The Poplar Cottage Kitchen Layout & Appliances
THE POPLAR COTTAGE
*This post is in partnership with Beko
The Poplar Cottage kitchen is roughed-in! But before we get past the point of no return, we wanted to visualize the kitchen layout by setting the appliances in place and taping out the cabinetry. An onsite mockup like this is the best way we know how to double-check our 2D floor plans and get a sense for the flow of the future kitchen. So today I wanted to show you what that looks like and share more about the Beko appliances we picked out for this kitchen.
The Poplar Cottage is a wee house (under 600sf) so we were pretty limited as far as the layout. Lots of you were involved in the process of creating the final floor plan—your feedback and suggestions were SO helpful! The whole house floorplan is shown below and you can read more about the process here. Is the layout perfect? No. But is it efficient for this little house and pretty dang good? Heck ya!
The Layout
To mock up the floor plan in 3D we brought in our Beko appliances and set them in place. Then we used blue painters tape to represent the lower cabinet placement.
So what did we think about the layout after doing the mockup? I’ll be honest, this kitchen feels small. But of course, it IS small. And I’m finding it an exciting challenge to pick finishes for this space that won’t make it feel even smaller but are still beautiful and ultra-functional.
A few things this mock up helped us firm up…
one // We only want one upper cabinet on the far wall and not on either side of the range hood. That should give the range wall a beautiful moment while keeping the space feeling as open as possible.
two // There’s only room for a shallow ~12”-deep lower cabinet on the far wall (below the upper cabinet). Otherwise the space adjacent to the range gets too cramped
three // The fridge placement at the entrance to the kitchen is slightly awkward, but functional for the flow of cooking or grabbing a quick snack or beer from anywhere in the house or outside. We can’t see that there’s a better spot so we’re calling this location as good as it gets.
four // There’s not quite room for an “L” shaped banquette next to the fridge so we’ll stick to one long bench on the wall next to the fridge or leave the space open for a dining set.
All in all, this was a really useful exercise and gave us the confidence to move forward with the floor plan with those tweaks.
Appliances
Let’s talk appliances. We’re excited to partner with Beko on all of the appliances for the Poplar Cottage. If you’re not familiar with them, they’re a 50-year-old European company that is committed to making beautiful and functional appliances for the home chef. With a focus on both health and wellness and environmental sustainability, Beko has recently launched a campaign to bring their stylish appliances to homes across the US.
Here are the Beko appliances we picked out for this kitchen…
Range
Manufacturer: Beko
Model: #SLER30530SS
We went with an electric range! Poplar doesn’t have a natural gas connection and instead of bringing a gas line to the house - which we’ve done in so many of our previous renovations - we decided to embrace electric since it’s arguably more environmentally friendly and also healthier for the air in the house. Maybe some day we’ll even get solar panels on this house. Anyone else go from a gas range to electric? We’d love to hear how it went!
We’re also excited about the low-maintenance aspect of a solid glass surface that comes with this range. Whether we use this house as an in-town office or a rental, less nooks and crannies to clean is a plus. This range also has a warming drawer below the oven and built-in thermometer.
Fridge
Manufacturer: Beko
Model: #BFBF3018SSIM
In such a small house, we’re pretty thrilled to fit a full-size refrigerator. This is actually considered ‘counter depth’ but at 28” deep, it feels more like a full depth fridge. The freezer has a hinged door and is filled with drawers to keep frozen items organized and easily accessible. This fridge is packed with technology like Everfresh+ to make your produce stay fresher longer.
Dishwasher
Manufactuer: Beko
Model: #DDT38530X
I waivered whether or not we need a dishwasher in this space and honestly if it was just us living here, I’d probably skip it. But as a rental property, a dishwasher is important and could be the deciding factor on whether someone rents the house or not. So we opted for a sturdy, quiet dishwasher from Beko. This model also has a third rack at the very top for utensils leaving more space for dishes in the main compartment.
Eeek! So excited to see this kitchen come together!
