The Kitchen As We Found It

The kitchen is the heart of any house and ours is no different. Like a heart there are numerous ventricles pulling people in and pushing people out. There are five doors that lead from the kitchen: Front Hall, Dining Room, Basement, Garage, and Back Door. Sounds complicated than it works out to be. 

The kitchen as we found it was a picture in beige - beige floor tiles, beige cabinets, wallpaper with beige ground and little primroses on it. We're in the process of painting out the beige to a white, changing the hardware, taking the drapes away.

Below is the sink. Most of the counters are 1930s formica with stainless strapping, stainless sink, oven hood and backsplash. One can stand at the sink and look toward new horizons. The cabinets are wood with porcelain knobs. The hardware will change; the cabinets will stay.

The refrigerator juts out from the wall. We decided to keep the fridge where it is, but for a couple of hundred dollars the contractor was able to push the wall back six inches into the garage, thus gaining us the space and keeping it even with the stove that will go next to it.

This is at the back of the kitchen. The sink was charming but very very odd - the tap only came about six inches above the bottom of the sink. I'm not even sure what it's for - a pitcher would not fit under, it's too narrow and shallow for doing dishes, and the tap is too low in general to fill anything. We removed it and are putting a counter across the back.

The cooktop was leaking gas and had loose knobs, The wall oven was quite cool but I didn't trust it entirely. It was electric, with rusting elements. We thought now was the time for a change. The stainless backsplash will stay, but we're putting a stove in where the cooktop is, and then reusing a cabinet taken from the back of the kitchen

Another view. The narrow wall at the back of the room is what the real estate agents refer to as a "Powder Room". This is misleading in our case, as there's no sink, or really anywhere to stand in order to powder one's nose. We have what would have been described as a Water Closet. Utilitarian, closet sized, not meant for the obese or pregnant or crippled.

An alternate view of the front of the kitchen. Cabinets will be painted. Should open it up a bit.