Kevin's Kitchen
I'll Show You Mine…
Ever since I moved into this apartment I've been moaning about the size of the kitchen and the lack of storage. And, in fact, compared to the house I owned in California (which had the best kitchen in the entire known universe [see above]) it is difficult to work in. I've had much worse kitchens than this one, but moving in here was an exercise in thinking small.
Then Miz D over at Belly Timber posted photos of the kitchen she and Chopper Dave have to live with -- if you can call that living -- and I realized that if I wasn't blessed I certainly wasn't cursed. And I have to wonder what incredibly evil and despicable acts the two of them must have engaged in to deserve their little bit of culinary hell. They seem like such nice people.
At any rate, other folk's kitchens always fascinate me. I remember getting together with a fellow cook for the first time in NYC and insisting on meeting at her place so I could see her kitchen (it was awesome). What's best is when they'll let me open cupboards so I can see how they organize things. This is far more fun than peeking in people's medicine chests.
So, in the event that there are others out there with my curiosity about other-people's-kitchens, I decided to post a few photos of my current kitchen.
Sadly, in East Tennessee oven/ranges are always electric and I hate cooking on electric burners. The refrigerator usually has space in it, the freezer never does. In this kitchen's favor, there's at least room to keep the Cuisinart and Kitchen Aid on the counters where using them is easy. I had one kitchen where both tools had to be kept in the bedroom closet.
Yes. I do have a dishwasher and fortunately there's enough space to do prep next to the sink. But counter space is a problem and it's not unusual to have to move a bunch of stuff to the dining table to find room for cooking. Unfortunately, moving stuff to the dining table is more trouble than it used to be…
…because it's now my photo studio. Notice the stool on the table supporting a lamp, the white sheet used for a backdrop, the tripod, and the lamp clipped to the bookshelf. Fortunately there's some space for cookbooks, not all of them, but some.
I also lucked out in having a space under the stairs, not too distant from the kitchen, that I could convert to a pantry. Bashing my head on the ceiling whenever I get something from it is not happy-making, but it's better than doing without.
All in all, compared with Miz D and Chopper, I'm doing pretty well. I don't use the kitchen stuff stored in the laundry closet (not shown) all that often and the stuff in my bedroom closet (not shown) is pretty much limited to things I need for dinner parties. And, of course, keeping my personal chef equipment in the trunk of my car (not shown) is reasonable.
Ever since I moved into this apartment I've been moaning about the size of the kitchen and the lack of storage. And, in fact, compared to the house I owned in California (which had the best kitchen in the entire known universe [see above]) it is difficult to work in. I've had much worse kitchens than this one, but moving in here was an exercise in thinking small.
Then Miz D over at Belly Timber posted photos of the kitchen she and Chopper Dave have to live with -- if you can call that living -- and I realized that if I wasn't blessed I certainly wasn't cursed. And I have to wonder what incredibly evil and despicable acts the two of them must have engaged in to deserve their little bit of culinary hell. They seem like such nice people.
At any rate, other folk's kitchens always fascinate me. I remember getting together with a fellow cook for the first time in NYC and insisting on meeting at her place so I could see her kitchen (it was awesome). What's best is when they'll let me open cupboards so I can see how they organize things. This is far more fun than peeking in people's medicine chests.
So, in the event that there are others out there with my curiosity about other-people's-kitchens, I decided to post a few photos of my current kitchen.
Sadly, in East Tennessee oven/ranges are always electric and I hate cooking on electric burners. The refrigerator usually has space in it, the freezer never does. In this kitchen's favor, there's at least room to keep the Cuisinart and Kitchen Aid on the counters where using them is easy. I had one kitchen where both tools had to be kept in the bedroom closet.
Yes. I do have a dishwasher and fortunately there's enough space to do prep next to the sink. But counter space is a problem and it's not unusual to have to move a bunch of stuff to the dining table to find room for cooking. Unfortunately, moving stuff to the dining table is more trouble than it used to be…
…because it's now my photo studio. Notice the stool on the table supporting a lamp, the white sheet used for a backdrop, the tripod, and the lamp clipped to the bookshelf. Fortunately there's some space for cookbooks, not all of them, but some.
