They told us that it would take three days. Seventeen days later, our kitchen is nearly complete. The sink and the dishwasher were connected yesterday, so now we no longer have to wash our dishes in the bathroom sink. This was our kitchen before the renovation. Note the lack of: extractor fan, dishwasher, freezer, oven, power points, and counter-top space.

This is our new kitchen, 90% complete and finally functional. We actually have space to cut, chop and prepare on the granite benchtop. We have plugs for our toaster. We have lighting to see our food.

To give us some more bench space, we shifted from a four burner ceramic stove to a two burner induction stove. I really like the new induction stove because it heats liquid a lot faster than the old one (and also because it uses magnets).The kitchen lady seemed a little judgmental that I wasn’t the type of wife to cook my husband a dinner requiring four different pots, and as I was trying to justify my decision, Adrian quietly reminded me that I was not actually mandated to supply an explanation. Now we can also proudly display our toaster that we won betting on the ‘pigs.

The dishwasher, fridge, and freezer are all nicely hidden away. As we have been living with a bar fridge for the last six months, the fridge and freezer seem cavernous in comparison. And for the first time in my life I have a dishwasher, small enough so that we can run it with dishes from just the two of us.

Where is the microwave? In the oven. I didn’t believe the kitchen people when they first showed me this dual oven-microwave. On one setting, we put in metal oven trays and it acts as a perfectly normal oven. On another setting, we use a ceramic tray, and it is a fully-featured microwave. It is very strange to put a plastic container into an oven, switch the oven on for three minutes, then open it up to find my meal bubbling away.

In addition to hosting our Australian friend Lina for a couple of weeks, we are also having major renovations inflicted on our apartment. The old kitchen is being ripped out, and they are installing a new kitchen, three new wardrobes, and a mini-laundry.

We are locking the kittens up in the study during the day, because the whole house looks like a disaster zone. Boxes, cabinets, and live power tools are all over the place. However, everything seems to be coming together quickly, and the builders seem very dedicated, working from 7:30 AM to 7:30 PM. Fingers crossed when we come home tonight, we will have a fancy new kitchen and we might even be able to stop living out of boxes.

We have the first plans drawn up for our new kitchen.  Unfortulately these people can’t fit us in until January, so I am still shopping around to find someone who is available in July. We are going with a small-sized dishwasher, and a half-sized oven that is somehow also a microwave even though it is filled with metal. To maximise our bench space we will have a two-burner oven and a single sink that can be covered with a chopping board. We will have lighting under and on top of the wall cabinets to brighten up the area as much as possible.

We’d really like to have the renovations completed before our stream of visitors increases. Who knew that living in the heart of Europe would mean that we would have so many lovely people coming to visit us? It certainly makes us feel less lonely to know that we are going to have friends and family coming to visit. I just hope that they can both shower and eat while they are staying here.

It is hard to believe that I am at the stage where I am thinking about home renovations. How did I suddenly become so grown up? To me I still feel like I am playing The Sims rather than designing a new kitchen. It is actually quite a challenge – very small, with a door at both ends, it measures 3.8m (12.5′) by 1.8m (6.0′), and currently looks like this:

Somehow we have to keep the microwave, sink and stove, add more light, more storage, an oven, a dishwasher, and a large fridge into this space. I don’t quite know how we’re going to manage it. I am talking to some kitchen renovation experts tomorrow to see what we can come up with. I am bringing these images for inspiration. We want something that maximises the space, is easy to clean, and is bright and simple. I will be interested to see their ideas, and I’m really excited to finally have a home of our own with which we can play.

Photos from dailymail, get Turner, and OutinHome.