Kata Dobó’s kitchen
A more practical single-wall kitchen replaced the original two-sided layout. The bench beneath the window was retained and turned into a welcoming coffee nook.
The newly available wall became home to Róbert Alföldi’s portrait of Kata Dobó. Its blue and red tones informed the Roman blind, cushions and upholstery, while new wall tiles complement the existing floor.
Detailed project description
Kata Dobó’s kitchen
Remodelling Kata Dobó’s kitchen
Budapest
Interior decoration, kitchen renovation
My friendship with Kata Dobó goes back to Los Angeles. Our friend Kriszti introduced us, and after I too moved home from Los Angeles, our friendship grew even closer in Hungary. I designed the kitchen just before the 2020 lockdowns, but the virus unfortunately put the plans on hold for a while. As the situation eased and it became easier to get around, we began the renovation. In the old layout, furniture stood on both sides, but did not run the full length of the room. This left a rather narrow space between the two rows, and a single-wall layout proved clearly more practical.
There is a window at the end of the room with a sill below worktop height. This meant that neither the base nor the wall units could run all the way along, as the upper units would have blocked some of the incoming light. There had already been a small bench in the corner beneath the window, and I thought this seating area could become a very inviting little coffee corner.
The floor finish was already in place, and we purchased wall tiles that matched it perfectly in colour and style from the range at Benedikt Trade Kft.
Kata owned a wonderful but rather large painting that had not yet found a place in the apartment, and she also asked me to incorporate it somewhere. The single-wall kitchen layout freed up one wall entirely, providing the perfect location for the painting. It is a portrait of Kata by Róbert Alföldi, featuring beautiful shades of blue and red. I drew inspiration from these colours when choosing the accessories. The Roman blind, the cushions on the bench and the upholstery of the small chairs create a harmonious overall effect with the painting’s colours. I am very pleased that Kata Dobó’s apartment has had a little refresh, and I am already working on new plans for its other rooms.