I’m super excited today to finally share my new kitchen with you! I’m so sorry it took us forever to complete making the kitchen tour video. It was hard to find time to edit and film additional footage for the video on top of our regular recipe production, but we finally managed to finish it!
For those of you who requested my kitchen tour video, thank you so much for your interest! Many of you asked me to open all the cabinets, so I really did! 🙂
If you’re fairly new to my blog, I had my kitchen and its surrounding area of the house renovated this past summer when we were in Japan for two months. When we came back, it was supposed to be finished or close to finish, but due to the complications with the structural support for the house, the renovation extended another 2 months.
Before I give you a tour of my kitchen, I will share a little bit about the story behind my kitchen renovation.
Previous Just One Cookbook Kitchen
Here’s the fun part. Most of you probably didn’t know what our old kitchen looked like because all of our videos only focused on my hands and the cutting board area. So let me show you…
Outdated kitchen with old cabinets
Our house was built in 1976 and the cabinets were close to 40 years old. We did update the counter top and some of the appliances several years ago, but that was pretty much the only change we made for the kitchen since we moved in 8 years ago.
Kitchen with no window
As you could see in the photos, the kitchen has absolutely no window. The closest window (the one you see above) is the sliding door in our breakfast nook. Because the kitchen itself has no window, it was always dark and the lights were always turned on even during daytime.
Not enough storage and counter space
There was a pantry on the left side that is not shown in above picture, but what you see is pretty much all the space I had in the kitchen. Because of the lack of storage space, I used to have shelves in our living room and family room where I keep extra plates, pots, and props for photo shoots.
Since we started making videos, we also realized we didn’t have enough space for me to cook and for Mr. JOC to place his camera equipment and lights for filming.
Solution to the problems
To make better videos, we needed a kitchen island with range top facing toward the camera, and a large space around the kitchen island for prepping.
To create the space, we decided to knock down the fireplace that was in the family room. This fireplace had divided the family room from the kitchen and laundry area.
Here’s what it looked like after the wall was removed.
Where did the fireplace go? We actually used it to vent our range hood. We still don’t have any windows to get natural light in the kitchen, so we decided to go with the white color theme kitchen to bring out the brightness. In addition, we used the glass cabinets to make it more airy.
We combined the space of the old laundry room, kitchen, and breakfast nook to create a long kitchen. By removing the fireplace wall, we can place the kitchen island facing toward the family room. This way Mr. JOC can set up his camera equipment in the family room area.
If you are interested in some construction photos, check my Instagram #JOCremodel.
The Kitchen Tour!
Ready to look around in my kitchen? If you have any specific question, please leave a comment on my YouTube video and check out the description box below the video for additional information. Now come on in!
Congratulations, Nami, on your new kitchen! The tour gave me a few ideas for my own kitchen. I just bought a condo and the kitchen really needs work and I want to do a few of the things you did, in my place.
Hi Phil! Thank you so much! I’m so happy to hear that you like some of my kitchen ideas! Congratulations on your condo! It’s fun to make a new place “your home”. Good luck! 🙂
Wow! The well- organized kitchen is very impressive. Thanks for sharing the video of your kitchen tour.
Hi Denise! Thanks so much for watching my video and for your kind words!
Your new kitchen is amazing! I’m so happy to finally see the before and after photos and thank you so much for going into detail and showing us how and where you store everything. The self-closing roll-out shelves are the best, aren’t they? It also looks like you got a new toaster oven from when you took the shots and the video. I have my Asian dishes and food organized separately in my pantry and cabinets too. 🙂 I wish I could have as large a collection as you. I’m sorry there was such a long construction delay; it’s very frustrating but now you’ve got a great kitchen! Thank you for sharing it with us!
Hi Mai! Thank you so much! I’m glad to hear you enjoyed the video! Yes, the pull-out drawers are nice (and cheaper than regular drawers)! You noticed the toaster oven! That is for video only toaster oven (shining right? :D). I usually use the old one for my regular cooking since I’m too lazy to make it spotless. My kitchen pantry can improve better… it looks like I just stuffed everything in there… (which is true). I’m glad we can finally make more videos. I felt so bad to be away from YouTube for more than 1 month! Thanks again, Mai!
Your new kitchen looks fantastic! I hope you will enjoy it a lot and cook more great food to share on your blog! I wish I had it so structured in my kitchen, too, though I´m trying to keep all the stuff at right place…
I love your tiny little green tamagoyaki pan!
Hi Genus! I love that T-fal tamagoyaki pan! 🙂 Thanks so much for your kind words about my kitchen. Yes, I hope to share recipe videos in the future! Organizing is my favorite thing to do, but I struggled to store everything in my old kitchen. 😀
Hi Nami,
Your kitchen looks wonderful!
How do you clean the bamboo steamer?
