How to Be Content With Your Kitchen
Actually, this is about how I stay content with my kitchen. But hopefully it'll help you figure out how to be content with your kitchen too!
My house was built in the 1970s, an era when open floor plans with an airy feel were just not something most people did. In fact, in its original shape, I believe my kitchen had actual doors at both entrances.
(Based on the door jambs that were there, at least.)
(my kitchen the day we bought the house.)
Also, my kitchen, while not teeny-tiny, is not exactly spacious.
The bigger my kids get, the smaller it seems, actually...there's more and more running into each other at meal times.
And while I have a respectable number of cabinets, there aren't many deep ones and there's no pantry to be found.
I run out of counter space all the time too.
What's that? I should clean up as I go? Oh, I dunno...
Anyway, there are lots of reasons that I could wallow in a state of discontent over my kitchen, but mostly, I've managed to maintain a cheerful attitude about it, and 95% of the time, I am indeed content.
The other 5% of the time? Well, following are the top ways I shoo away those clouds of discontent.
Fix what you can.
To make this a spacious, open kitchen, we'd have to knock down walls, gut the kitchen, move a sliding glass door, and so on.
This is a little a lot out of our budget, though, so instead, we've worked with what we have to make things better.
(my kitchen the day we bought the house.)
(my kitchen now)
Here's what we've done to our kitchen in the last decade:
-bought new appliances (we brought our dishwasher from our townhouse)
-removed wallpaper (So. Much. Wallpaper.)
-painted walls
-painted the cabinets
-put new hardware on the cabinets
-put new flooring down
-put in a new faucet
Then:
Now:
We still plan to eventually buy granite remnants to replace our old formica countertops, and we'll replace the green backsplash then too, because it won't match up properly with the new countertops.
Even when we do get new countertops, the total cost of bringing our kitchen more up-to-date is far, far less than the cost of a total remodel.
It's not perfect, but it's way, way better than it used to be.
Declutter your kitchen items.
I may not be able to make my kitchen larger, but I can make my possessions smaller! I've pared down my kitchen items to the things I use regularly, and I've donated most of the rest.
Keeping only what I really need in my kitchen helps it to feel more spacious.
(Here are the 7 pots and pans I use.)
Don't own lots of small kitchen appliances.
Because I don't have a pantry or deep cabinets or lots of counter space, it's hard to make room for appliances in my kitchen. So I keep those to a minimum.
Think outside the box.
I don't have a pantry, so I use some of my cabinets for food items.
(Decluttering kitchen tools helps free up room for that!)
I also have a rack in my laundry room that I use like a pantry.
Is it super handy?
Nope. It's about as far away from my kitchen as you could get without going outside. But it works!
And since I have little space for appliances in my kitchen, my grain grinder lives on a shelf in my coat closet and my electric griddle sits at the top of my linen closet.
(Owning minimal linens helps to free up space there.)
Focus on practicality.
Could my kitchen be more awesome? Yup.
But does it do what it's supposed to do?
Well, yes. I mean, I've been churning out three meals a day for my family for over 10 years now, so I'd be hard-pressed to say this kitchen isn't working for me.
Consider how much harder you could have it.
When I feel like this amount of counter space I have is REALLY not cutting it, I remind myself of the women who for centuries before me have fed their families in teeny tiny kitchens with almost no counter space at all.
My own grandma had quite a small kitchen, no bigger than my own, but she raised four hungry boys there. And she cooked way more stuff from scratch than I do.
Or I think about Deb Perelman's (Smitten Kitchen) tiny NYC kitchen, where she cooks and blogs and writes cookbooks. If she can manage that in a teeny-weeny kitchen, then surely I can feed my family in my much larger kitchen.
And if I want to bring out the big guns to fight discontent, I think about how fortunate I am to have a kitchen at all, with workspace! and cleaning running water! and refrigeration! and electricity!
An awful lot of people would be delighted to have what I do, and that's good to think about.
Look at the upsides.
I can make a long list of downsides about my kitchen, but there are also upsides.
-The existing backsplash and formica counters are not a terrible color. The counters could be mauve, or the backsplash could have tiles with turkeys* on them, you know? I'm so fortunate that they're both pretty neutral.
*You did notice the overwhelming poultry theme in the original photos, right??
-I have a big sliding glass door in my kitchen, which gives me a pretty decent place to take pictures, even in the winter.
-My cabinets are solid wood, they have classic lines, and they look pretty good now that they're painted white.
-My wood floors are beautiful.
-I have enough cabinets to house what I need to cook.
-I have one large-ish counter area that works nicely for food prep/kneading.