I also lucked out in having a space under the stairs, not too distant from the kitchen, that I could convert to a pantry. Bashing my head on the ceiling whenever I get something from it is not happy-making, but it's better than doing without.
All in all, compared with Miz D and Chopper, I'm doing pretty well. I don't use the kitchen stuff stored in the laundry closet (not shown) all that often and the stuff in my bedroom closet (not shown) is pretty much limited to things I need for dinner parties. And, of course, keeping my personal chef equipment in the trunk of my car (not shown) is reasonable.
16 Comments:
DAaaaang, your kitchen is cavernous! And your kitchen counter color doesn't suck! Wow.
I remember that post from Belly-Timber, I believe I'm in the comment section there and their kitchen is a tad smaller than mine. Even so, I'm about 1 to 3 steps to anything in my kitchen. Which is nice, I suppose. Yeah, I'll take some pictures, this sounds like fun to me.
Biggles
Ah, Biggles... It's a new post, more pictures, and yes, a smaller kitchen.
Kevin... Can I shake my fist at you? Please, please? Seriously, we did nothing evil to end up with our current kitchen. On the contrary, we left our relatively spacious kitchen in Portland to spend a year plus caring for my aging parents. A selfless act if there ever was one. Thing is, my aging mom HATES to cook and so way back when they picked out the package design for the house, they picked one with crap-for-kitchen and did nothing to improve it. So, we're stuck with her sad choice until we move on from the task of parental care. Some day in the distant future, we will have space again.
Doc,
It's nowhere near as "cavernous" as it appears in the photos. Definitely a one-butt kitchen.
Miz D,
"A selfless act if there ever was one."
No good deed goes unpunished.[wry grin]
But I know what you mean, I moved back to Knoxville to keep my parents company in their last years.
When we first moved to Knoxville, we lived in an apartment complex. So of course, the kitchen was awful. And I was quite pregnant, so fitting the two of us in there at the same time?? Just couldn't happen.
But now? Nice big room, ok counter space. Huge sinks, and original retro stove. But yes, gas. With buttons! No dials...we push a button and hope it corresponds to a recipe's directions (medium high? Um...could be a '2').
Still not perfect, but so much better than the last one.
Stephanie,
Gas in Knoxville is really rare. I envy you. But not the buttons. Post pictures!
Ok, I admit seeing the kitchen that inspires Belly Timber did make me curious. Then, after I saw your post I realized I must post some pictures of my actual kitchen. I'm seriously spoiled. But remember, I had to teach school for a loooooong time to get a kitchen this good.
I'm moving to a new place where I'll be in charge of fixing up the kitchen. Right now, it's bare, with just a small space for an range/oven (gas rules in the Philippines, thank goodness, can't stand electric ranges), and a dinkier space for the refrigerator. However your picture of the cubbyhole under the stairs made me think that there's that cupboard under the staircase that is perfect for added storage. I'm excited about the move, more excited about making food for myself and friends again.
So the real question, Kevin, is did you clean up before you invited us to "visit?" ;)
Kalyn,
Your kitchen looks great!
Mila,
Take some photos so we can see what you have to work with -- and so you'll have before and after pictures.
Sweetnicks,
No, I didn't clean up for the visit. Notice the dirty dishes in the sink and that the dining table _is_ a mess.
Looks like you have about the same amount of counter space as I do. Even though it's a one-butt kitchen, it's open to the dining area, so you can still entertain while cooking. Mine is not set up that way but I wish it was.
I stumbled across this post by using this link from another site. I thought this was so cool. I like seeing where others create. This was fun!
Great Kitchen!OHHH THE COUNTER SPACE!!!!!
I posted mine.....(that's only fair when playing I'll show you mine!)
Sheri,
Having the kitchen open to the dining area really is convenient.
Vickie,
I get a big kick out of peeking into other's kitchens.
Indy,
Just looked at yours. Poor baby.
Hi Kevin...have we met? I dont' think so. But I'm going to let you have a peek into my kitchen anyway, cupboards and all :>)
Celeste,
Very nice. I very much like the Japanese artistic sensibility and you've done a nice job of incorporating into your Napa kitcchen.
I hate it when someone shows a picture of their apartment kitchen and it's bigger than my house kitchen!!!! For such a small space they at least tried to make it functional. ;-)
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