It was time for another adventure. I think designing a kitchen from top to bottom in one week constitutes an adventure, or at the very least a daunting challenge. Lovita and I were up for whatever the week would bring. Therefore, we flew from Southern California to Holland to work on our latest project.
Wilco rented a car for me to use that week. It was a manual transmission. I've driven stick shift cars since I was a teenager. Yet I managed (according to Lovita) to stall the car six times! She was obviously counting! How embarrassing! Still, I didn't hit anyone or get parking or driving tickets. Finding a parking garage one day was stressful. We went in circles following the signs searching for what we knew existed. There was a huge outdoor market that had large areas blocked off making it almost impossible to get around. I only once managed to go down a one way street the wrong way and wind up at a dead end. I had to drive backwards a long ways before we could turn around. Lovita was amazingly calm during the whole ordeal.
With me driving and Lovita navigating it was still a harrowing experience. We couldn't have done it without a navigation system. (Tom Tom works great in Europe.) Imagine giant intersections. Cars, buses, electric street cars, and sometimes trains, two wheeled motorized vehicles, bicycles and pedestrians. They all share the same intersection. They all have their own lanes! So many times I was asking…"where is the car lane"?!? I finally figured out I needed to find a little blue arrow that marked the car lane! Different modes of transportation had their own signals and signs. It was all very stressful.
I was convinced that we were going to choose an Ikea kitchen. In Europe Ikea seems to be the most popular kitchen and people are very pleased. It was a no brainer. Design a kitchen with their computer program, push a button, everything you need is printed out, place the order, it's delivered (unassembled) to the boat, and then it's assembled on site and voila, there's my kitchen. Nothing is ever as easy as it sounds. We met with a delightful Ikea kitchen designer. Fortunately, Wilco was with us. Her English was ok, but not quite up to the task of explaining everything to me so I could understand. We spent what felt like hours (and probably was) working our way around the room planning every little detail: cabinets, appliances, lighting…until we came to the last tall cabinet. At that point she told me I was trying to get a custom kitchen from Ikea! Well, yes! Isn't that what Ikea was all about? Unfortunately, a 1929 barge isn't a normal space like a kitchen in a home. Our ceiling was too low. Wilco would need to cut the tall cabinet down and refinish it. That wasn't going to work! On to plan B!
Wilco was very insistent that I visit a custom cabinet shop. After the disappointment with Ikea I figured I had nothing to lose but time. Off we went! Isn't it annoying when you walk into a store (of any kind), you are the only customer and the salesmen ignore you? I thought that was going to happen as Lovita and I walked around the whole kitchen store admiring their displays and wondering whether anyone would help us. Fortunately Anton took pity on us. (After all, why would American's be looking at kitchens?) We didn't have an appointment and it was nearly closing time. At this point I pretty much knew what I wanted and in an amazingly short period of time a new kitchen was on Anton's computer. I needed an idea of what their pricing would be and I needed it fast as the weekend was almost upon us which meant losing a couple of days. Remember, I had only one week to do everything! We did a rough design, we discussed the pros and cons of various appliances, it was closing time…ok, what's the price? He pushed the button and we waited. Then he gave me the price! WOW! The difference between the custom company and Ikea was minimal. I was able to get exactly what I wanted with better quality appliances. The cabinets would come already built and the cabinet company would install the cabinets, hook up the appliances, lay down the countertop…I was a happy camper.
It was time to work out the details. They had a beautiful red cabinet and I LOVE red! I've dreamed of a red kitchen. We had a sample of the red and the next challenge was to find a countertop, flooring and wall paint to go with red. As much as I love red, it can be a difficult color to work with. Especially when we now have only a few days left to complete the kitchen. Tom and I wanted granite countertops. Where as here in California we have a countless number of granite yards, Holland has very few. We drove for hours searching for granite (or any stone natural or man made) that would work with red. I had to give up. Nothing felt right. We spent a day driving around but it wasn't a waste since I knew we had tried our hardest to work with the gorgeous red cabinets.
We were now back to my original idea of having cream color cabinets. You would think that would be easy. Again, granite is hard to find. I did finally find a beautiful granite sample…from India. They could probably locate it somewhere in Europe. Because of the pattern in the stone I needed to see photographs of the slabs. That wasn't going to happen while we were there. Most everything is closed on Sunday and many stores are closed Monday's as well. Back to the drawing board. Back to the cabinet shop. There we saw a sample kitchen with the color cabinet I wanted. And the stone they had on top was just right! Done! Now just give me a sample of the stone so we can find paint. It's Saturday evening and Anton can't locate a sample for me until Monday (if I'm lucky).
Anton did locate a counter top sample for us late Monday morning near Arnhem. Off we went to retrieve it. Fortunately Holland is a small country. Arnhem is the site of a famous battle fought in WWII. I wish we could have visited the tourist sights/battle ground/museum of Arnhem. I've been there, but I think Lovita would have appreciated it. Tom couldn't believe we had driven almost all the way to Arnhem from Rotterdam. A girl's gotta do what she's gotta do to put the kitchen together properly!
It's Monday afternoon and we now have cabinet color and countertop, but tile flooring, wall and ceiling colors are needed. We need to finalize the design of the kitchen cabinets and pick appliances. We go home Wednesday morning.
Anton told us about a wonderful tile store where he once worked. Saturday evening before they closed we dashed over for a first look. Without the countertop sample we could only guess at what flooring we might choose. After the weekend with cabinet and stone pieces in hand we went back to the tile store. There we found a beautiful tile I think will enhance the look of the kitchen. I chose the grout, bought everything and even arranged for delivery to the boat. We're making progress! We went back to the cabinet store and carefully fine-tuned the kitchen to hopefully more specifically meet my needs. We also agonized over the appliances. European electric stove tops are very small. They don't work for this American who cooks large quantities in big American pans. I've never used an induction stove top before but everyone raves about it and the size was right. Now I need new pots and pans.
Since we picked such calm colors that tied in with the living room and dining room I was able to use the same paint colors. I needed to be sure the colors were what I wanted. Again it involved driving to a town we'd never been in to find the paint store with the brand I wanted. The owner spoke no English, but we managed to communicate and I walked away with the new version of the paint colors that are in the rest of the boat.
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| Anton and I are designing the new kitchen. |
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| The sample kitchen with the correct color cabinets and countertop. |
The nice thing about Sunday's is all the stores are closed which meant Lovita and I got to be tourists. We drove into Amsterdam to visit the Vincent van Gogh Museum. We also spent time looking at books in the gift and book shop. I came home with books filled with ideas for future paintings. Afterwards we went to the newly opened Rijks Museum. Unfortunately it was getting late. We did manage to spend time in the gift and book shops there as well. My suitcase certainly gained weight.
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| The children learn how to ice skate by pushing a chair around. It's just like what we have seen in old master's paintings. |
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| The architecture is unique, diverse and interesting in Holland. |
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| Another interesting building. |
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| In front of the Rijks Museum. |
Lovita and I had quite a week. We designed a kitchen and chose the colors, countertop flooring, paint for ceiling and walls, appliances, a cabinet for the dining room…the only thing I didn't do was pick a new light fixture for over the kitchen sink. All in all I would say the week was a smashing success!
Thank you Lovita for being such a good sport. Your gentle encouragement helped me make up my mind, your precise navigation got us where we needed to go, and most important you were and are an all round great friend. I couldn't have done it without you.
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