-Two of my cabinets have sliding drawer/shelves, and I love, love, love them!
-Since my formica counters are old and scarred, I don't stress if they get further scarred.
-There's an open pass-through type area between the kitchen and dining room, which helps it to feel a bit more open.
Whew.
In case you got lost in the forest of words above, here's a review:
- Fix what you can
- Declutter your kitchen stuff
- Don't own lots of small appliances
- Think outside the box
- Focus on practicality
- Consider how much harder you could have it
- Focus on the upsides
I'm sure there are some other kitchen contentment techniques out there...would you share yours in the comments? What helps YOU shoo away the clouds of kitchen discontent?
My current trick is if I had a bigger kitchen, I would just make a bigger mess. Having a small kitchen forces me to clean as I go or I won't have anywhere to work.
My biggest problem with our kitchen is that they didn't make enough space for the kitchen table and there is no dining room (it was built in the 40's). This means when our family of 5 wants to eat we have to pull our small table away from the wall. It also means 2 kids have to crawl under the table to get to their chairs and no one can get in our out of the kitchen until we are done. It also means we can't really have company over for meals unless we set up a table in the living room or eat outside in the summer. We never planned to live in this house once we started a family so it didn't matter when we were 23 and it was just the two of us...but...well...things happened and here we are nearly 15 years later.
I once read a story about a woman who lived in a cabin in Alaska for a few winters while her husband ran a trap line. She had five kids under seven, I think, and her kitchen consisted of four --four!--square feet of counter space, half of which was taken up with a Coleman stove. The whole cabin was maybe the size of an average bedroom.
I think about her when I get frustrated with our 1920s--and nooooo updates at all--kitchen. I don't have a dishwasher, but neither did she. I have six people to feed, but so did she. My cabinets are half broken, the fake linoleum is definitely worn out, I have the cheapest electric stove and fridge available, but at least I'm not living in the Alaskan bush with my kids climbing all over me all winter.
Perspective is a wonderful thing. I think my kitchen is actually the one most people consider when they think how much worse other people have it, but like you, I cook three meals a day in it for six people year in and year out, so I know it can be done.
My kitchen is technically bigger than yours, but it was built in about 1870. The kitchen itself has five doorways and two large windows. There is a pantry off the kitchen which also has a window. So, my fridge and stove are in the kitchen, along with the cabinets where most of my food and cookware is stored. My sink is in the pantry along with my dishwasher, washer & dryer, and the cabinets where the dishes are. We added shelves on the wall in the stairwell to the basement where we store extra canned goods and tall containers of cereal and sugar. Cooking involves much more walking than modern kitchen layouts, but I tell myself that walking is good for me. I really enjoy having a table and chairs big enough for the my whole family in my kitchen. We eat in here and people can hang in here while I cook. And I really enjoy having my laundry right here. Doing laundry fits in seemlessly with my other kitchen chores.
One huge way to battle the kitchen/bathroom/whatever discontent is either to avoid those HGTV shows that cause envy OR to watch them occasionally and chuckle at how selfish/totally clueless some of those people are. In the event that we ever move out of a parsonage and buy our own home, I can think of about 20 million better uses of our money than gutting a kitchen because I must have a fancy sink or eggshell colored tile instead of tan or whatever.
Great post.
I watch this occasionally. On House Hunters International it is interesting it when they take a Midwestern mama and try to sell her on a tiny kitchen. It's just panic in there eyes. "I can't fit a turkey in there!"
Preach it, girl!
Ditto, Kristen! Small and outdated here...but we've taken a similar approach. Removed dark, floral wall osier and painted everything white, replaced window treatments, new sink faucet, broken ceiling fan, and hardware.
I was just thinking the other day how many people who have big, super updated kitchens aren't always the ones who use them the most. We have wonky storage and minimal counter space, too.
Not anxious to spend $40k on a gut renovation, plus I can't imagine not having a functional kitchen for months at this stage in life. However I'm so thankful that I have what I have and won't complain that it's not "perfect", like you stated.
Thanks for a boost of optimism to start my day. You're the best!
Getting rid of wallpaper helps so much, doesn't it? My kitchen has little wall space, and it looked so much better once I got rid of the busyness of the stripes and roosters. There was just so much going on in there when we bought it between the floor and the wallpaper and the border.
And yes, it is true that a lot of people have big beautiful kitchens and rarely use them. Although I like to think that if I had one, I'd use it to the fullest. 😉
I also quake at the thought of going without a kitchen for weeks or months. Living during the cabinet project was hard enough!
