018 4 Comments

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We did a number of upgrades to the interior of the fifth wheel but some of my favorites happened in the kitchen. Luckily not all the kitchen upgrades were major time consuming intense projects(like flooring or painting!). The ones listed here were some of the simplest and quickest DIYs we completed!

Stick on Backsplash

RV Kitchen Upgrades

[before]

RV Kitchen Upgrades

[after]

Peel and Stick Subway Tiles completely changed our tiny kitchen! They are so simple to work with and you can change your backsplash in minutes. Literally just measure, cut, peel, and stick! I picked these tiles in particular because they’re resistant to heat, moisture, bacteria, and mold. Plus they’re far less weight than actual tiles and thats key in RV makeovers.

RV Kitchen Upgrades

We’ve been cooking in our tiny kitchen for months and I still love these tiles! I’ve put them through quite the heat test as we cook at home nearly every night. They’ve also been washed and wiped them down with multipurpose cleanser after some of our more messy meal prep (think bacon grease and spaghetti splatters) and they still look like new. Absolutely stoked on these tiles and I’d use them again in a heartbeat!

Cabinet Hardware

RV Kitchen Upgrades

In my opinion, hardware is one of the easiest changes to make with one of the biggest payoffs. The original cabinets had small oil rubbed bronze handles and pulls which matched the very brown themed interior. They were ok but they weren’t great. And they definitely didn’t fit the modern look we wanted to bring to the space.

After a bit of searching I found a style that came in both a pull and a knob. We needed the pulls for the drawers and the knobs for the cabinets. They come in bulk packs which is awesome because they’re priced so well and we used them for the entire trailer. The multiple lengths also meant we were able to use the existing holes in the cabinets and drawers.

Faucet and Soap Dispenser

RV Kitchen Upgrades

Initially when we gutted the fifth wheel I really wanted a whole new sink set up. And that would have probably happened if we had no budget and endless amounts of time. Ha! As a compromise I decided to start with a new faucet and see if that changed the look of the sink enough. And guess what? Totally did the trick!

We went with a pull down faucet in matte black that required only a single hole. This also meant we had and extra hole in the countertops from the previous faucet. And guess what fit perfectly in that space? A soap dispenser! This also came in a matte black which matched all our new hardware. Both felt like total luxury upgrades and the dispenser meant one less thing on my countertops. These 2 simple upgrades totally changed our sink space without having to rip out the original or mess with the countertops. We consider that #winning!

Copper Dish Rack

RV Kitchen Upgrades

This one is more of a pretty purchase than an actual upgrade but I still feel like its worth mentioning! Knowing we’d be washing all our dishes by hand was a major downer for me. Like I’ve mentioned, we cook at home for nearly all our meals and in our previous spaces I really put our dishwashers to use. So, if I had to have dishes out drying I figured I’d at least find something pretty to look at. This copper dish rack matches a handful of other decor I have in the fifthwheel and its held up to even our heaviest pots and pans. Obviously a dish rack is one of the most basic kitchen accessories but I promise it feels like an ‘upgrade’ when you’re hand washing every single dish in your RV!

Mounted Paper Towel Holder

RV Kitchen Upgrades

Lets be honest, no matter how nice or new your RV is there’s just never enough counter space. Ever. So anything we could do to free up just a bit more was a welcome upgrade. This included things as simple as a mounted paper towel holder. We mounted ours on the side of the kitchen island so its nearly out of sight. We also went for a simple black design that matched the cabinet hardware so it looks even more cohesive.

Magnetic Knife Strip

RV Kitchen Upgrades

In our previous stick built homes I’ve always had a drawer organizer or wooden block for our kitchen knives. Unfortunately both took up more space than I was willing to give up in this tiny kitchen so I found a knife strip we could mount on the wall. At first I was a little worried whether or not it would be strong enough to withstand traveling with the knives hanging but we’ve really put it to the test and its held up great. The magnet on this is incredibly STRONG! Plus, it was super easy to install over the stick on tiles.

Surely over time we’ll find more ways to upgrade our space. For now, we’re just happy all of the upgrades were simple to add and functional so far. So, have you made any upgrades to your RV kitchen? Tried any of the ones I mentioned above? You know I’d love to hear all about it in the comments!

DIY, home tour, kitchen, loft life, storage

Home Tour: Kitchen

October 25, 2017 25 Comments

Its been a while since we moved into our loft. For quite some time the kitchen was in a constant shuffle. Its one of the most used spaces and I may(ok, definitely) be particular about how things are situated. My only excuse is that I do 99% of the cooking in our home. Ha! So now that things are just right I thought it was time to share the Kitchen Tour!

Home Tour Kitchen

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One of the best things we did when we moved in was make this kitchen island. We have shuffled the contents here and there but overall its stayed the same. And we LOVE it. This adds so much extra storage to our kitchen and our most used items are conveniently within reach.

