22 September 2018

Kitchen photos




For years we've talked about having our kitchen here remodeled — putting in a new kitchen with a different arrangement for cabinets and appliances. It would be especially nice to have more storage space in there. Right now, racks for hanging pots, pans, and other utensils help a lot. Still, we store a lot of kitchen items in the closet in our guest room and in a cabinet in the den where we have Walt's computer workstation and our library.




The idea of living in a construction zone is not appealing. We did it in San Francisco, but there we both worked for a living and we were out of the house when the work was actually being done. Here, we'd have to experience the noise and dust first-hand. As you might know, we spend a lot of our time in the kitchen.

This the new dishwasher we just had installed. It's a Bosch model — not the fanciest but not a low-end model either. We had a Whirlpool dishwasher for 15 years and it got a lot of use. This one should last as long. It really doesn't seem to be much quieter than the old Whirlpool was, but it's quiet enough for us. We normally run it overnight, and we don't hear it.




Anyway, the kitchen is perfectly functional, and we've done our best to make it efficient and pleasant. We've been here for 15 years now. We're on our second refrigerator, our third kitchen stove, and now our second dishwasher. Getting new appliances creates good opportunities for  "spring cleaning" — no matter what the season.




The area of the kitchen itself is about 12.5 m². That's nearly 134 ft², and it's square at about 11½ x 11½ feet. Our kitchen in San Francisco was about the same size, so it didn't look too small when we saw the house in 2002 and decided to buy it. We took down the door that closed it off from the living room. Cabinets, sink, and tile were in place. We just had to buy appliances.


The refrigerator, dishwasher, and stove are tucked into one corner. The kitchen is open to the living/dining room, and the appliances are what they call pose-libre models, not built-ins. Here's an example of some of the food we cook: pulled-pork seasoned with North Carolina BBQ sauce, French fries made from fresh potatoes, and lettuce with a mustardy coleslaw-style dressing.

Today, it'll be
blanquette de veau.

16 comments:

  1. do u have any kind of ventilation for the stove?

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    1. We have an extractor fan over the stove that vents steam etc. up a chimney to the outdoors. We had the fan put in 10 years ago. The hood structure was already there.

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  2. I think your kitchen looks perfectly fine. If you know how to cook, you can make great meals in any kitchen. I've learned that in the very small, rustic kitchens in gites we've rented throughout France. I had an aunt in Mew York who would have her kitchen totally renovated every 10 years or so. And she couldn't cook and didn't like to cook. The only thing I would look to change in your kitchen is more counter space for chopping and preparation. But having seen photos of what you make, you certainly have no problems cooking in that kitchen.

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    1. We have a table de charcutier in the middle of the kitchen that serves as a sort of island. It has a marble table top on it, so it's good for making pastry. And we use a heavy resin cutting board on it for chopping and slicing. I kind of like a small kitchen. You have to take fewer steps to move from one task or work area to another.

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    2. Ah, now I see. And I too like a small kitchen.

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    3. Very good! Like a friend once said of our kitchen: It's a very functional kitchen. And like yours, it is well-used. Over the years we've gone on various house tours, and often several of the houses had very high-end kitchens; you know, giant gleaming steel refrigerators and ovens, granite counter tops, and so on. The only thing missing was the feeling that the owners actually cooked in it.

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    4. Bob, it does often feel that people put in very sophisticated, grand kitchens, and then just microwave prepared foods without ever doing much cooking.

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  3. Some fine meals come out of that kitchen! Taking the doors off made it modern. It's easy to grab a pot that's hanging rather than opening a drawer, plus those pots look nice.

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    1. Good point, Evelyn. You know, we took the doors off our wall-mounted kitchen cabinets for the same reason. It's easier to see what you have, and easier to keep it all organized when it's not all hidden from view.

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  4. I echo what Evelyn said. Your kitchen feels, to me, like a well-oiled machine...everything is used, everything is accessible, it is attractive, and it allows you to produce wonderful cuisine bourgeoise on a daily basis. It feels like Julia Child's kitchen, really. That's what it makes me think of. I was so thrilled to be able to stand in your kitchen last summer!

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    1. I bet Julia's kitchen was a lot bigger... I do like our kitchen, but there are things I would change if I could do so easily.

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  5. Please don’t change your kitchen floor, I’ve always loved it!

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    1. Do you have news about what has happened in New Bern? I hope your friends are all okay.

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  6. In your pictures, the kitchen floor is redder than in Walt's. Interesting, the difference in cameras.
    Saw this AP story on North Carolina this afternoon: https://www.yahoo.com/news/small-north-carolina-town-latest-040610087.html

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    1. Yes, every camera is different. My older digital cameras, with which I took one of the pictures showing the floor, has a "vivid" color setting that I like. The newer camera I use doesn't have a setting like that. I don't know what settings Walt's camera has or what settings he uses. Reds are often over-saturated in the images that come out of digital cameras. Thanks for the link.

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