How big is your kitchen?

My kitchen is rarely tidy. I keep it clean, but that is an entirely different animal than "tidy". However, I am very proud of the way I left it when we took off on vacation. Lest it immediately becomes disheveled when I enter the door upon our return, I decided to take a number of pictures just before we took off. From the wall that our refrigerator is on, to the wall our breakfront hutch is on, the full length of our kitchen (work and eating areas) is about 26 feet. The width of the room is roughly 11 feet. Some photos of the work side:

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Everywhere I look, I'm reminded of family. The red table in the foreground was my Aunt and Uncle's, handed down when we moved into our first house in case we needed "just one more". The apple bowl on top the cupboards has a smaller companion. They were my Mom-in-law's; my SIL didn't want them. The old bowl on top of the refrigerator holds many of my Mom's (and Grandma's) hand tools, some of which I still use.

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The three-drawer dresser at the extreme left end of the run of counter and cabinets was my Great Aunt's. It was from her first (and only) bedroom suite, so it's probably closing in on 90 years old. Hubby reinforced the drawer bottoms, improved the rail that the drawers slides on, and I used lemon furniture oil on the exterior because I couldn't decide how I wanted to paint it - but I wanted to be able to use it sooner rather than later! :laugh: It holds most of my hand kitchen tools like spoons, spatulas, whisks, etc. The bottom drawer is mostly metal baking pans and cooling racks. I have a lot of junk stuff.

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Finally, the shelving unit hubby build when we were in our second apartment. He used all hand tools and did most of the messy work out on our balcony. Since our side of the building faced the woods, he simply swept the sawdust off into the trees. I used to have pitchers and baskets full of my hand tools here, but was able to hide them all in the old dresser. Now it holds many of my appliances. The mixer on the bottom-right shelf was my Mom's. It's the reason my banana nut bread turns out just like hers did. The bread box was on my parents' kitchen counter. As I said earlier, memories everywhere. :love:

I'll post photos of the dining side later. We're about to head out the door to retrieve our son and find something interesting to do!
 
Lynne Guinne said:
As I said earlier, memories everywhere. :love:
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Wow! A few photos and you are drawing us in to a whole story. I have questions to ask if I may - but that will be tomorrow. For the moment, suffice it to say that your kitchen is HUGE compared to mine and that mine has no heirlooms whatsoever (at least I don't think it has).
 
Ask away with your questions, @morning glory. No guarantee I can answer them, though. :giggle: I have a couple of minutes before I try (again) to nudge hubby out the door, so I thought I'd sneak in a few more photos. This first one is from the far end of the kitchen; my back is tucked into the corner between the wine rack and the breakfront hutch:

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This photo is from the other end of the kitchen; I'm standing right next to the (black) refrigerator at the end of the back hall:

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The last is a tighter shot of the eating area in our kitchen. We don't have a formal dedicated dining room, so this is where we sit when we have family or friends over for a meal. The chair on the left is mine. I can look through our sun room to see our wooded area beyond. The two-tiered bookcase against the wall contains my small collection of cookbooks, some of which were my Mom's. Also, most of the plates in the hutch were my Mom's or my Grandma's. Serving up more memories with our food!

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Hi @Lynne Guinne
Question 1. Why do you have two dining tables?
Question 2. Is that an Uber fridge in front of the kitchen cupboards? It looks like you wouldn't be able to open the cupboards. :scratchhead:
Question 3. Is that a ceramic hob on the cooker?

Sorry if this sounds like I'm being too nosey! :D
 
Oh, feel free to be as nosy as you'd like! I'm actually that way, too, so I understand. :wink:

1) By "two dining tables", are you referring to the red one in addition to the large one in front of the glass-front hutch? Or do you mean the four-chaired tables on each side of the sun room sliding glass doors? I use the small red one as an island and work table. The set in the kitchen dining area is the set we bought when our kids were small. The table and four chairs in the sun room was something hubby got early in the marriage as a hand-me-over from his boss. "Ken" felt sorry for us since we only had a small table for two, and he had been using it for his recently given away model train set. It needed a LOT of work, and my Dad did an great job making it look like a dining room set again. We've recovered the seats within the past decade, and will need to do it again when we move it from the sun room.

