I love kitchens. I love seeing how they're laid out, how people who inhabit them have changed them, and learning about people from "peeking" in their kitchens.

I've met people who seem lovely and wonderful on the surface, but their kitchens (while lovely) are full of artificial sweeteners, boxes of mixes, and empty of fresh, filling food. I've met quiet, timid people whose kitchens are havens of great wine or cheese or desserts. I think your kitchen (and what you choose to do with it) says a lot about you.

What does yours say? Give your fridge a voice, or maybe your pantry. Do the countertops have a really funny story about how that weird stain got there? Would the floor talk about the generations that have run across it, or how excited it is to be brand new? Is it the kitchen of an open heart? A shy gourmand? An outgoing dog-lover?

The kitchen in our house has floors from 1942, of oak hardwood. I'm entranced by the floors. Someone had them covered in crappy linoleum, and since we took that off, the whole house feels more open, more able to breathe. When we moved in, the walls were thick with that clingy cigarette residue and years of frying grease. They're clean now, and the color of vanilla ice cream.

The parts of me in the kitchen are evident...out in the open, there is order and symmetry. Some of the cabinets, though, still need a lot of work to get organized. Everything is in easy reach (and the cabinets are about 2 inches lower than normal because I'm short). Things I use are out and visible, and as a person, I don't see a need to hide the obvious. There's always something available to eat, usually pears or grapes, and always a good cheese in the fridge (and over 40 wines available, you know, just in case we have 100 people over unexpectedly).

I want people to not feel afraid to lean on my counter (or hop up and sit on it), to grab a whisk and help cook, or throw dishes in the dishwasher.


Your turn. What's your kitchen say about you and the other people who have used/are using it?

quote:

Originally posted by p7eggyc:
Susan, you and super hubby did a great job too! I do love an island with seating and I really like those long thin handles on the cabinets!

Thanks, Peg. That was one of the other features I had to dig in my heels over, but I'm so glad I did. The pulls make such a difference.

And to Mary Jo, the red, white and blue thing you can see on the counter on the left is DS's double-decker bus toy. That was the beginning of his encroachment on all rooms in the house. If I took the same photo today, there would be an art project, a homework journal, and a toy or two visible somewhere in the room.

I loved reading all your kitchen stories. DH and I marvel at the way homes in our area are built or remodeled to include huge, over-the-top kitchens for people we are CERTAIN never, ever cook.

Love seeing all of the kitchens. I'm in house hunter mode so it is fun to think about what I'd like to have. Brie...needless to say, it's spectacular! What a wonderful place for you to spend your time in. Susan, you and super hubby did a great job too! I do love an island with seating and I really like those long thin handles on the cabinets! Denise, your countertops are really nice and not so expensive. Going to have to take a look at that if my new house's kitchen isn't all I ever dreamed of!

I don't know what my kitchen says. It is a nice size and I like it a lot better since I painted it but it needs a new sink, a new stove, new floors. This house has never been my favorite and I have to say now that I decided to move, for the first time, I don't think I'll be sad to leave a house I'm moving out of.

Peg

quote:

Originally posted by Tayhudson:

We have over 50 bottles of wine. HOWEVER, they are not in our kitchen. They are in our master bathroom linin closet!!!

I know that sounds absolutely crazy, but...it has the most constant temperature in the house, and it is always cool. Our bathroom has vaulted ceilings, so it never gets hot in there like most bathrooms. (I will NEVER have a house with vaulted ceilings in the bathroom again. GREAT for storing wine, but not for showering. BRRRRRR)

Dawn

I saw this on an episode of Mission Organization already. The home owner (NY apt, I think) sold wine out of her home and stored it in her bedroom. Dawn! You are not alone!

quote:

Originally posted by cobismom:
My kitchen says "I am an old home, I've served my owners well, now give me a break". My house was built in 1902 as a parsonage for the Catholic Church across the street. .