Home Tour Kitchen

Some of the shelves are open for storing larger items and others we’ve found containers for. We’ve used a combination of collapsible bins and magazine organizers for most everything. And lastly, we found the perfect adjustable wine storage! This took some trial and error but when this is built into a square it fits perfectly in the cubes of the expedit shelves.

Home Tour Kitchen

We also attached this magazine rack to the far side for lid storage. I just love these things! I’ve used them for years even before we built this island. They have been discontinued at the stores(Ikea) but you can still grab similar ones on Amazon. Ive attached them to kitchen carts and even the inside of kitchen cabinets. Its honestly the best way I’ve found to keep lids organized so far.

Kitchen Tour

Other easy organizing products Ive found are wood trays and chalkboard labels. The trays I’ve painted to match the rest of the decor in the kitchen. And yes, of course I used chalk paint and wax! So far these have held up really well and the wax finish cleans well with just a wet rag. The labels I found on Amazon and I use them on EVERYthing! I cut them to fit on smaller jars and use the full labels for larger canisters.

Kitchen Tour

The other thing Ive added here and there is plants. I used to have the hardest time keeping ANY plants alive but something about this place is turning that right around! I think the amount of light we get in the loft is playing a big part. It may also be the plants themselves. Ive narrowed it down to a few varieties that are pretty indestructible. Generally speaking, I can keep succulents and philodendrons alive. Lets all cross our fingers that they are still alive after this is published. Ha!

Kitchen Tour

So what organizing products or DIYs are you using in your kitchen? Are plants taking over your countertops too? You know Id love to hear all about it in the comments!

DIY, kitchen, loft life, storage, upcycle

DIY Kitchen Island

March 31, 2017 32 Comments

This post includes affiliate links. For the full disclosure policy click here.

Kitchen storage. Is there really ever enough? In my case the answer to that has always been NO! Enter the DIY kitchen island project that upcycled our old furniture into something crazy functional.

We’ve lived in so many different spaces and even the ones with the biggest kitchens still lacked enough storage to house all my kitchen supplies. I realize I may have more than the average person (and even most foodies). But! Being a food photographer as my “day job” means my kitchen doubles as my office. All my tools, dishes, thingamabobs, etc double as my props. Do you see why a DIY kitchen island was the first project we tackled upon moving into the loft?! Right.

The Pieces

When we moved across the country we decided to use Upack to move the majority of our household goods. The company drops off a container, you fill it, they drive it across the county, and eventually drop it off at your new home. Simple and super budget friendly. Only hitch is you have to pack it all yourself. We’ve moved a lot in the last 10 years of making homes together. And yet we’ve never packed for this big of a move and never with this kind of container. We did our best and man did we pack a lot of ~~junk~~ items into that space… maybe a little too much. At least weight wise. And maybe a little too much on top of what used to be our dinning room table…

When we finally unpacked enough boxes to uncover the table we realized the wood completely split(insert super sad face). At first my mind started to wonder how we could repair it. How we could alter it. How we could start some new woodworking projects in the middle of our new place. Quickly I realized that was too crazy even for us!

So we pulled the legs off and figured the top itself could make a great desk top or even just another backdrop/surface for my shoots. We quickly changed that train of thought too! Once we unpacked another stack of kitchen boxes we realized there was a serious needed more storage. Obviously a DIY kitchen island would be perfect in the space.

The Assembly

DIY Kitchen Island — (Doesn’t that space look like it was made for a huge DIY kitchen island?! I thought so too.)

We already had a few old expedit bookcases and some metal legs from a previous configuration. (Obviously its been a while since Ikea stopped making these…serious bummer! Luckily you can still grab a copy cat version online!).

To assemble the ‘island’ we just tipped the bookcases on their sides, arranged them back to back, attached legs to the bottom, and threw the old table top on! Yes, it was that simple.

The Accessories

After a few more days of unpacking and I added the lid holder to the far side. We rarely walk around that way and its relatively hidden. A bit more unpacking and magazine holders were added to corral those annoying water bottles which are always too tall to fit in apartment kitchens.

I also added some fabric storage bins to hide some of the less attractive items. As much as I love seeing pretty kitchens with open storage and all white plates and pottery… thats just not realistic for me. I have a variety of sizes, colors, and shapes and when you try to use open storage with multiple colors it just looks messy and visually cluttered. So fabric storage bins for the win!

After a few days of using the island we added some rubber feet between the table top and the book cases to help with the small amount of shifting we had. We didn’t really want to attach the top with brackets or other hardware because it seemed like overkill and would look messy. So far there haven’t been ANY issues with shifting but I’ll come back with an update after it gets a little more use.

Update: after nearly a year of use we never bothered to add additional hardware. The rubber feet were plenty to keep this table top in place!

So DIY project #1 for this loft is officially complete! What DIYs do you have planned for the weekend? You know I’d love to hear all about it in the comments!