Painting everything white or even a lighter color instantly gives things a newer, cleaner, bigger feel. I am currently about to paint my hall entry way. That's the only place in my home with low ceilings and I really want to open it up a bit in there. Painting doesn't cost a lot yet makes a huge difference. I almost spit my drink out when Kristen mentioned the poultry theme, lol. We were so happy when we bought our home to see that the previous owner had brand new cabinets installed. However, when we moved in we discovered they cut some corners. For instance, no tract on the drawers so when you pull out a drawer too far it just simply falls out. I do have plain formica counter tops with several imperfections so if I spill food coloring on there and don't clean it up right away I'm ok with it. I even chopped garlic right on my counter top because my cutting board was dirty the other day. Also, the clean as you go thing...nah.
I needed this post today. We are having our annual family cookie party this weekend and I've been preparing sugar cookie dough and keep getting frustrated with my minimal amount of counter and cabinet space! I too don't like to clean as I go because once I get moving on a recipe, I like to keep going!
Thanks for your positive outlook 🙂 Maybe one day I can convince my husband to let me paint our solid wood cabinets too...
Well, I am trying to be content with my kitchen and you do raise good points. Ours is a 1950s galley kitchen with the original wall oven. Someday we will be forced to remodel since the new wall ovens are 3 inches wider than ours and my husband and I cannot agree on gas vs electric. So, I dream big dreams and look at beautiful kitchens with more than 3 feet of useful counter space and I keep baking and cooking and cleaning as I go. We have lots of windows, so you don't feel like you are working in a cave and it is easy to talk to people in the dining room as you cook.
We had a outdates kitchen with not much counter space... so we bought a new house, ahah! No, but seriously we did buy a new house and it as a great kitchen!! There's not much you can do in a "bad" kitchen if your not handyman and do not want to spend thousands of dollars! So we are now trying to sell the old house, outdated kitchen included, and hope a handyperson will see the potential!!
Thanks for this post, Kristen - it's what keeps me coming back to your blog! My husband and I love to cook and we have a really dated kitchen in an old house. I see houses for sale that are advertised with a "Cook's Kitchen" - big and glorious, with all the latest trappings. I get envious but then I remember that we also have a cook's kitchen and lots of delicious meals are created and eaten there.
We've lived in 11 different places in the past 11 years. We've had some really great kitchens and some not so good ones. Our first one was in a studio apartment and had orange shag carpet. My current kitchen is some where in the middle.
The good: dishwasher, open to the dining room (great for homework time), a big pantry just past the dining room, plenty of cabinets. Because of the set up I can reach the sink, the paper towels and various other things while sitting at the dining table.
The ok: an electric stove, it's not pretty, it is a galley kitchen that is the only way from the back door and the main level bathroom to the rest of the house (good for taking in groceries, bad for kids running through all the time).
The bad: less counter space than you Kristen, we keep the microwave in the pantry and the mixer in the coat closet. I have a 4 cup hotel coffee maker because it takes up so little space.
Like other commenters I like that it forces me to clean more often. I create plenty of good meals and good memories in it. I'm very thankful for my kitchen.
Oh my gracious. Orange shag carpet?? I cannot even imagine trying to keep that clean!
OMG, those are roosters up there?!? I thought they were big cabbage roses or something.. Oh my! Soooo much nicer in white, in fact, the after pictures are beautiful and show such a clean, thoughtfully renovated space. I even like the in-progress pictures since that is definitely how I roll 🙂
I am forever cursing my tiny galley kitchen, circa 1953, and the lack of counter space. And the knotty pine shellacked cabinets -- eww! But what I should be doing is curating all the stuff -- if you can cook all those amazing meals with 7 pans, there is NO reason for me to warehouse 90% of my junk. Also, love your take on refurbishing -- what a difference those relatively small changes made. It gives me hope -- and ideas.
On a side note, when my kitchen is clean and tidy, and I am home on a Saturday morning, it is a very bright and cheerful room. So there is hope! Thnaks for the dose of courage 🙂
Yes. They are indeed roosters. There were rooster covers on the stove burners too, so there was a rooster/chicken theme goin' on. And that was REALLY not my thing.
Could you paint your cabinets? It was a huge job, but boy, it made a huge difference in how my kitchen looks.
Our house was built in 1925, the kitchen last remodeled in the 1960's, so it's not very beautiful. 😉 The previous owners "updated" the kitchen floor with subfloor and sticky tiles. We bought our house 10 years ago and never intended to leave those abominable sticky tiles for so long, but we just haven't had the finances to do anything with the floor...so they stay for now. Generally speaking I'm fairly content with my kitchen, I don't need or even want a fancy-schmancy kitchen. But sometimes discontent creeps in! Good reminders and helpful post.
