When it was for sale, the company staged the area with a little bistro set, but I just thought that looked crowded. For a while we had a small table and two benches in there, but all that did was give Norm a way to climb on top of the table and look out the window. And eat my curtains. During the last Halloween party we moved our "pantry" cupboard into that area, and we've found it fits perfectly and is very convenient:
It was clear that we would never sit in there to eat, and what I really needed was more STORAGE and ideally WORK SPACE. Trying to make 12 dozen + cookies for the yearly exchange is pretty hard with only 4 square feet of usable counter top. Solution? Craigslist!
I started looking at kitchen islands, and found a couple who were remodelling and getting rid of theirs. It actually appeared in fairly good shape, had an ugly but good condition laminate top - in much better shape than the rest of my ugly laminate counters - and they accepted my offer. So with the help of my parents and a station wagon, we loaded it up and took it home!
I love it! This sucker was HEAVY, which is good - solid wood, well constructed, and lots of work AND storage space. It actually goes really well with my existing cupboards too! I can replace all of the hardware with matching drawer pulls if I get ambitious, and some day I'll hope to get new counter tops, but for now - I'm just loving the functionality.
I filled it up right away. I was a little sad that my vintage Kitchen-Aid mixer wouldn't fit underneath (too tall) but even on top it is more out of the way than it has been. And I did fit lots of my GIANT Tupperware containers, a toaster, waffle maker, quesadilla maker, Foreman grill, TWO blenders (not sure how that happened), a malt machine, cupcake tins, and lots of serving pieces. AWESOME. I am so excited not to have to run upstairs every time I bake to retrieve pans, or have the giant unwieldy Tupperware sitting out. And boy, did I organize our utensils:
A whole drawer for spoons and ladles! Another one for spatulas and tongs! BE STILL MY HEART! The middle drawer is all the nicer serving utensils. All in one place. These were previously crammed in to 2 drawers which now hold BBQ & cutting tools (like the pizza cutter, apple corer) and one that has all the baking utensils like measuring cups and whisks.
It's like a totally new kitchen. Because it's counter height, Norm can't get up on top of it now. I feel so organized, which is inspiring. I can get at my pots and pans. Maybe I should actually start cooking now?
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