TYPICAL APARTMENT KITCHEN REDESIGN
- Jan 27
- 2 min read
In collaboration with interior designer Ēriks Feldmanis, we wanted to talk about typical kitchen space redevelopment options in a completed project – a 119th series house. 119th series buildings began to be built in the early 80s and can be found in all Riga housing estates. Serial apartments built in Soviet times have technical nuances. This is not a new apartment project or a private house that is built based on the wishes and requirements of the customer. In such apartment projects, the kitchen space is small and the communication outlets (water, sewage) are located in one specific corner of the room.
One of the redevelopment options is to dismantle the walls, expand the space, but this is a rather long and costly process, as it is necessary to coordinate the planned changes with the city's construction board. One of the kitchen remodeling options was considered - the "classic standard" or placing kitchen furniture along the existing kitchen area wall, leaving the refrigerator on the opposite wall. Interior designer Ēriks chose to improve the functionality of the customer's kitchen by "dressing up" the kitchen space in a completely new form and offered the clients the idea of an "L"-shaped kitchen. One of the most confusing moments in this implementation was the placement of the window. The window sills of buildings built according to Soviet standards are located lower than the standard height of modern work surfaces. Since partial or complete bricking up of the window is not an option, we chose a window with a division, where the lower part of the window is fixed, while the upper part functions as a full-fledged window.
As a result, in this kitchen layout, it was possible to functionally place a refrigerator with a freezer, a dishwasher, a microwave, an oven, a hob and a extractor hood and realize the biggest dream of many kitchen owners - a sink by the window. Also, the space was successfully divided, guided by the principles of the kitchen triangle theory, which ensures convenient use. The kitchen triangle is formed by imaginary lines using the three most important and frequently used kitchen elements - a sink, hob and refrigerator. Also, a very important factor is not to place these elements too close together, leaving space for the work surface. The selected material for the kitchen work surface is Technistone, Gobi Brown 20 mm thick.
Find more about available materials for countertops in the section - MATERIALS.
If you want to transform your kitchen space, please contact us or our cooperation partner and the author of this project:
Eric Feldmanis
Interior Designer (Master RSP, IED Milan 2008)
