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A Video Tour Inside Our Kitchen Cabinets

December 3, 2015

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Ever since we finished our kitchen a couple months ago, I have been surprised how many of you have requested to see inside all of the cabinets! It made me laugh at first, because I didn’t realize that was a thing. But then I noticed our friends and family poking around when they would come over–it’s definitely a thing. While I wish you could all just come over and do the same (mostly so you wouldn’t have to listen to my voice), I did the next best thing and filmed this little cabinet tour yesterday afternoon for all of you. (Apologies ahead of time for how loud my camera is trying to focus throughout this.)

A few notable sources: Chris’s spice jars are from Paper Mart. The wooden spice spoons are from Amazon. The Kitchenaid pull-out stand was a hand-me down from my parents who had two (and no Kitchenaid) but Rev-a-shelf makes one.

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While we tried to map everything out before we even bought our cabinets, it has definitely taken a couple months of shifting to get everything in a place that makes sense. It’s amazing how much more space we have even while eliminating our upper cabinets. We have so many empty drawers and none of the drawers are filled all the way. I still think we’ll tweak a few more things over time, and a few more drawers need some dividers, but I hope you enjoyed this anyway! Or it at least satisfied some curiosities. ;)  To see the kitchen before and afters, along with all of the sources, check out this post. We’re finally getting our tree up this weekend, follow along on Instagram (@chrislovesjulia) for sneak peeks!

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What do you think?

  1. your kitchen is vert beautiful

  2. its amazing vedios and your kitchen is vert beautiful

  3. I love you guys so much ! Thanks for being such amazing inspiration for so many of us. Would love to know more about the spice jars and the wooden spoons. Thanks so much.

  4. Ling says:

    Hi Julia,
    I love your kitchen! It’s really beautiful and thank you so much for sharing!

    I am looking for a kitchen island now and yours is so pretty with tons of storage, may I ask what’s the dimension and the cost of the island itself?

    Thank you once again!

  5. Desiree says:

    Love the tour!

    Can I ask what size IKEA cabinet is to the left of your stove and what size is the spice rack vs cabinet with kitchen aid. We are just about done planning our kitchen and I am trying to avoid another trip to ikea ;)

  6. Allyson says:

    Hi Julia! Great video, I have watched it like 500 times already trying to plan my own kitchen. What size cabinet did you choose for your kitchen aid mixer? Thanks!

  7. Nat says:

    Hi! I just recently finished my Ikea kitchen reno!! Yours is so beautiful BTW!! So, my husband has been nagging me about our “junk drawer” being ridiculous! I saw your junk drawer in the video is so organized!! Where are all the little separators from for pens, pencils, etc?

  8. Tish says:

    Hi my Kitchen Ikea just arrived today, I was iffy about ordering ikea Kitchen but after this post I was sold. I am also interested on your hardware. Please share ;)

  9. Mari says:

    Hello,

    Your kitchen has truly inspired me. Beautiful job!

    I’m in love with the cabinet pulls. Do you mind sharing where you purchased them from?

    Also, I’d like to get the microwave cabinet, but would prefer not to get an Ikea microwave. Which microwave did you get and was it hard to fit it?

    Thanks, so much!

  10. Ashlen says:

    Where is your cutting board from? I love that it looks built in to the counter, but actually just wraps around the front edge.

  11. Laura says:

    Hi, beautiful kitchen and I LOVE the organization! Just had our kitchen remodeled and the drawers are a mess, just so we could get everything put away. This is inspiring. Can you share the paint color you used in your kitchen? Thanks!

  12. blair says:

    hi…im weary of buying kitchen cabinets and drawers from ikea because i feel things from them that you use everyday don’t last as long as id like. have you had any problems with the drawers?

    • Julia says:

      We have had zero problems with the cabinetry at all. In fact, my mom who has a custom kitchen likes ours better. Ikea kitchens seem to do really well.

  13. Sarah says:

    Would you mind telling me where you found your “nice” silverware? I love the clean lines!

  14. Victoria says:

    Would you mind sharing where you found your countertop cutting board?

  15. Vincent says:

    Hi, quick question for both of you guys, you have mentioned in posts that you are both taller than average so I was wondering if you raised the counters? Standard counters heights naturally don’t take into account people who are taller (or smaller) than average and this can lead to back aches etc it spending a long amount of time in the kitchen. So if you did raise them, what way did you do it and did you have any issues with the ranges and other appliance fitting in? Many thanks in advance.

  16. Marie says:

    Thanks so much for this video. I thoroughly enjoyed it and showed it to my husband. He is totally eyeing the spice jars. How many oz are the jars from Paper Mate. I think he would love them as Christmas gifts. Btw, I absolutely adore the hidden cabinets, corner lazy Susan, and your knives!!!

  17. Jolene says:

    Total kitchen envy over here! But I loved seeing this tour. I had thought I didn’t like the hidden drawer thing on Ikea’s new cabinet line, but you have shown me different! Brilliant use for the garbage bags, and the tupperware lids!

  18. Michelle says:

    My favorite blog post ever. Like of any blog. ORGANIZE ALL THE THINGS!!

