Kitchen Renovation Planning – Moodboard, Layout & IKEA Kitchen Design

Once we got the go-ahead, my head was spinning full of ideas. I kept dreaming of open wooden shelves, a big farmhouse table, herbs on the windowsill, direct view onto a terrace...

And then I remembered I am designing a 7m² city kitchen on the third floor.

So I had to find a more realistic vision. The starting point was actually a cabinet we already owned — an IKEA BODBYN upper cabinet, white with glass inserts and that classic farmhouse-style front. I loved it. So all upper cabinets would get BODBYN doors.

But I didn't want an all-white kitchen. I wanted something moodier, warmer — cozy but with a modern edge. Less "bright airy farmhouse", more "lived-in, slightly dramatic, definitely has good coffee." So I toned down the farmhouse and leaned into the fact that our small east-facing room already felt a little darker anyway. I guess you could call it Modern Farmhouse (But Make It Dark).

Before moodboards and color palettes, I started with the hard constraints — because there were quite a few.

We needed to fit: a fridge-freezer combo, oven and stove (new purchase), washing machine, dishwasher, and a sink. The water supply, drain, and oven power connection were all on one wall and we didn't want to move any of it. We also had a small built-in pantry in the corner, an old chimney shaft that ate into the space, and a strangely low window that we eventually gave up on trying to make fully functional.

Storage was a priority too. In our last kitchen we had exactly one drawer. One. I still don't fully understand how we survived that.

With all the measurements taken and the restrictions mapped out, I opened the IKEA METOD kitchen planner.

The METOD system was actually recommended by a friend who had already installed a couple of IKEA kitchens — satisfied with the quality, customizability and price. After living with ours for a while, I have to say I agree.

The digital planner itself is actually pretty intuitive. Some elements don't want to go where you put them, and a few settings are hidden in weird places, but overall I genuinely enjoyed playing around with it. It felt a bit like designing a room in The Sims when I was 12, except this time it was actually for me - eek!

I tried an L-shaped layout first (top image), but the awkward corner gave me a hard time — the sink placement never worked, and everything felt cramped. It was our friend again who gave the best advice: forget the corner, go with two units facing each other (bottom image), and keep it simple.

That freed up the opposite corner for something I'd always wanted but never thought possible in a small apartment: a breakfast nook. We love eating in the kitchen, and leaving that corner empty to build a little seating area felt immediately right.

Once the layout was set, I started playing with door fronts, handles, countertops (all possible in the online planner might I add!) — and that's when the moodboard started to take shape.

We had about a week between getting the keys and our moving date to: remove the old kitchen, clean and paint the room, buy all the cabinets and appliances, and install everything.

We did not make it. Not even close.

We didn't have a working stove for the first 8 days. The cabinets were assembled but not yet mounted on moving day. We bought countertops, did all the cutouts, and then discovered we'd bought the wrong size — not deep enough. The hardware store didn't have our first choice in the right size, so we had to choose a completely new design on the spot. The sink I'd envisioned either didn't exist or cost twice what we'd budgeted, so I ordered two and kept the prettier one. I bought the wrong faucet first. I think I visited the hardware store daily, sometimes twice. I got blisters from painting and cuts from pulling out the old kitchen. At least three people said they wanted parts of the old kitchen and then ghosted us.

I was completely exhausted by the end. But also genuinely proud.

We also painted the rest of the apartment that week, which in hindsight was perhaps ambitious. But the kitchen — unfinished, imperfect, half-assembled — already felt like ours. And I had learned a lot. Mostly everything that can go wrong. But also: trust your gut. And your moodboard.