Hi Lu! Thank you so much! I rinse it with brush and air dry on the counter space before storing inside the cabinets. Here it’s very dry (in California), so I don’t have too much problem with mold etc. Hope my answer helped… 🙂
All I can say is WOW!!!!! Your kitchen is GORGEOUS, Nami! I really loved all the drawers and cabinets… ahhh… I wish I had that much storage. I know you must love your kitchen to bits!! I certainly would! 🙂 I love the cabinet with all the Japanese crockery… they are all so small and delicate. I would open that cabinet and just stare at it at least once a day. 🙂
Enjoy your new kitchen and keep making those fabulous videos!! You and your husband make a fantastic team! 🙂
Thanks so much for your sweet words, Ramona! The old kitchen was small for what we wanted, so we had to combine rooms. 🙂 The kitchen cabinet company even confirmed if we really wanted this much space. I said YES! 😀 You and I have same issue with all the kitchen stuff AND props… I have too many single and mismatch plates and bowls to store. 😉 Thanks for checking out my kitchen!
The jarring car video has a bit off-putting but after I got rid of it by leaving and then returning to the blog I did get to see a bit of your new kitchen. Very nice.
Thank you for checking it out! 🙂
What a dream kitchen! You certainly deserve it. Some say that the people with the fanciest kitchens cook the least. It’s wonderful to see someone with a fancy kitchen cooking such beautiful things and sharing them with the world!
Hi Saskia! Haha yeah I’ve heard of it too. Unfortunately I have to work and my workplace happened to be in the kitchen. 😀 Thank you for your sweet words about my kitchen and my work. xoxo
Hi Nami, with great pleasure I followed your video about the new kitchen. If I say what I should say you might think that this a compliment or exaggeration.
In addition to your tasty recipes your kitchen is : fully equipped , organized, neat, clean, organized , and every corner says that you added to the equipment your artistic touch . Your recipes are mouthwatering , and your kitchen is inviting and must be part of the education for many schools.
I am pleased to share your video on your Board on my Pinteresst, Facebook and Twitter.
good day and happy cooking
zouhair
Hi Zouhair! Thank you for your kind words and I’m glad to hear you liked the video. Thanks for sharing it on your social platforms! xo
WOW!! What a lovely kitchen and it must be so nice to have a dedicated space for every type of kitchen equipment! You have given me some great ideas for my next kitchen (although here in Singapore, the kitchens are really tiny in the apartments… would be so impossible to have an island). Looking forward to more good stuff from your sparkling kitchen. And oh, pls let Mr JOC know he did a fantastic job with the video tour!
Hi Shirley! Thank you! I really wanted to hide everything inside the cabinets. I know, Japan is the same. My mom’s kitchen is very small too, but it’s just a regular size kitchen. American kitchen is bigger, but the size of tools and gadgets are huge too! I passed your message to Mr. JOC and he said thank you and hello to you. 🙂
I’ve just seen your kitchen tour video:
The kitchen is extremely impressive. I like the layout of the hubs, the cabin and shelf space and how you have arranged your utensils around the kitchen according to their usage to you. I particular like the movable shelfs in the cabins so there’s more space for your things.
I’m keeping the link to your video as a reference. It is very informative and gives interesting considerations a person can take for their kitchen – who knows when this may be useful to me! 😉
Thank you for this kitchen tour video!
Hi Leo! Thank you for your kind words! Yes, the pull out drawers can maximize the space vertically and horizontally (if you know what I mean…). I didn’t want to waste any space inside the cabinets, so glad we got them. Thank you so much for watching the video! 🙂
Nami, your kitchen looks terrific, andd now you have a lot of space!!
Thank you for checking out my kitchen, Nydia! xoxo
Oh Namiko-san, you have left me totally breathless at this late evening hour .. . . it was worth it to wait for this kitchen methinks . . . and you must be the most organized person I know. Out of all these cupboards and drawers tho’ I do not think you will be surprised when I tell you that my favourites are all those with the Japanese bowls, cups and other dishes . . . and I used to collect chopstick rests also . . . thank you for the tour – now I’ll go to bed and dream that even if on a smaller scale I shall redo my kitchen also learning from you . . . enjoy 🙂 !
Oh Eha, you’re always too kind! Thank you for your sweet words. Thank you for watching the video. I love organizing things (Even my son’s lego collection was organized by colors by me! I think I’m crazy). You must have a wonderful collection of chopstick rests!
Hi Nami,
Thanks for sharing your kitchen with us. WOW! It is truly brilliant and I’m sure the painful memories of the long fitting are far distant now as you have fun in your new domain ????
Thanks again
Simon
Thank you so much, Simon! We have a lot more flexibility in shooting a video in the new kitchen. Hopefully we can make better quality videos. 🙂 Thank you for writing!
Nami san, Wow, what a beautiful kitchen….. you will really enjoy cooking in it for JOC! Thanks for the video and showing us your kitchen!
Hi Randy! Thank you very much for your kind words! I hope you enjoyed the tour of my kitchen. 🙂