  19. Judi says:

    YOU GUYS. I’m a Virgo, so hyper-organized, I’ve been an IKEA fanatic since I was a little girl (uh, more than 40 years ago). And I had a super challenging day and, when I’m challenged, I clean and organize to relax. So… Best. Post. Ever. Thank you for the virtual tour of the new Sektion goodness! I’m pleased to say that even though we were working with icky builder’s cabs, once we painted and reorganized, our kitchen looks (in terms of objects in physical spaces) a lot like yours. (It didn’t hurt that our house’s former owner also likes drawers in lower cabs, rather than deep shelves where things get lost. Great start!) Oh, and our pull-out trash bins? Also Rev-A-Shelf (yeah, I recognized them). Best DIY ever! Congrats on the smart use of your gorgeous space, and thanks for redeeming my day. Enjoy your beautiful space.

  20. ahhhh, you’re so organized. teach me your ways!

  21. cd says:

    What’s the ikea name for those cookie sheet/ tray dividers?

    Also, did you know they make glass inserts for the sides of the deep drawers? The girl told us we should get some, got one set, totally wish I got more! Keeps those deep drawers fully functional – nothing gets stuck when pulled out or pushed in.

    • Julia says:

      Ohh! I didn’t know about the inserts! I’m going to pick up a few next time we’re down that way. I have no idea what the sheet dividers are called. But we found them upstairs in the kitchen section, not in the marketplace.

  22. Meggan S. says:

    First of all I am now motivated to go home and purge all of my superfluous kitchen stuff! :) And second, WOW! Those are some really big cabinets! I think the garbage cans and the corner pull-out for the pots are my favorite features. Love your kitchen!

  23. Ann says:

    How wide is your trash pullout? I’m trying to help a friend with her IKEA kitchen and it has been tough to find 2 tall cans for her 15″ wide cabinet.

    • Julia says:

      We got an 18″ wide cabinet for our trash pullout for that reason.

      • Ellie says:

        This is so not a sexy question but I have to ask! I think you said you got your trash bins from lowes, do you happen to know which ones or do you know the dimensions/height? They are so nice and big while the default ikea ones are so short!

      • Chris says:

        I don’t recall which ones they were but we just went and picked some out that were less than 16in wide but still tall. We did have to cut off an edge on each side so they could overlap tightly, but they work perfect!

  24. Damaris says:

    Thank you for sharing. Nice to see it in “real” life. Great ideas for my future reno.

  25. Emma says:

    So jealous! Our little apartment has one cabinet for food, one for all dishes, and 3 small drawers haha. Practical question – what do you do with your recycling?

    • Julia says:

      Our recycling bin is right off the laundry room (in the garage) so we just toss everything in there. We rarely use canned goods, but get boxes almost daily, so it has been easier for us to cut out any recycling collector middle man.

  26. Hannah says:

    Totally get why you thought it was a weird request, but this was great! Echoing what others have said, I’m planning a remodel, so I love getting ideas from real kitchens. Thanks!

  27. Brooke says:

    I LOVED this! I’m still so thrilled that you guys used ikea cabinets. If you had used a high end cabinet company, I’d just be shaking my head in envy but seeing your ikea kitchen makes a kitchen renovation actually feel POSSIBLE for me!

    Did you consider using the kitchen design services they have? I just feel like you guys thought of every detail and I don’t think I have that in me!!!

    • Julia says:

      We planned everything for about 18 months and edited our plans no less than 6 times. We used Ikea’s online kitchen planner every time, but never a real kitchen designer. I think there is amazing value in using a kitchen designer, but for us, we knew how we envisioned using the kitchen, and where we wanted everything. Although, I will say, when we got to Ikea to actually order and pick up our kitchen cabinets, the man that helped us was so knowledgeable about everything–even that little time we had with him gave us an extra confidence boost!

  28. Kayla says:

    We’re getting ready to do a complete kitchen remodel in January and I LOVED this. I’ve been trying to wrap my head around what cabinets to get and how to organize them and this helps a ton! Thank you!

  29. Linda says:

    Thanks for the tour! You are SO organized! I was curious to see how you used the Ikea drawer organizing options. I put pull-out garbage cans in my newish kitchen and it’s been one of my favorite features.

  30. Very cool! Thanks so much for taking the time do that video for us :)

  31. Bonnie says:

    I guess I’m a bit of a creeper too because I LOVED the video. I love seeing well organized and beautiful spaces and it’s just so amazing/inspiring to see what can all fit in those cabinets! Thanks for sharing!

  32. Heather says:

    Love an organized kitchen. I would move the mixing bowls over near your prep area and move the kitchen linens closer to the dining room table so you don’t have to walk around as much.

    • Julia says:

      We tried the mixing bowls on the other side of the island, but we use them so much it was a pain to empty the dishwasher and walk them all the way over there. “All the way” 10 steps. Hahaha.

  33. Keegan says:

    This kind of stuff makes me happy. It’s weird, I know! But I love seeing well organised spaces that fit everyone’s own individual lifestyle.

  34. Lisa says:

    Great post, actually very helpful I had no idea of how handy the hidden drawers could be!

  35. Nicola says:

    Be honest – does it bother you a little bit that you see the dark brown cabinets when you open the black doors?

    • Julia says:

      I think it would if there was a better alternative. Ikea has white or this dark brown interior. If we had white boxes, we would be able to see slivers of white even when the doors were closed, so this really was the best option. I AM glad that we only have a couple actual cabinets, and we really don’t even open them that often. The drawers are much prettier inside. :)

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