Oh! My! Gosh! Cathy! Our home was built in 1876. Although not built originally for, it became, for many years, the parsonage for the AME church 2 blocks away.

The pictures that I have seen are all beautiful and could make me envious.

Our kitchen would say "Work in Progress" (just like me). Although the house was built in 1876, the kitchen was added many years later. It was not done well. And, maybe it was done while it was a parsonage because there was remarkably little storage - the pastor must have been invited out all the time!

First, there was no heat in the kitchen. It was only warmed by the convection from the rest of the house. Bill bought a baseboard unit for a very good price at an auction 2 years ago. He tied it in to the GFA furnace - they run simultaneously. (He can do/fix anything).

The west wall is probably about 12' long. This is the wall that has the white double sink centered between two squares of counter and the stove/oven abuts the northern most edge - I stand facing the same direction at the sink and the stove. The storage in this section is only the under the sink area and 4 drawers between the under sink and the stove. Above is (from left to right) a 3 shelf unit, a 2, a skinny 3 and another 2.

If you change from facing the sink, to turning to your left (the stove is now behind you) you will be looking out the window over the backyard (nothing special). When we moved in there was nothing UP on the wall. The window opens like a door, rather than being hung or louvered. To open the window blocks the already mentioned wider 3 shelf cupboard. DH put an extended shelf on the window for my basil plant (gets fun moving stuff if it rains in).

The lower cupboards are 2 double door 2 shelf units. Both only have half a shelf on the top (easier to get to stuff on the bottom???) The one closer to the cabinets mentioned above goes ALL THE WAY into the corner - It may not be no man's land, it is definitely not this woman's land!.

That was it when we moved in for storage. The frig was at the end of that last counter and right next to the back door.

The east wall has the washer, a yucky built quickly for laundry storage plywood thingy with 2 sliding drawers for detergent, softener, etc. It was meant to be temporary and it will be. It's next to impossible for me to open now, so the laundry aids are not in there - but it's still full! Next to that is our deep freezer (standing.

Bill has added a really nice BIG 3 shelf no door cabinet on the wall next to the window that looks out on the backyard. It is overflowing with cookbooks. (Pretty bad when he does most of the cooking and I own the cookbooks - he doesn't use cookbooks).

Now, someone, about 5 years ago was helping a friend remodel a kitchen and offered Bill the cabinets that were being taken out. We now have an island from the last wall with more storage, but these are narrow (a 12" fry pan wouldn't fit) and I can not stand behind the oven to open it because of the island. He also put upper cabinets in on that north wall. None of these new (to us) cabinets have doors on them.

Although I am not short, this kitchen does not coincide with my physical challenges.

I can't imagine anyone really reading this, but it was relaxing to write. And I needed that!

I liked the homework, Diana!

My kitchen probably says "help me, help me, help me, please" like the helpless females in cartoons.
I don't think there is anything else I can say about it that I haven't already said in other threads recently but I didn't want to ignore the homework.

(hmmmm....doing this so late just reminded me that I have to post tomorrow's )

quote:

Originally posted by Tayhudson:
Sheri (and anyone else with a small kitchen)-
I have a cutting board that has wire thingies on the side so that you can put it over the sink.

Been there, tried that. Those (at least the ones being made back when I tried it) are made for smaller sinks or double sinks where the space that needs to be spanned isn't much more than a foot or so.

The one thing that I have in my kitchen that is big is the sink--it is a big stainless steel single-tub sink. The wire thingies on the cutting board I tried years ago barely made it across the span of my sink and, as such, was not even close to being stable enough to chop or even slice anything on.

Maybe bigger ones are being made now, but I haven't seen them, and I've been in a kitchen store several times lately (because they built a beautiful new one in Rehoboth) and have only seen the smaller ones. Then again, I wasn't looking for one at the time.

Sheri (and anyone else with a small kitchen)-

I have a cutting board that has wire thingies on the side so that you can put it over the sink. I originally bought it for a small apt. but still use it all the time. I have plenty of counter space now, but it is so easy to wash the veggies, chop them and shove the discards directly into the sink and into the disposer.

