Small Brick Kitchen for Traditional, Wooden Croatian House.
My name is Pavle Loncar. My family in Zagreb wanted to improve our beautiful, traditional, wooden house located on our property. House was built in 1841 and was preserved in past with original construction and some improvements.
Kitchen was primitive in that time so small kitchen element has been added in past. By my opinion it needed something new but built traditionally, not modern or fancy.
I used old bricks removed from demolished barn, with Ikea wooden counter, sink and electric plate.
Real challenge was to incorporate counter for dining as there was not enough space for table with chairs.
Kitchen was primitive in that time so small kitchen element has been added in past. By my opinion it needed something new but built traditionally, not modern or fancy.
I used old bricks removed from demolished barn, with Ikea wooden counter, sink and electric plate.
Real challenge was to incorporate counter for dining as there was not enough space for table with chairs.
Traditional Croatian wooden house in Zagreb, built in 1841 and preserved in original construction.
Existing kitchen element.
Idea was to make small kitchen from old bricks, together with counter for dining due to small space. Also, floor would need new tiles.
First time I worked with bricks so it was a challenge.
Help from my daughter Antonela.
Arch is done, now to incorporate base for sink and electric plate.
Brick work is done.
Sink and plate in place with Ikea kitchen counter.
Start with floor tiling.
Lot's of tile cutting.
Finalised, with all details.
Resources for this project:

IMUSA USA GAU-80306 Electric Double Burner 1500-Watts , Black
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2 of 349 comments
- Janie Goodrichon Apr 9, 2018
You did a beautiful job, I love it😊
- Sibyl Danielson Apr 26, 2018
The job you did was outstanding and the outside reminded me of something out of a fairy tale. You are so lucky to own the cottage and are preserving it. By the way, your daughter is beautiful.
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Have there been any problems having the electric cook top so close to the water faucet? You have certainly made the most of a very small but pleasant area. Charming.
@Judyms9 Thank you Judy for your comments. As place was so small I was worried as well if this would be the best solution. I was considering other options as well and I came up with this one as best possible. Sink is deep enough to keep the water from splashing to electric cook but certainly you need to be careful with that. Happy holidays from Croatia!!
@Pavle Loncar The best of the season to you and to all, and good luck with all of your future home projects because our little homes are the worlds we make for ourselves within our larger world.
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Loved that you kept it simple. You have Ikea?
@Tricia Hi Tricia, Ikea originated in Sweden so the stores were all over Europe before they came here. :)
@Tricia Thank you Tricia, just love simple and basic look and certainly Ikea fits there with some of their solutions. Happy Holidays from Croatia!
@Tricia See all location worlwide https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_with_IKEA_stores
IKEA opened in Zagreb in 2014
Are planning additional projects in this historic house? We all would love to see your projects.
His last name wasn't shortened. A lot of Croatian last names originate from the name of the trade people were living from. Lončar means Potter in Croatian. Lončarić (original spelling of your mother's maiden name) is simply a diminutive of ''Lončar'' and was originally refering to Potter's child. Later it became a separate last name. Hope this clarified things a little bit.
I knew that! My name too is Loncarevic (no h ) also, my dad, who was orphaned here in the US, knew his family came from Zagreb!!! It is a small world after all :)
Nice job by the way and I love the exterior of the house - idyllic!
Small world indeed, Lisa. :-) I wanted to add one thing regarding ''no h'' you metioned in your comment. When Croats moved in English speaking areas, letter ''h'' was usually added to make the pronounciation as similar as possible to the original one because Croatian alphabet is somewhat different than English one and has 30 letters. Namely, ''č'' and ''ć'' are not accents on the letter c but separate letters. Letter ''č'' is pronounced similar to ''ch'' only harder and English has nothing that can mimic the letter ''ć'' which is closest to pronounciation of ''kj'' in Norwegian name Kjetil. This is why there is so many variations of Croatian names originally containig those two letters.
Great job, just one question I am thinking that the bricks are pretty heavy, did you have to support the bottom of the floor at all?
BEAUTIFUL!! But do you have any concerns with the electric burners so close to the sink? it reminds me of a unit I saw in a salvage yard here in Virginia in 2016
In Europe it is very common to have electric stove/ sink units all in one. In fact they are sold in one cabinet units! And only 2 burners. Crazy for us but I guess they're more careful...?
Perfect for a tiny house!! The brickwork fits well with the style of the house. I would never need more than 2 burners..so good use of space!
Very nice job.lovely small space.some people are spoiled.be well
That's so creative and perfect for your house! My dad was a bricklayer and he would have been impressed!
You did a beautiful job! Thx for sharing. I had just seen this sink/range/fridge unit for the first time a week ago here in US at a Habitat restore! I am glad to see how they are used in Europe!
Great idea, fits perfectly with your wonderful old house. It's very interesting to see how the rest of the world does remodeling. Keep posting.
Pavle this is now 3 1/2 years later, have you done any more to the house? This is adorable! Love the house very much!