Welcome to My Pinterest-Inspired Hamburg Küche (Kitchen)
Ohhhh my goodness, I can’t wait to do a proper home tour with y’all, when I’m finished furnishing my new flat… in 75 years. But for now, let’s start with my absolute favorite project, which is in good enough shape to share with the four people dying to know what my Hamburg apartment looks like beyond the snippets of my Instagram stories.
Welcome to my Hamburg Kitchen!
Growing up in a small town in Maryland, the kitchen was the heart of our house; The place where I’d sling down my giant lacrosse bag, post-practice, saunter into the pantry, grab the Costco-sized bag of Stacy’s pita chips, and plop down at the kitchen island to do my homework, while my mom prepared some incredible dinner which I never fully appreciated.
Eventually, my sisters and I would be recruited with the all-too-familiar “GIRLS! Make a salad” being shouted throughout the house. We’d slowly assemble and half-heartedly wash, chop, and toss in whatever veggies required the least amount of prep. (Ok, my oldest sister Laurel definitely put in more effort. Credit where credit is due.) Somehow, with four daughters (did you know there were four of us?) and wildly different practice, game, and rehearsal schedules, my mom managed to get us all around the dinner table almost every night of the week, and with a salad to boot!
Our long, antique farm table is where we’d discuss what Diane Sawyer relayed in the news, look at dreamy houses in the real estate section of the Wall Street Journal on Sundays after church, and work on paper mache projects for school.
Our big, open kitchen is where we toasted to my sister Laurel’s engagement, introduced a collection of boyfriends to relatives at Thanksgiving (ok, that was mainly Abby and I…), and mapped out plans for the future with a strong espresso in hand, and the supportive advice of my mom and dad. When I think of my childhood, and home in general, I think of the kitchen.
So imagine my disappointment when I first started looking at apartments in Germany and found a common thread: The kitchens in German apartments are all tiny little afterthoughts, shoved into a corner and closed off with a door. Of course, there are exceptions with more modern buildings, but for the most part, German buildings follow a super practical layout of having the cooking area in one small nook, and the living and dining room in a completely separate space, shut off with doors. It’s practical. I get it. It makes perfect sense. But as a person who associates “home” with “kitchen”, I was struggling to feel connected to a place, when I was in the marathon of trying to find an apartment in Hamburg. With mounting time pressure, and an incredibly competitive rental market, I was not in a position to be picky, so I was wrapping my brain around the fact that elf-sized refrigerators can be fine (Seriously. some of these things are TINY) and living alone means they’ll never be too many people vying for space in the kitchen, anyways!
Well, imagine my sheer and utter delight, when I first laid eyes on what would become my top-floor flat in Hamburg and stepped foot into a sun-filled kitchen/dining/living room COMBO! We’re talking open floor plan of my little-apartment dreams! I literally looked at the former tenant and told her then and there that I would send the deposit that day. It felt like home. (And I didn’t even live there…lol.)
So without further ado, I thought I would share with you some of my favorite finds for my European kitchen, both new and used, that have made this flat feel like my home. It’s still a work in progress, but these gadgets, gizmos, and DIY upgrades have helped me host socially-distanced dinners, dates, and baking marathons in a place that feels so gloriously “mine.”
DIY Upgrades:
Cabinet Handles
Subway Tile (ish) Backsplash
When I first moved in, I couldn’t decide how I felt about the mint green cabinets. But they weren’t going anywhere, so I decided to spruce up the bells and whistles and help them make a statement. The easiest thing I did was replace the cabinet handles with some rustic black ones I found on Amazon. Affordable. Easy. Pretty.
After the cabinet handles I was on a roll of Pinterest-inspired ideas, but struggling to find upgrades that were rental friendly.
Enter stick-on tiles.
These super thick, heavy-duty sticker tiles are an amazing invention for apartments, if you ask me, and can be applied quickly and pain-free. I’m absolutely over-the-moon with these subway “tiles” and I think they brought a new life to this little kitchen of mine.
The Big Kids:
Something I still find so funny about Hamburg apartments is that many of them don’t come with a kitchen. Seriously. If you’re trying to find a flat here, finding one with the kitchen (aka Einbauküche) is like getting Willy Wonka’s golden ticket. Luckily, I got a ticket ;)
But that being said, there were still some major storage issues facing me in this small kitchen, so the first thing I did was buy a rolling kitchen cart/island and a small cabinet with gold accents, which now doubles as my coffee station. Both of these pieces totally upped my storage game and added a bit of flair to the overall design of this linear space. The wooden cart linked above is the one thing in my kitchen that visitors always comment on, as we stand around it sipping wine. And yes, I am that American who then discloses I got it on Amazon and it’s a total steal. (Why do we do this?)
*Full disclosure: I typically like to buy things secondhand and find more sustainable options for furnishing a place. But with these items, in particular, it was impossible for me to transport them so I bought them new. For smaller items, eBay Kleinanzeigen is my best friend*
Speaking of which, let’s talk about my thrifted kitchen favorites…
My eBay Kleinanzeigen finds:
The rose gold fruit bowl in the first pic above, from Westwing (one of my favorite keywords to search for hidden gems on eBay kleinanzeigen is “westwing”)
My grey dishes: I picked up the entire set from a lovely lady in Ottensen who was replacing her set with the newer edition. I think I paid a grand total of 20 euros. #Proud.
My skandi-inspired, white, ceramic coffee mugs. I love sipping my coffee each morning form these sweet little white mugs (another Westwing find)
A few honorable mentions for my kitchen cuties list are the mint green coffee thermos I scored from a classic German brand, Rotpunkt, the high-tech milk frother from my mom (thanks mom! I love this lil’ guy), and the vinyl herringbone mat I found from a small shop on Etsy.
But at the end of the day, while all of these gifts and gadgets are lovely and wonderful, they’re just things. What I feel most proud of, at the end of each grey, Hamburg day, is the collection of memories I’m starting to build in my very own home, just like the ones from my childhood, but with a slightly German twist ;) In the midst of a pandemic, I’ve managed to have a mini Christmas with homemade vegetarian treats, roll sushi while chatting about boy drama with my best friends, and plan out my dreams and career goals, with the help of the traditional German “coffee and cake” and the advice of some fierce, female mentors. All in this one magical, mint-green space.
So while I’m still dying to have a housewarming party and envelop myself in a room of the warm faces and souls I feel so lucky to call “my people” in Hamburg, for now, this cozy kitchen space and my Sunday morning coffee bring me right back to those lazy Sundays after church, perched at the kitchen island reading the Wall Street Journal with my parents. And now, I can skip right over the fancy real estate section.
I’ve got my own little dream in the sky.