2) OK, you're speaking "English" while I'm fluent in "American". :D I had to Google "Uber fridge" since on this side of the pond, "Uber" is the name of a driver-for-hire service, sort of like a cab service. I still can't figure out what you could be referring to. Be assured, though, that all my drawers and cupboard doors open freely and without moving anything out of the way. Where in my kitchen should I be looking to see what it was you were referring to?

3) Yes it is, but I'm more familiar with it as a "glass-topped stove". No matter what the language or words, though, in my opinion it is a big pain in the...neck. I am not a fan, but have learned to live with it. Can't wait until I have an opportunity to get a different range - preferably a gas one.
 
morning glory said:
...
Question 2. Is that an Uber fridge in front of the kitchen cupboards? It looks like you wouldn't be able to open the cupboards. :scratchhead:I ...
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I think I have this figured out from looking at the photos again. Are you talking about the "black box" that hovers over my glass-top stove? That's our microwave oven - AKA "tea warmer". I don't cook in it, but it's great for warming leftovers and using as a proofing box when I make bread.
 
Lynne Guinne said:
I had to Google "Uber fridge"
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I just meant 'uber' as in: to a great or extreme degree (big, cool!). I thought it was a fridge - the big black thing circled here. On closer inspection I can see that above it are half cupboards. I think it is an optical illusion. Because there are things on top of it it makes it seem that it is something standing in front of your cupboards. I am nothing if not forensic! :oops:

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Lynne Guinne said:
Yes it is, but I'm more familiar with it as a "glass-topped stove". No matter what the language or words, though, in my opinion it is a big pain in the...neck. I am not a fan, but have learned to live with it. Can't wait until I have an opportunity to get a different range - preferably a gas one.
Click to expand...

I'm thinking of buying a ceramic hob as my gas one has all but packed up. What is the issue? Great to clean, I would think.
 
Well, firstly, that "Big Black Thing" is my enormous (26+ cubic feet) refrigerator. It is a French Door refrigerator, the two upper doors are for the fresh food compartment, the bottom drawer (with a red towel stretched across the handle) is the freezer compartment. The freezer has a sliding drawer near its top, and I use that for small items. The bottom portion of the drawer has a movable divider. I found out quickly that the most efficient way to use the freezer drawer was to treat my food items like file folders! I freeze items flat in a freezer bag, then arrange them on end so that I can flip through what I have.

A few main problems with my ceramic stove top. First, if you aren't careful with sugar, it will cause chips in the surface. Found that out after brown sugar escaped a spoon while I was adding it to my oatmeal while it was still cooking. Second, if you use cast iron, you shouldn't slide it across the surface because it can scratch (I knew that ahead of time, so I don't have scratches). Third, but maybe not last, some things will stick to the surface so tightly that you have to figure out how to get it off. My most frequent tool is a paint scraper that one would use to clean messy paint off the glass after painting a window frame - basically a razor blade in a safety handle. I also use a nylon scrubber pad with a cleaning product like Barkeeper's Friend. And it seems like everything causes a smudge or spot on the top..even when I've only used it to rest something on it! It seems like I'm forever washing it down with a lightly soaped sponge, rinsing over and over, then wiping it dry with that ever-present towel that hangs over the handle of my oven door. It's one big pain.
 
Lynne Guinne said:
I freeze items flat in a freezer bag, then arrange them on end so that I can flip through what I have.
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Fantastic tip! I sussed the idea of putting sauces in freezer bags and storing them flat but never thought of the filing method! Unfortunately, my freezer(s) are crammed full of bulky meat, fish and veg rather than flat packs!
 
My wife changed me over to freezer bags from plastic containers. The advantage with freezer bags is that the space taken up is the same as the product whereas with a plastic container it is rarely just adequate.
 
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