Earlier this winter Roxanne at
The Haven of Home wrote up a 5/5/5 post about her kitchen. I love her idea and I'm stealing it!
Here's my kitchen and my 5/5/5 list ---the 5 things I like about my kitchen, the 5 things that don't work so well for me and the 5 things I would change.
5 Things I love about my kitchen
The light. Certain hours of the day, sunlight floods the room from several windows. Sometimes (usually only when the kitchen is clean : ) I like to sit at the bar stools and marvel at the brilliant sunlight creating wide swaths of light across the warm wood floors and cabinets. I've never had a kitchen with so much natural light and that is my favorite thing about this kitchen hands down.
It isn't fancy -- it's a farmhouse. If you look at the designer kitchen in magazines or builder's books its easy to find yourself wanting a top of the line designer kitchen that costs more than what most people pay for the whole house. But when it comes right down to it, those kitchens aren't me. This kitchen is. It's plain, simple, a little worn around the edges, it's certainly seen a lot of dirt but there are so many happy memories in this kitchen. I have the plant my mom gave me 10 years ago for my birthday -- such a good day. So many happy times around the table for holiday meals and visits with my sister, spreading cookies out on the counter to frost. Then there's the time George bumped into me at the sink as I was doing dishes and smiled as he said to me these are the best days of our lives. My kitchen reminds me of the kitchen I grew up in -- not in looks or layout but in how so much of my life takes place in it.
The counter space is fantastic. I've never had so much counter space and it is such a treat! The space to the right of the stove is my favorite -- so much so that I really have to work hard at keeping the clutter there to a minimum - it is just so handy for setting stuff down.
The top of the cabinets over the sink. Of course this could also be one of the drawbacks because it collects so much dust and isn't easy to clean. But, I love the space; it is the perfect place to display the little white house with ivy trailing down.
The bar area. I've never had a kitchen counter that I could pull up a stool and sit down at. Turns out it is very handy!
Now, the 5 4 things I'm not so crazy about:
It's old. At the risk of sounding like an ungrateful malcontent --- I want a whole new kitchen -- cabinets, counters and appliances whaaaaaa. These elements are closing in on 30 years of wear and tear. I can't depend on the oven to turn on when needed and there are no parts to be had for it. I left a brand new kitchen at my old house. It was so..... perfect and I miss the new, freshness of it. Actually I feel kind of bad about wanting a new kitchen because this one is functional and there are so many things I like about it. George and I are such thrifty savers, and I'm sure this is probably hard for some people to believe, but we have a hard time treating ourselves to something new. This would be a great time to remodel the kitchen while George is off work because generally when we want to do a house project, he doesn't have the free time. (Yes, he's off because he is supposed to be taking it easy, but between the two of us we can do it pretty easily -- we've learned lots of tricks over the years)
No dishwasher. I would love to have one just to the left of the sink, but I'm not willing to give up the cabinet space so that's the end of the conversation. Sniff.
The sliding door. We don't use the slider very much because it has several problems, it is very narrow as far as sliders go (much narrower than a regular door opening) it doesn't slide smoothly and the step down to the outside is a little steep, but not steep enough to bother putting a cement step outside. Boy do I feel whiny typing that. I just want it to be different, better and easily workable. George has had the whole unit out twice and plied all the tricks of the trade and it works a little better and that's as good as it's going to get.
The almond appliances and counter tops. This kitchen was put in when almond was the colour of choice. I can't stand it. It is my personal view that all residential kitchen appliances should fresh, bright white -- never black and certainly not stainless steel. Amen.
Now the things I would like to change (other than everything listed above:)
The window sill over the sink. Years ago George made a beautiful oak window sill that was wide enough to set plants on for my old house and I just loved it! I've been wanting to have one in this house too.
The fridge. I would like to have a larger refrigerator, but alas, there isn't room for a larger one because I'm not willing to give up counter and cabinet space, so I'll just have to go with keeping the fridge neat and organized.
The upper cabinets. I would lower the cabinets on either side of the sink 2 inches. That would give me just enough room to comfortably reach things from the top shelf.
The sink. It should be white fake cast iron,(because you will kill yourself putting in a cast iron sink and break all your glass -- ask me how I know). I would also be deeper.
The bar stools. The ones I have were free, so no complaints about that, but a hard wooden stool is not known for it's comfort. Ever since trying out a very padded saddle back stool I know there is no other bar stool for me. It's on my "some day this year" list to replace these with the nice comfy stools.
