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Outdated kitchen with old cabinets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!
Love your new kitchen! Great video — love the tour. I know this took a lot longer than you expected, but it’s totally worth it — your kitchen is gorgeous! And SO functional.
Thank you so much for watching my video, John! Yeah we can all forget about it when it’s over… so glad to have my kitchen back! 🙂 Thank you for your kind words!
wow, it’s an amazing kitchen Nami..i’ve been waiting for your kitchen tour, thanks for sharing it.
Hi Safitri! I’m so sorry it took us forever. We always thought about finishing it up, but recipe videos have priority and this video didn’t make it…. Glad we finished it finally! Thank you for waiting for this video! Hope you enjoyed it!
it’s a great kitchen and great video, Nami..thank you ^^
It’s stunning, Nami. Thank you for the tour. I love how organised it is and how you have a place for everything. What a great idea to remove the fireplace to open up the room. And even without a window it’s so light and bright – and without a window you have more room for cupboards! xx
Thank you Charlie! I enjoy organizing and wish I have more time… I could spend days thinking about how I can organize things. How’s your project coming along? I can’t wait to see when it’s done! 🙂
Very nice & well organized- thanks for sharing ????
Love your Japanese tableware collection
Thank you so much for your kind words, Hanna! 🙂
Your new kitchen looks gorgeous! I’m sure being in this kitchen will inspire you to cook even more 🙂 And you are so organized!
Hi Melanie! Thank you so much! Actually yes, having extra counter space really inspired me to cook more. I love organizing things.. a bit too much. 🙂
Wow! What a beautiful kitchen! Thank you so much for giving us a tour. Now I know what my dream kitchen would look like.
Thank you so much Julie! Glad to hear you enjoyed the tour. Thanks for watching my video! 🙂
You’re so cute Nami! So glad to see your kitchen (eventually haha). I’ll always support you and look forward your recipes.
Oh BTW, I’ll be traveling to Japan soon, is there a good mocha powder you’d recommend me to bring from Japan.
Thanks & always love you!
Hi Sofie! Ahh I wish I didn’t have to be in the video and speak, but I think it’s too late. xD Thank you for your support for my blog!
About matcha, I don’t buy from Japan, but this is my favorite tea store.
http://shop.ippodo-tea.co.jp/kyoto/shopf/index.html
I hope you have a wonderful trip to Japan! And thank you, and love back to you! xoxo
Dear Nami!!
THANKS FOR SUCH A WONDERFUL KITCHEN TOUR!! ❤️❤️ I love your kitchen and enjoy your video to bits!!! Your kitchen has now become my dream kitchen!! Appreciates you opening every drawer and cabinets to show us what’s inside, and how to best maximize storage space! I’m looking forward to designing my own kitchen now 🙂 haha THANK YOU FOR A JOB WELL DONE!! Looking forward to more of your videos and recipes!!
Hi Christina! Aww thank you so much for your kind words! Haha yes, I was very worried that this video will be super long but I promised to open all cabinets so I just had to! 😀 Hope I didn’t bore everyone. Looking forward to sharing more recipes! 🙂
I never liked white kitchen but I’m now and I’ll have a white kitchen when I can. I love roomy kitchen and built in pantry……It’s so good to have it.
I’m so happy for you!
I’ll show you my mother in law apartment soon as I can.
We already hang the top cabinet and almost finish the bamboo floor too.
Hi Junghee! I was very worried about the white kitchen too… but so far so good. Plus, my kids are not that small anymore, so damages are less. 🙂 Good luck with your MIL’s apartment! Looking forward to seeing it!
OMG. That’s all I can think of to say because my jaw has fallen to the floor! This looks amazing!!! No wonder the construction took so long! Congratulations! You deserve this! Did you hire someone to help you organize the kitchen or did you do it yourself? Like deciding what goes where? And where did you get the drawer dividers? I’m in awe that your drawers and cabinets are so neat – I’m ashamed to show anyone my cabinets. And I’m happy to see that you have divided your cooking utensils into several drawers. I think that’s what I need to do. Just beautiful!
You’re too kind, Laura! Thank you for your sweet words about my kitchen. The foundation took a long time as we removed the wall and until they opened up the crawling space, they didn’t know some stuff…. I was so tired of eating out. 🙂
I did organize the kitchen myself, and organizing is my favorite thing to do! I can be carried away when I start organizing… I already moved things around a few times to see where to store things. And the drawer dividers – that’s from Costco and Bed Bath Beyond (Costco is of course better deal). I am not sure if Costco still carries it now (with holiday stuff in stock). Dividers help us maintain the location of utensils… 🙂 I didn’t have enough drawers before, so I had trouble closing my drawers because it was packed with utensils. LOL. Thank you for watching my video! Hope all is well with you and your family! xo
Congratulations for your new kitchen Nami! It looks absolutely stunning! I love the bright and clean color of your new kitchen. The lighting in the kitchen is always a problem, but I’m so glad to hear you found a good solution. Hope you have a wonderful week 🙂
Thanks so much Maggie! I wish I can get natural light in our kitchen, but it wasn’t possible (I even thought of converting our high ceiling living room to be the kitchen LOL). With the lights, we can still work in this window-less kitchen (like studio). 🙂 Hope you had a wonderful first Thanksgiving in the US! xo
Thank you so much for sharing your new kitchen, Nami! What a huge project it must have been but it turned out so beautifully! I don’t think I would ever leave the space. I love the white color scheme, making it so bright and cheerful. I adore that cooking island with all that storage – so, so much wonderful storage! It would be awesome to be so organized with everything at your fingertips. Enjoy the kitchen…I’m sure it is just perfect for holiday cooking/baking!
Thank you Monica! I realized that having extra counter space really motivates me to test more recipes (including more baking recipes). Mr. JOC wasn’t sure about white kitchen (as we use it often), but without any window in the kitchen space, white color scheme seemed like the only choice. 🙂 I’ll browse your blog for dessert recipes this holiday season!
Thank you for inviting us to your gorgeous kitchen!! It is absolutely beautiful, and I hope you are enjoying all of the counter space. 🙂 I’m in love with the pull-out drawers behind the cabinet doors—such a smart way to eliminate digging around for those items that hide in the back of the cabinet.
Hi Kimmi! Yes, I’m enjoying all the counter space! When we’re filming, all the stuff is on the counter space BUT I still have a cooking space! It saves us so much time by not cleaning up until we’re done with shooting. And yeah, pull out drawers really maximize the cabinet space! Thank you Kimmi!
After I did find your webside You allways bring something new to my life.
I love Your recepies and now also your kitchen …. We just did move to our apartment and the kitchen is everithing but not handy :_D … but I will have to wait to make it look more usefull 🙂
I cant wait the time my kitchen is going to look at last half as beautiful as yours 🙂
Hi Andrea! I’m glad to hear you enjoy my blog and thanks so much for watching this video! It’s good to start collecting all the ideas you have or wish to have for your future update. If we didn’t start our youtube channel, we probably didn’t remodel our kitchen, at least not this extent. LOL. 😀 Thank you again!
Magnificent kitchen… Certainly worth the wait…
Thank you for the tour…:O)
Hi Ross! Aww thanks so much for waiting! Thank you for watching. 🙂 xo