The humble, handmade holiday house of designers Maria Mihotich and Durrell Bishop sits on the Thames Estuary in Kent, England. The camp-style kitchen is made with Ikea cabinets hacked with plywood fronts, stainless steel counters, and DIY-style upper shelves. Here we dissect our favorite elements.
Above: Shuttering plywood, a dense construction plywood, was the material of choice for building out the beach house. “Shuttering ply has a more pronounced grain and is also more affordable,” the owners explain. “But there are many different grades of shuttering ply and we found a timber supplier in Rochester where we could choose one we liked and ordered the amount of sheets we wanted from the same batch. If the wood is from different batches, the patterning can be very, very different, which doesn’t look so good if you want to have a continuous surface.” For more of the plywood application, see Two London Creatives Shore Up a Tiny Beach House, Ikea Hack Kitchen Included. Above: The couple rebuilt the kitchen with Ikea cabinets, like this Sektion Base Cabinet with Drawers ($106), faced with shuttering plywood. Above: The thin stainless steel countertops and integrated stainless prep sink were originally from Ikea (the company no longer offers a stainless steel worktop option). For more on steel countertops, see Remodeling 101: Stainless Steel Countertops.
Above: The Standard Beer Garden Table with a green base and pine top is $439 at Beer Garden Furniture. For more ideas, see The Gardenista 100: Biergarten Tables. Above: Modeled after Alvar Aalto’s Stool 60, Ikea’s Frosta Stool with four legs in birch is $11.99 at Ikea.
Accessories
Above: Marcia and Durrell used vintage garlic boxes from their local grocery store to create the shelving they needed above the kitchen counter. Ikea’s Knagglig pine box ($9.99), shown, is one way to get the look. We also like the wood crates from We Are Always Moving Industries and the Lucky Clover Trading Co. Above: The Stelton thermos in matte chocolate is a discontinued color. The closest match is the Stelton EM77 Vacuum Jug in Granite, shown, for $73 on Amazon. Above: The Bodum Chambord 34-Ounce French Press is stocked in the wood crates above the countertop. It’s a staple; $40 at Crate & Barrel. Above: Replicate the look of the sailing rope with Anthropologie’s Pliant Rope Handles; on sale for $9.60 each. Above: Falcon’s limited-edition Samphire Green color of enamelware is available as a 1 Pint Jug ($31), 2 Pint Jug ($40), and 3 Pint Jug ($47) at Falcon Enamelware. For more covetous cabin kitchens, see our posts:
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