Simple elegance on the outside and a real organisational talent on the inside

My name is Jacqueline, I’m 26 years old, I come from a little village in the beautiful Lahn-Dill district in Hesse, Germany, and live with my husband in a flat that we own. We’ve been living here since February 2017 and in the summer of 2020 we started renovating and refurbishing our home. The renovations took about a year and we did almost all of the work on our own.  A few small things are still missing (and that’s likely to stay the case, after all you can always come up with more ideas), but we’re really happy in our own home.

1. How come you chose this style of kitchen?

I knew from the very start what I wanted our kitchen to look like. I wanted white fronts and a dark worktop. To me, that’s a modern yet timeless look.

2.Your kitchen has no immediately visible handles, why is that and what do you like about it?

I deliberately picked a handleless design. I enjoy how all the white fronts of the doors and drawers are “uninterrupted”, so they are one uniform front. Handles were a feature I never even considered.

3. On Instagram you said that you had an image of your kitchen in mind even before planning it. Where did you get your inspiration and how come you had such a clear vision?

I got my inspiration primarily from Instagram and Pinterest. I looked at a lot of kitchens and when I revisited my favourites, I kept finding white kitchens with dark worktops.

4. What challenges did you encounter during the renovations?

There was, in fact, one small difficulty when we installed the kitchen: The connection for the sink wasn’t in precisely the right position so a plumber came by on the day of the installation and moved the connection for us.

5. The dark worktop makes for a beautiful contrast with the light-coloured fronts, why did you choose a dark worktop?

I also love the contrast. While planning the kitchen I thought about a matching dining table and chairs. That’s when I set my mind on dark-grey, so I immediately knew that I wanted the worktop to be that colour, too. Also it’s a colour that doesn’t show stains *wink*.

6. Why was it so important to you to have a kitchen island?

I’ve always dreamed of a kitchen island. I love that it gives you additional work space and storage space but at the same time you can sit on bar stools on the other side.

7. Did you plan your kitchen yourself?

I pre-planned the kitchen myself. I knew all the measurements, where to put the cooker, oven and dishwasher and where to put which cabinet. I tried to make a sketch of it all, then we took that plan to the kitchen showroom. Once we were there, all that was left for us to do was decide about details and pick the exact colours. Incidentally, the kitchen planner was absolutely thrilled by my preliminary plan.

8. What was most fun about planning?

I always say: The greatest pleasure lies in anticipation and that’s just what I felt while planning. I love making plans in general and knowing: that’s your dream kitchen you’re planning right now, that was a really great feeling.

9. What were the challenges in your plan and what did you consider particularly important?

One challenge was that we had a specific room the kitchen had to go in. I had to take into account that there were doors in the way and a passage directly next to the kitchenette. We considered it particularly important for the kitchen to be a Nolte kitchen. We had only heard positive things about your kitchens from friends and family.

10. What were three must-haves that absolutely had to be in your kitchen?

In our old, small kitchen we didn’t have a dishwasher. So a dishwasher was an absolute must-have. We planned it at knee height, so it’s very convenient to load and unload.

It was also important to me to be able to pull out the tap on the sink so that I can rinse off everything as thoroughly as possible (some dishes still have to be washed by hand, unfortunately). The sink itself wasn’t supposed to be too large to avoid losing too much work space.

Another must-have was an oven placed not under the cooker but separately and at a comfortable working height.

11. The colours white and black are quite simple. Do you like to play with colours when decorating your kitchen or do you stick to more muted hues?

I like to stick to more muted colours. Personally, I want everything to be simple and clean. I think the only colour that sticks out in our kitchen is green from plants and flowers.

12. On Instagram you said that the kitchen is your favourite place to be in your home, why is that?

Our kitchen makes me happy, so I like to spend my time there. It’s a place to talk about your day with each other, to be with your family and simply enjoy yourself. Also it’s really great to cook together in our kitchen.  

13. What is the most important function in your kitchen?

That would have to be the electric appliances. First of all we have an induction cooker and I never want to be without one again. It’s great how fast it boils a pot of water. Then, as I’ve mentioned before, we’ve got our dishwasher. I’m really glad that I no longer have to wash all of our dishes by hand. And I love the self-cleaning function of our oven.

14. Your pictures on Instagram show the tidy interior of your cabinets. Do you have any tips for interior organisation?

I think it’s important to create a basic level of organisation first. Of course that takes some time, but afterwards it’s a lot easier to maintain that level of organisation. I got inspired by the concept of The Home Edit, among other things. Get everything out, clean the cabinets, make groups of things that belong together, put them in storage boxes and, of course, label them.

15. What is your hashtag #jacquelinesvasenmittwoch, “Jacqueline’s vase Wednesday” all about?

16. How would you describe your home and your interior design style?

I would say I’m very clean and simple. I do have quite a bit of decoration, but only select items that harmonise with the rest of the interior. I love the colour white, which you can find in every room. All the walls are white, most of the furniture is white. Then I try to use individual items to add a touch of colour (but not too much).

17. Is your personality reflected in your interior design?

Absolutely. I’ve always been a very tidy and organised person and that’s reflected in our home. Each and every cabinet and drawer is tidy and a “normal cleaning day” takes about 6 hours for me, but I like taking care of our home and keeping it tidy.

18. What does life in the kitchen mean to you?

I love it. I’m so happy to have such a beautiful, large kitchen, that’s not something you should take for granted.