My kitchen is pretty functional-- and I am grateful that it's large-ish and has plenty of cabinets/storage. My only issue is that the whole house is paneling. I hate paneling! The landlord said we could paint but I'm a lousy painter and my spouse refuses to paint a house we are renting, saying we will buy a house soon (we have been here six years but ARE looking to buy a house next year) so there's no need to paint.
I know that's true-- I just have to remind myself that any money I spend on painting this other person's house would be money away from debt reduction or a down payment on a home.
My only other question-- and I really could use advice on this-- I have a dishwasher, but I can't wash big pots and pans in it. Do you guys have a dish drainer for that? Do you wash it, set it on the counter and then dry it and put it up? I put a towel down and then let the stuff dry on that and it takes up a significant amount of room! Is there a better way?
I don't have a dish drainer...we just set a towel on the counter and put the clean dishes there (I frequently don't have room for pots and pans in the dishwasher).
Of late, I've been assigning one kid to wash and the other to dry and put away so that we don't have dishes sitting out, and that's been great!
I hate paneling too. It DOES look so much better when painted and it's actually not very hard to do. Here's an idea..it would be advantageous to your landlord to have it painted, so what if you asked for a reduction in rent the month you do the painting?
I, too, have noticed that the fanciest kitchens seem to belong to the non-cooks, and the cooks have bad ones. Go figure.
I'm the exception. I have a good and an obscene amount of cabinet space. Even so, I feel that I'm always running out of counter space. Which makes me laugh when I think about some of the terrible kitchens I've successfully cooked in. One place was the size of a small bathroom *and* that included the W/D *and* a layout so poor it had to be deliberate.
You make do. I've stayed in homes in other countries where they sat on the dirt floor to cook, and they had 3 pots, two serving spoons, and used a machete for a kitchen knife. (Speaking of bringing out the big guns.)
So funny about the fancier the kitchen, the less anyone cooks in it! I have noticed that, as well. I guess it would mess up the photo-ready ambiance to use your kitchen functionally ...
We saved and saved and finally were able to do a remodel 2 years ago. We replaced the cabinetry and countertops, had pull-out shelves installed in a closet that had been made over into a pantry (we had redone the floor several years previously due to the disgusting carpet that we couldn't get clean) and had a new pocket door installed. We kept the appliances and didn't change the footprint of the kitchen, which saved us money. I now love my kitchen. It's not roomy, but it's light, bright, and so much more efficient than it was before. We had an over-the-stove microwave/exhaust installed--I know this is not the trendy thing to do, but it bought me an extra 19 inches of countertop space. I also did what you suggested, Kristen--I looked long and hard at what needed to stay and what should go, and I considered carefully what items would be kept out on my countertops. We have a small back entry area that is adjacent to the kitchen--we kept half of it as coat closet space, and my husband made shelves for the rest of it. It's a convenient place to store items.
The other thing I would suggest for people struggling with storage space is to invest in (or fabricate) ways to store items more efficiently--there are lots of ideas on the internet and it's worth it to look into those. As you said, re-thinking how you arrange things can have a big impact, and it's often low-cost or free. It is heartening to know that so many people have struggled with kitchen envy and have learned to find contentment.
I actually have a spacious lovely kitchen, it was one of the reasons we bought our house, and I use it tons. We did update the sink and faucet and someday will replace the linoleum floors.
This week I have been extremely frustrated with my kitchen due to our fridge dying, but we got a new one the other night and only lost a minimal amount of food. It was tough deciding to buy a new one, but we had already repaired this one several times and a brand new fridge was only $200 more than the estimated compressor repairs on our old one. We finally decided that the extra money was worth the peace of mind of knowing that our fridge will consistently keep things cold.
My carribean oulook,
You have water coming out of the tap. You're lucky.
You have a functioning fridge. Life is really good.
And if you have any type of washing machine, life is a bliss.
Oh, i don't have warm water in my house,anywhere.
But i love having a washing machine, not a dishwasher.
And i am on the upperside of middle-class.
There is one major difference from the states, its the maids. Lots of familly have full time help. I know many women they never enter their own kitchen.
Interesting...so do you take showers in cold water, then? Or is it so warm in the Caribbean that you never need hot water?
Yep, cold showers it is. Life start early ,5 am ,cold shower. Lunch time is a hot meal, then the shower is warmer because of the sun,that the right moment to wash your hair. Last shower of the day is at 9 pm and then the water is quite fresh again. But water is a bit of a luxery,so you get wet,turn out the water,soap up, shampoo and then turn the water back on. The water from the shower, kitchen and washing machine run straight into the yard,for the banana tree and the cocos palm.we also have mango, and a few others fruit trees. Also we have almost no garbage. The dogs get the first go, then the chickens.the rest we burn. We live a pretty good life ,but very different from the usa.a weekly garderner and a maid daily ,no vacum in the house but a broom and the floor inside and outside are mopped every day. We have deepwell water ,that a bit of a luxury too.