Dawn

quote:

Originally posted by SheriaVa:
I have no counter space for chopping/prepping food and therefore use the space between the burners as my food prep area.

Having flash backs to apartments in San Francisco!!! I've done this, too.

I have a galley kitchen too. My Kitchen Screams to be cleaned and organized on a daily basis. Its getting there 15 minutes at a time.

Foodwise my kitchen it pretty clean. I got a good start cleaning out the fridge and pantry last week after the power outage and I am only adding things to both as I figure out I need them - for example green beans - I stopped Monday after Yoga and picked some up because I know I will get tired of Salad. I picked up Plain Yogurt last night along with 2 more types of fresh berries.

My kitchen above all else says "PLEASE CLEAN ME!" As a result, no pictures yet.

I live in an apartment with a teeny, tiny galley-style kitchen. It has open only on one end, the fridge and stove are right across from one another, so only one can be opened at a time. The only way for two people to be in the kitchen at one time is for one to be at the sink and one at the stove.

My kitchen shows that storage space is in short supply by having the Braun stick mixer stored in its wall bracket, my cooking knives stored on the wall on a magnetic strip vs. in a space-eating wood block, and my food scale, pizza pan, fine colander, stir-fry pan, cutting board and oven mitts all hanging from the wall (the one next to the stove except for colander).

It also shows that storage space is in short supply by having two racks for storage--one a short/shallow black wrought iron rack and one a tall/deeper brass baker's rack. The latter holds my cannisters, toaster oven, large pots and other large items like pitchers that won't fit in a cabinet. The former holds my electric can opener, crock full of cooking utensils, various & sundry pantry items (I have no pantry), cookbooks/recipe cards, etc.

My kitchen shows that I am committed to preparing, cooking and packaging healthy lunches every week by the sheer volume of plastic containers in every conceivable shape and size (both dirty and clean, usually).

My ancient gas stove shows that I have no counter space for chopping/prepping food and therefore use the space between the burners as my food prep area.

My caveman-era fridge shows that it is non-frost-free by showing its walls and ceilings of ice, thereby further diminishing my already puny freezer space (it's actually not that OLD a fridge, it's just the cheapest model known to mankind).

A funny story about my fridge is that, several years back, I was so sick of the darned freezer icing up immediately after I'd defrosted it that I accidently/on purpose punctured the Freon while defrosting it with a butcher knife. I was SURE I was going to get a frost-free fridge out of that, but no...I came home from work the next day to ANOTHER model of fridge exactly like the one I'd had. I didn't even know they still sold such a thing.

Cheap so-and-sos.

My kitchen says keep going you're almost there...

We live in a 50's ranch house that we bought about 5 years ago. The very first improvement we did when we moved in was to bleach and strip the insides of all the cabinets. Not our idea of a fun improvement, but necessary, because when we went to unpack our dishes, we found mold in the insides of the cupboards. YUCK!

Eventually we stripped all of the cupboards inside and out and painted the frames a bright white. We have painted the door each a different color. I used turquoise, lime green, yellow, red, blue and orange. We made all of our drawer pulls and handles out of silverware we bought at Goodwill. And I painted a geometric mural on the big wall using the same colors that we used on the cabinets.

I love the cabinets and the wall.

Projects for the new year include replacing the sink, and hopefully some bright white counter tops, since the grubby tan ones don't go with our sunny cabinets.

Ideally it would be good to replace the flooring too, but the rest of the house needs flooring worse than the kitchen.

Now if only I could control the counter clutter...

--Francie

Brie and Susan,

Your kitchens are beautiful!

quote:

Originally posted by sahm:
My kitchen says 'clean me.' no way i'd post a picture. i'm working on it.... but I love all your beautiful kitchens!!!!!! inspiring!

My kitchen used to look like this... a LOT.



