Tuğçe Saricaoğlu – Practical kitchen in the holiday home

December 23KitchenLifestyle, Quality, Design
The Turkish influencer Tuğçe Saricaoğlu, known for her video tutorials, lives in Izmir on the Mediterranean coast. In her summer home with a direct view of the sea, the trained landscape architect renovated her kitchen and designed a wardrobe for her daughter Ada. For the furniture, she relied on products from Blum.

Renovations made easy

"For me, the kitchen is the heart of the home. I make all my decisions in the kitchen," says Tuğçe. The 29-year-old likes to get inspiration for new projects in her holiday home. Her old kitchen was neither practical nor beautiful, and yet it was the centre of the summer residence. "Since we spend a lot of time here on the Aegean coast during the warmer months, I wanted to update everything before the birth of my daughter Ada," says the YouTuber. In her DIY videos the popular Turkish influencer doesn't hesitate and gets properly stuck in – and the same is true for the renovation.

Located immediately inside the entrance, Tuğçe's kitchen with pigeon blue units is the heart of her summer home.

Design follows function

Since the front door opens onto the kitchen, it was important to Tuğce that everything is in its place and looks neat and tidy. Both her parents and Tuğçe's brother and his family often come to visit, so she had to draw on clever solutions to create the necessary storage space. A larder unit in the middle of the kitchen replaces a conventional pantry and gives her lots of storage in a small area.

Since Tuğçe likes to bake, she stored the food processor on a pull-out shelf with lock-open stop in an appliance garage.

More space, more organisation

In addition, the order-loving influencer is a fan of the narrow cabinet solution: "This helps me to organise my bottles, because it's very important to me that everything is at hand when I reach for it," explains Tuğçe.

But her favourite aid is the : "When I was little, I dreamed a lot and imagined things that didn't exist. That's exactly what this solution is, except I don't have to imagine it because it's right here in my kitchen. I love that the space in the plinth, which is usually wasted, can be used functionally," she enthuses.

Tuğçe also uses small, practical aids from Blum such as the foil dispenser. Thanks to the inner drawers, all her herbs and spices and open packs of food are organised and always within easy reach.

Thanks to the SPACE TWIN narrow cabinet, Tuğçe was able to turn even this small space into storage.

Tuğçe uses drawers to keep all her herbs and spices neatly organised so she has a clear view of all ingredients inside.

With the foil dispenser, there's no looking for the end of the foil any more – Tuğçe can simply pull out a smooth piece of foil and cut the edge without ripping it.

SPACE STEP is truly a dream solution for Tuğçe, as she can easily reach even the very top of her cabinets.

Bespoke designed wardrobe

The city of Izmir, with over 4 million inhabitants, where she lives full time, is not far away, but it is important to Tuğçe that her daughter Ada feels comfortable in her room in the holiday home as well. She carefully designed the room before Ada was even born. She designed the "wardrobe of her dreams" and exchanged ideas with her Blum contact partner Belgin Acınar. The goal was to create a practical wardrobe that her child could also play with.

Chic on the outside...

... space a-plenty inside

She also didn't want the wardrobe to take up too much space in the room: "I preferred lots of drawers because they are more practical than shelves," says Tuğçe. was used here and the creative DIY enthusiast divided the hanging area into two compartments: as the baby clothes are tiny, they fit perfectly right now. However, when Ada grows and her clothes get bigger, Tuğçe will remove the shelf in between, giving more practical storage space. This means the wardrobe can be used for longer.

In order to make the holiday home with a dreamy garden and view of the sea even more homely, the influencer's next goal is to organise and convert the utility room using clever solutions from Blum.

Cook like Tuğçe

After she gave us a glimpse into her summer home and her kitchen, we wanted to know Tuğçe's favourite Turkish dish: "I can't decide, there are so many delicious dishes, but I love 'lahana sarması'. The preparation is very time-consuming, but enjoying it with family and friends makes the effort worth it." For all those who are curious, here is the recipe to try at home.

Lahana sarması are cabbage leaves stuffed with meat and rice.

All advantages at a glance

  • Sufficient storage space and easy access with SPACE TOWER

  • Top shelves within easier reach thanks to SPACE STEP

  • Narrow cabinets with SPACE TWIN

  • Clever solutions such as a foil dispenser and spice holder

  • Appliance garage with pull-out shelf lock

  • TANDEMBOX drawers for better access

  • Soft closing action with BLUMOTION

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