Oh wow, so you take three showers a day?
Yes, its 95 degrees with no airco. Taking showers is like basic friendly behavior. We also dont hug or kiss, too hot.
Come and try the lifestyle.
I love learning how others live, so very interesting!
I notice you have rugs on your hardwood kitchen floor. I have hardwood and am afraid to put rugs that won't slide, as it may show discoloration underneath them. What kind of rugs do you use? I have a rag rug by my door but would like a padded rug in front of my sink.
Keeping rugs on the floor near the sliding glass door does cause some discoloration (due to fading from the sun), but here's my thought: I or anyone else who lives here is always going to want a rug in front on the sink, right? So it's not a big deal if the floor is darker under the rug than around it because no one ever sees the floor under the rug!
Our apartment was built in the late 1960s and it seems like the kitchen and bathroom were designed as an afterthought. Both are tiny and positioned so they will never have a window, something I miss from my mom’s house. We deal with them the same way, minimalist supplies and being grateful we have a decent place to live and cook and bathe. It’s the just the two of us, if we had kids we probably would have moved, but to a place not that much bigger. My mom’s 1920s house is small compared to most of the McMansions that people build today because they think they need the extra room. She raised the three of us there and managed quite well, and it prepared me for life in a small NYC apartment which I love.
I am grateful that my husband just remodeled our kitchen this fall!
During the process I had a couple of weeks without counters/workspace and had to attempt to wash dishes in our tiny bathroom sink. We've got 6 adult-sized people in our family and they kept expecting to be fed! (I'm proud to say that we only caved and bought pizza twice.)
Each time I "got something back" (ie, a temporary countertop), I'd be really excited...for about half a day. And then I'd start feeling grumbly because I wanted something else.
Through this time, I've come to believe that the original sin wasn't eating the apple. The original sin was, in my opinion, discontent. "I want more."
I hope this is a lesson that I don't soon forget!
PS--it also really gave me a little bit of insight into what life must be like in places with no easy access to water. Here I was grouchy about having to walk 10 feet to the bathroom faucet, whereas some women and children walk a couple of miles and then have to haul it back with them. I am very spoiled.
Right? And we even have sinks! Bathroom sinks are better than no sink.
My heart is so easily tempted to discontent...oy.
I recently painted my cabinets from '00s yellowed honey maple to olive green and it's crazy how that change makes me hate my mauve counters a lot less. They're still going to be replaced because we're upgrading to sell, but I don't mind them for now. The big problem my boyfriend has is with his tiny kitchen is it gets terrible light. I recommend doing a deep clean and doing what you can to get nice, natural light (change out window treatments, use natural-light light bulbs) and then evaluate what you want to change.
Ooh, mauve counters are hard. But good for you for making the best of 'em!
I'm forever grateful to the previous owners here for at least choosing a neutral countertop color. Little else they chose was neutral, but at least the countertop isn't patterned or jade green like the floor was.
My kitchen is small also, and has a pretty bad layout. It's a sort of galley style, with a doorway at each end. The floor is ugly tan vinyl adhesive tiles, the countertops are horrid green formica, the walls are a poor attempt at stucco. I have no pantry. The cupboard are honey oak.
So far we haven't done much to this room (we've been in this house almost 5 years, and it was a fixer-upper). We did change the cabinet hardware and put in a nice new faucet. Like you, I have hardly any small appliances, because there is simply nowhere to put them. I could store them on a shelf in the basement, but that would drive me crazy. I have a rice cooker, a small food processor, a Vitamix, and an old-school coffeemaker. That's it. My pots and pans hang from a rack above the small rolling island in the center. It's a decent way to store them but I know it makes the room feel smaller. Also the lighting is terrible so it's always somewhat dim in the evenings.
But I remind myself of women who have to cook outside! I remind myself of women who would faint at the sight of how much food is in our refrigerator, that our children never know true hunger. Gosh, there is nothing to complain about! Clean water at the touch of a tap, electricity to power our refrigerator, a dishwasher that literally washes our dishes for us, and natural gas running to our stove where it's so easy to cook multiple things at once! Am I sometimes envious of my friend's enormous custom-built kitchen with every appliance imaginable and seemingly miles of marble countertops? Yes. But I think if I actually had that, after a little while, I would get used to it and I would only want more. So I'm better off with my little humble cozy kitchen. 🙂
Isn't running water wonderful? It's like magic. And it comes in hot and cold, too. Perfect for showers. (No, I'm not being sarcastic. Running hot water is one of life's wonderful luxuries.)
