My Kitchen

Before I can show you the ideas The Architects came up with for the kitchen, I have to show you what's there now. The kitchen is at the very back of the first floor. The photo below is a "before" image taken from the living room, looking through the dining room.
Just inside the kitchen door to the left is the back door that goes out to the porch that overlooks my little garden. Yes, that's my dishwasher.
I also have two windows that overlook the porch and the garden. It has probably the ugliest tile I've ever seen. White with band-aid brown veining. The bullnose tile is the same band-aid color. To add insult to injury, the door and window trim was painted to match.

I know this room is going to require the bulk of my renovation dollars (at least I thought that before I started the outside) so I wanted to clean it up and make it work for now.

This is the other side of the room. As you can see there's virtually no counter space. I don't know what women did in the 1940s for prep space because this isn't uncommon for period kitchens around here. In fact, I've rented aparments that have an apron sink and a stove...that's it! I do have a pantry over in the back left corner that didn't seem to make it into these photos. You also get a peak of the bathroom that was modified for a wheelchair at some point so there's a big--actually, nice--shower. The brown pipe to the right of the sink is the heating duct that goes up to the master bedroom. I guess that's the pre-industrial look.

And this is what it looks like today. Not pretty, but presentable. What a difference a coat of paint makes. Just getting rid of the yellow and brown--two colors that should never be put together--made a huge improvement.

The green console table is a Mexican antique. I'd like to have it reworked (made wider) to become a kitchen island, maybe with marble on top? I keep some of my mixing bowls below and my vintage tablecloths on top. They're fun to use outside on the porch during the summer.
I painted the cabinets an ivory color...
...and added some new brushed nickel hardware...
...and I even painted the tile. I washed it really well, primed it with Kilz and then with white semi-gloss. It looks so good, no one has every noticed it's painted.
I also added a folding table from DWR that acts as a big island. The aluminim top is also great for rolling out pastry dough.
And here's my pantry. It's still band-aid brown and that's my mother's fault. She visited about a week after I moved and all the boxes were driving her crazy so she made me put everything away. I think the next time she visits I'm going to make her unload everything and paint it.
I wish it could all be pretty but this is pretty much my only storage space except for drinking glasses, coffee mugs and mixing bowls that I have in the cabinets above the sink.
All of my spices, vinegars, baking goods, teas, extracts, eye of newt, etc., go in these racks that I installed. Whenever I cook or bake, I go to the pantry and pull everything out at once, just like Rachel Ray.
On the other side is my Asian cooking section, the brown transferware all stacked up for special occasions, plates and miscellaneous bowls.

Don't tell anyone, but all of the pots, pans and baking sheets are packed in the dishwasher. My kitchen staff likes to wash everything by hand. I was able to move the fridge down a little and squeeze the dishwasher in next to the stove so I have a little bit of counter space next to the stove.

So that's my sad excuse for a kitchen, patiently awaiting renovation dollars to be transformed.