It very seldom looks as pristine as the "after" photos, but the good news it seldom looks this bad either.

Actually, finding the kitchen sink was one of my first baby steps, because I couldn't cook (or even get a glass of water) with the disaster that my kitchen was.

Thought I'd post for anybody lurking and also dealing with kitchen disaster... since I've been there.

Stove, some storage, garage door, and primary kitchen staff in her natural habitat.



Fridge is to left, garage door is on wall, just barely visable on right.





I think that my kitchen says that the previous owners had good taste (and were probably better at decorating than the current owners). They remodeled it using “Designed to Sell” or “Flip that House“ principles as a) they didn’t live here very long and b) they wanted to sell the house. They didn’t spend THAT much money, and they made a 1960’s kitchen look modern AND homey AND functional.

Even when the kitchen is clean and neat (and truthfully, it is seldom THIS pristine ), the inside of the fridge gives away that we are truly not very organized. However, most of the food in there is pretty healthy. Fresh banana and orange peels and apple cores in the green compost bowl on the counter confirm that the healthy food is indeed eaten and usually doesn’t go bad. The compost bowl (and some organic food items) tell you that we are somewhat environmentally conscious. The garbage can on the counter and a bowl of cat food on the floor let you know that a dog used to live here and a cat still does.

Baby proofing on the lower cupboards say that a toddler (not my child) used to live here. It also says something about the my personality… that I can’t be bothered to remove the latches. The latches drive my mil crazy. In the old house, I had baby proofing latches in ALL of the cabinets. This was in hopes that in an earthquake, I would not be killed by a can of tomatoes falling on my head. Haven’t gotten around to baby/earth quake/mil proofing ALL of the cupboards. This also says a lot about me and my willingness to tempt fate and perhaps risk taking behaviors (not to mention procrastination).

There is not much else in the kitchen to tell you that a child currently lives here. There is not much “kid food” in the house… no crackers or cookies or chips or sugary cereals and other foods normally associated with children. (However, in the living room… an X-box Controller; dirty socks, shoes and pants on the floor; a laptop set to “My Space” as the home page; a band instrument (that is actually MINE) and music from 3 different bands; text books; not to mention a bowl of cereal left on couch do a good job of announcing the presence of a teen in the house.)

Ds Multi Tasking in his natural environment



Quality pots tell you that somebody here likes to cook. However, a dark and empty kitchen at 6pm and bags of containers filled with food, tell the story that somebody else cooked dinner (at least on Tues, Wed, and Thurs.) This says that, for the most part, we are not picky eaters. And at least one of us (me) is willing to trade convenience for some degree of control and is willing to belong to a dinner co-op. I think that it also says that I’m fairly out-going, make friends and value participation in (and with) my community.

And boxes of Mac and Cheese and cans of soup in the pantry say that dinner is NOT cooked from scratch every night. The pantry is somewhat schizophrenic. Cans of (healthy) beans, brown rice and organic whole wheat pasta sit next to boxes of (not so healthy) Kraft Mac and Cheese and (not sugar free) Jell-O and some weird, never opened, tube of Orange Cake-Make Icing (which I don‘t even remember buying…). Bottles of Karo corn syrup and bags of brown, granulated and powdered sugar sit next to a package of Spenda.

The Spenda; and items like nonfat mayo and Egg Beaters; and cookbooks with titles like, “Cooking Thin”& “WW Make it in Minutes” and a food scale hint at a weight story (and concern for dietary fat) … although I don’t think that the pantry, fridge and freezer look like the stereo-typical “dieter’s” kitchen (although someone who is aware may notice the LACK of ice cream, chips, cookies, etc…).

Dusty bottles of inexpensive wine can give you the impression that we are not big drinkers… OR… we are not very sophisticated. Mostly the former… but also with a little of the later thrown in.