William B - I so agree with you about hot running water!
My three favourite words in your post are 'little, humble, cozy'. It sounds lovely 🙂
Thank you for this post on being content! We have an old 100 year old + farmhouse, and while the kitchen is spacious, the counters are small, the fridge is a mile across the room, and I have ONE outlet that is convenient to use. When we moved in, in 1994, the decor was very dated and busy. However...in 2006, I went away for one week to visit my sister. While I was gone, an Amish crew came in and stripped the wallpaper, and painted my walls, cabinets, and the dark panelling that was just... yuck. Hardly a day goes by that I don't love the transformation. While I would make changes, I am so thankful for what I have! Most of the time. 🙂
Hi there. You kitchen looks so nice now! Love the wood floors. I regret not putting wood in my kitchen when I did the rest of the house.
Can I make a suggestion for when you do add a new back splash and counters? Put your black splash all the way to the counter rather than having that little ledge going up. It extends your eye, has a clean look, and makes the back splash sooo much easier to clean. When I told my tile guys what I wanted they thought it would look stupid but admitted how much nicer it looked. He took a picture for his wife so when they did theirs. If you want to see what it looks like, let me know and I will post it on your FB page.
Yes, that's my plan! I want the countertops to go all the way to the wall, and they'll meet the backsplash there. It'll give me just a teeny bit more counter space in addition to looking nice and neat.
Good to know my idea isn't crazy!
Nope, not crazy at all. I never knew why that ledge was there to begin with. And you're right, that teeny bit of space helps!
I did just that and LOVE it! Plus it visually does not break up the back splash space so it looks much better. We made our changes overtime as well and were able to find a very good price on granite. We got quite a bit of counterspace and we chose a bit of an outdated, aka more busy granite, but it had the color combo I wanted so only cost 1800 installed. For the backsplash I bought beadboard and I installed that myself so that only cost $100 including everything. BTW you should get a free sink with the granite:-)
Yes, I've heard that a sink comes with the granite. Woohoo!
Oh, I almost could have written this post! Thank you for it! Not that I have a bad kitchen -- it's not perfect or large, but it works well for me -- it's that I got SO TIRED of HGTV showing us all these people declaring a kitchen was just too dark, too small, too dated, too whatever, to cook in. I drove my kids crazy with my rants when we would see those complaints on television. My grandmother lived in a tiny house with a teeny-tiny kitchen and she cooked every day, and cooked well. She had 16 over for Thanksgiving every year for years -- we had to push the living room furniture against the walls and open up her dining table which sat in the living room -- there was no dining room and no room for the table in the kitchen. The refrigerator faced the stove in her galley kitchen and one could open the oven door or the refrigerator, but not both. Whoever was cooking at the stovetop had to move so the refrigerator could be opened and both were right at the entrance to the kitchen. She had only about a foot of countertop between stove and sink, and another foot of countertop following the sink to the end of the single strip of cabinets she had in there.
As you said, Kristen, we have water, electricity, heat and cooling (most of us anyway) and at least some modern conveniences like coffee makers, dishwashers, toasters, and mixers. I am glad to be reminded to count my blessings, because I have many to count.
Dear lord, our home have the same issue, my husband it's a very practical guy, so when we was looking a home to buy he was very worry about the heat system (brand new) the roof and stuff... The kitchen, acording to him, was just a "little old" which means: full reno on 70's U.U ... My home is like 70 to 80 years older than yours so the kitchen it's pretty new ah? ... Anyway, i'm following your steps and trying to do small things one by one and today ( 2 years later) it looks REALLY different (despite the fact that the oven just decide stop to work one random day for no reason) ....
The fact after all it's: we have a home and that it's a major blessing in this city. Rents are crazy expensive.
I SOOOO needed this today. We just moved from our large house to a rental duplex due to my husband's job change. I really miss my pantry and room to store everything on the same level (now it is in the basement). It is so easy to whine and become discontent. I read on another blog once, "someone wants what you have".............so very true. "But godliness with contentment is great gain" Thanks for your blog and the perspective that I needed right now.
Wow you made huge improvements to your kitchen without a remodel! You give me hope!
I cook everday for six people and have done so for over 18 years in my kitchen. My laminent countertops are peeling, and need replaced. My cabinets have lost all their stain. I plan on using some gel stain on them after we get our garage rebuilt (we had all our barns and outbuildings burned down in the #ValleyFire. I have a smooth top stove and only half of it works right, one side of the stovetop cooks on high, regardless of what temp is set. As bad as my kitchen is, I feel so grateful my house didn't burn down.
Oh how I needed this today! My kitchen is tiny with an old fridge that is up against a wall and the door opens up on that wall (so it only opens part way before it hits the wall), no dishwasher and limited counter space. (small 'L' shape). My (carpenter) husband (yay for me!) built me a wonderful island with cabinet doors on the bottom with tons of storage and an upper shelf (in the cabinet) and electric run to it. It has been my lifesaver. The only thing I keep on top of it is my large granite cutting board, my knife block and a roll of paper towels. That way it is pretty much all prep space. I can slide my cutting board over to one side and my large 13 x 9 baking dish fits right next to it, so I can prep on the board and drop in the dish. Limited upper cabinets and no pantry, caused me to buy a really pretty armoire looking piece of furniture from my friend and I use as storage for all of my glass canisters (flour, sugar, rice, etc) and it sits right outside the kitchen next to the dining room. Years ago, he built me a really pretty hutch with some cabinets under it. So the bottom shelf of my hutch is my coffee bar (Keurig, Mr. Coffee, yes, I have both please don't judge, creamers, sugar, mugs) and the cabinets hold all my baking items (pantry and cookie cutters that sort of stuff).
So when I feel grumpy that I don't have a dishwasher (I too just use a towel laid down), I have to be so grateful for a handy husband who has made my life a lot easier. Before we moved into the house we're in, I had a very spacious kitchen with a nice dishwasher, side by side fridge and walk in pantry. But God has us where we need to be for now so I will count all my many blessings.
Lol!! Thats what just happened reading this.
While currently we are in the middle of refacing cabinets and got counters, our old house (current rental) still does in fact HAVE mauve counters AND awful tiles backsplash with bowls of fruit (not turkeys but my moms house had the turkeys!).
Oh my
Our current home had green counters and yellow cabinets. It was like Sesame Street. Cursed with bad kitchens!!
Thankfully, refacing is WAY cheaper than a gut job and our space is functional so out went dreams of large islands and double wall ovens.
Looking good now and kids can go to college too;)
I forgot to mention that you could take a nice beadboard and hot glue it over the tiles with just 3 dabs of glue temporarily. The nester did just that.
http://www.thenester.com/2010/08/making-over-a-renters-kitchen.html
Good advice. 🙂 I try to make my kitchen (and house) work the best I can. There are things that can be changed, and things that can't. But I can make the it work for us, and be grateful for things like electricity and a working stove.
Best post ever! At least for me. I have a smallish kitchen that has not been renovated in over 50 years, but I cook and entertain from it just fine. I have friends who have spent many thousands on renovations who don't enjoy their kitchens as much as I do mine. It's not about the fancy appliances and all, just about enjoying the creativity of cooking and sharing it with friends and family. If you have ever seen the photos of Julia Child's first kitchen in Paris, you know that being a cook has nothing to do with having a fancy kitchen!
i do not have a pantry either so in my hall closet i have shelves and use that. we come in our basement anyway so we hang the coats up there and sheets we keep in our closets so the hall closet is perfect.for groceries 🙂
Minimizing your ingredients can make a kitchen feel bigger. How many types of oil and/or vinegar do you need, anyway? You can infuse a portion of them with various fruits/herbs/spices to make them taste differently if you feel a need for variety--use that one up and make a different flavor next time.
This was a much needed post for most of us who have 'first world' problems. :)! I LOVE your reasons for loving your kitchen. I think it is beautiful!
Fantastic post! I live in a house built in 1952 with a kitchen that is 9ft x15ft with original 1952 cabinets, sink etc. My mantra is: 'live like it is 1952"! Back then there were no dishwashers, microwaves, food processors, special nutriblenders or fancy mixers - and no credit cards, so people only bought what they really needed. We do have a microwave and toaster oven, but no other small appliances that live on the counter.
I am always laughing at the blog posts that have makeovers of those giant pantries! I live a few miles from a Trader Joes, Aldis, Stop and Shop and Whole Foods and actually enjoy food shopping, so there is no need to overstock (though I do buy certain items at Costco and store things in the basement). I dedicate one upper cabinet and one lower cabinet to food and happily feed my two teenage boys all they can eat. Also, I am one of those people who enjoys cooking and having people over, so despite all of its shortcomings, my kitchen is always filled with happy people and good food!
when i get upset that i dont have a washer,dryer in the apartment and have to go to the buildings laundry room.i tell myself at least you have it in the building and dont have to go to a laundromat.or worse yet go down to the river and beat the clothes on a rock.