Food items come from many different ethnic cuisines… Mexican, Thai, Indian, Chinese, Japanese. This says something about our willingness to try new things… and also hints at the larger community, outside this one kitchen and our proximity to Asian, Indo-Pak, and Hispanic stores. The earthquake box in the bottom of the pantry has got to be a dead give away that we are in California.

Pantry/former coat closet



* * * * * * *
I asked dh and ds son what our kitchen says about us. They are men of few words.

Dh - We are conflicted.
Ds - We eat healthy!! and WHO bought all that cheese????

(I bought the cheese for dh and ds’s lunches… but every time we open the fridge, a package of cheese (or slices of American Cheese) fall on the floor from the fridge door… it is very annoying.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: GoingSkiing,

quote:

Originally posted by Preciousmew:
Brie...What a gorgeous Kitchen!!!

My Kitchen is a typical apartment Kitchen, small and horrible..No pantry, limited on cupboard space and only room for one person to cook..I can't wait to move...

Heather

Even though I live in a house I too have a VERY small kitchen. I have such limited counter space and a really crappy electric stove that I hate. I doubt I'll put the money into remodeling this kitchen and will patiently wait for my next house (which may not be for another 4 yrs or so). The most important room for me when we move will be the kitchen. Must haves: gas stove, dishwasher, LOTS of counter space, room for a normal refrigerator(i have a side by side fridge/freezer and because the freezer is so narrow I cannot fit certain things in it), and a garbage disposal. Brie and Susan's kitchens are right up my alley!

Jill

My kitchen says "I am an old home, I've served my owners well, now give me a break". My house was built in 1902 as a parsonage for the Catholic Church across the street. It had an apt upstairs for the housekeeper. But the kitchen is small, with most of the north side being lined with cupboards that are far to high for any living human being. The south side was made for old appliances, not today's larger ones. I have wooden shelves for pantry space, and a mircrowave stand on one end. The CARPET, (who puts carpet in a kitchen where little kids live?) is stained and ugly, but the landlord doesn't see it that way....so I won't complain.
It says, here lives a family who has grown up, and out of my space, but loved every minute of it.

As you may know from my other post, my kitchen is white and sunny, and has HORRIBLE floral wallpaper.

My kitchen also has a lot of stuff around. On the bar that separates the kitchen area from the eating area I have 3 wooden fruit bowls from Honduras, and a 3 tier black wrought (sp?) iron plate holder with blue plates that also holds fruit. I have a bubble glass bowl in another black iron holder that I always keep either lemons or limes in.

The fridge is plasted with reminder notes,a few photos and Alek's artwork.

Sometimes papers get placed around the kitchen, but I do try to keep them in the hall entry table basket or the office.

Dawn

My kitchen says 'clean me.' no way i'd post a picture. i'm working on it.... but I love all your beautiful kitchens!!!!!! inspiring!

Hey Brie, Your kitchen is beautiful!! Very similar in many ways to mine with an exception.
Your counters are clear of junk and I have stuff on every counter!! I am so disorganized that kids school work piles up next to my decorative pitcher from Italy, next to the toaster beside my husbands supplements and the blender he makes his shakes with. Oh, not to forget the cub scout stuff that I need to remember to work on.

I have a lovely antique hanging pot rack above my center Island that has no pots hanging, but some ornaments my kids like and stuff they have made at school. A paper crown, a popsicle stick frame covered in sparkles.

There is a fruit bowl on the center Island with some apples in it and a book of stamps and some post it notes.

Man.....I think I need an organizational coach, maybe a housekeeper. I am jealous of your beautiful and neat kitchen!!!

ps....Susan....this applies to you also!

Hello. I am Susan's kitchen. I used to be a dark, frumpy room with dead space in several corners. (There are no digital photos of those days!) But during a "glamover" four years ago, her architect/chef DH created his dream kitchen. Of course, I have some of my best features (such as the island) because Mrs. Architect/Chef dug in her heels and got her way.

Now all of the parties in this house are centered around me. Everyone gathers at the island to munch and watch the cooking happening. It's so much fun to be the center of attention.