In our house bigger kitchen=more mess. Sometimes I miss our apartment teeny tiny L shaped corner of kitchen, with no windows and no exhaust fan. I used dishwasher as dish drying rack, oven as storage for all things baking related, our table as a working surface, and even the microwave served as storage once in a while. We had a big living room so tiny kitchem didn't stop us from inviting friends over, and me cooking/baking lots of delicious things. But still I'm glad we moved out of there before the baby started crawling.
I recently renovated my small kitchen and, while its still small, its much more efficient. I thought carefully about how I would use the space and what it needed to house, and I designed it accordingly. I chose a particular drawer configuration to house the appliances and enable easy access (no digging around the back of cupboards, in fact I don't have ANY cupboards, only drawers). I have no over counter cabinets, just 2 small open shelves that hold all of my glasses/crockery, but bear in mind that I only have what we need for the 2 of us e.g. 4 drinking glasses, 6 mugs, 4 plates, 4 bowls etc. I keep my grandmothers full set of beautiful china in a cabinet in the living room for special occasions when we have the extended family over. I absolutely love living this way, its simple and way less stressful for me, although I appreciate it wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea.
For all of you who pine for the beautiful "open concept kitchen", not long ago I heard a
firefighter say that fire also likes this layout. Where there is an airy open space, fire can move
quickly. I appreciate my smallish kitchen with the sliding door which separates all those cooking smells from the living room. (Burned toast anyone?)
Also, I dream of a linoleum floor to replace the slick white tiles the previous owner installed.
Not only are they like slipping on ice when they get wet, but several are cracked.
I really liked this post also.
PS - I collect rooster items.
Oh, man...if only you'd been lucky enough to have my original kitchen! You'd probably have enjoyed the wallpaper.
I lived in a tiny bachelor apartment for four years with a small size oven and fridge, and very little cabinetry but I made it work by staying organized and having a shelf in the entry closest to act as a pantry.
Now I am so grateful to have a bigger kitchen (although far from the size of the average new home), with standard size appliances and a dishwasher. Oh the dishwasher is one of the best things!!
Hello,
I agree with making things work and decluttering and yes, yes I have it much better than many. However, I have a 1950s galley kitchen with 3 feet of usable counter space and 8 oddly shaped (I think they were homemade) cupboards. Then, the cook top went (1 burner worked mostly reliably and the rest not at all) and then the oven started not working (built in and 4 inches smaller than today's ovens). Because our appliances were so much smaller than the norm, any appliance change was going to involve something major. But, we were fortunate and came into some unexpected money and we hired a designer and made the plans and renovated the kitchen. Now I have 30 cupboards. They all work fantastically, a functioning cook top and modern size oven and I find so much joy in this kitchen. I keep it cleaner, I enjoy baking more and I am so glad we were able to do this. If we hadn't, I would have still cooked with my 3 feet of counter space and the aging appliances. We did what you did before we remodeled. Took off wall paper, painted, change hardware, change lights. Anything that was an easy, relatively cheap fix. But, I am so happy I was able to do a proper remodel. Thank you for reminding us of contentment. It is a good thing to be reminded of.
Use the space to your advantage and THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX!!
We have a floating countertop in our square-ish shaped kitchen, and when we first moved in naturally I purchased stools to put under it. What else are floating countertops for? Well we never used the stools, they just managed to get shuffled and kicked around a little and when someone DID use a stool they were then in the way of making supper (not much countertop). Nonetheless they weren't working for our family - AND THATS OK!
We got rid of them, no one missed them.
What we got a little while later was a three bin laundry hamper. Yes that's right, a laundry hamper.
No, it is not used for laundry instead we line the bins with large clear garbage bags for our recycling - in Nova Scotia Canada, you cannot use bins, you have to use bags. So we have one bag for cardboard/paper, one for plastics/aluminum, and one for refundables (bottles, cans) this we take to a depot and get reimbursed some of our deposit.
I don't LOVE our laundry hamper recycling centre but it is 100% functional, fits in the space PERFECTLY - literally can place the kids stool beside it and that is it. It holds an entire garbage bag and on recycling day I pull up and toss to the road. It also washes up easily (turn inside out and throw in the wash), and is very functional when tidying kitchen as it only needs emptied once a week or so - meaning it can fit a lot without much effort/going to basement garage etc.... and lastly what I really love, is my next house may not have this counter, it also may not be in Nova Scotia so we may use recycling bins again - who knows?! But my laundry sorter, can be used in a garage to sort basketballs/soccer balls/etc, a playroom for stuffed animals and dolls etc, or one day a laundry room or wide hallway for laundry is in it's future - at least hopefully 😉