Kitchen photos, you say?
Ilva has asked to see kitchen photos and I am compelled to comply.
I blame a web stat for this.
See, back in October of 2005, way back when Belly Timber was less than a year old and our notion of search strings was all shiny and new, we discovered something quite amusing: More people showed up on our doorstep because they’d googled “messy kitchen†then for any other reason.
The cause of this glorious notoriety was the photo I’d posted on our About page. Yes, that photo.
Funny thing, though: That wasn’t a photo of our current kitchen on San Juan Island. It was a photo of our Portland kitchen – a kitchen we’d deserted ten months earlier. So, not wanting to disappoint Seekers of the Mess, we then posted new photos of our new messy kitchen, complete with messy diagrams. Little did we know where that would lead.
Just a day later, Kevin took up the gauntlet (we’d thrown a gauntlet?) and posted photos of his kitchen. Shortly thereafter, Kalyn followed suit, and within hours of this first trio of posts, Kevin declared it a “movement†and announced it on Food Blog S’cool. Soon, everyone was showing off their kitchens and soon it became apparent that ours was indeed the messiest.
In fact, our messy kitchen photos took on a life of their own, appearing in unexpected places, sometimes even illustrating a cautionary tale, or a “how not to†Q&A on a blog far more serious than our own. (Geez, people, we thought, don’t you ever make messes when you cook?)
And now? Now we’re back in that Portland kitchen and though it’s still messy, it isn’t quite as messy as it was before. There’s a reason for that. (No, we didn’t clean up for the camera this time.) We’ve a new tale to tell: We’re renovating.
See that corner just past the stove? We’ve got a gas cooktop for that corner. It’s going in at a 45 degree angle, with a nice big counter that stretches from near the doorway over to the drawers just right of the sink. Above it, we’ll have a range hood, and instead of those half-broken drawers? A dishwasher – our first kitchen ever with a dishwasher! Oh, and that scungy linoleum floor’s going away, and needless to say, we’re painting the walls and the ceiling, and check this out:
It’s our work island. Cute, eh? Don’t worry, it won’t be that small forever. Soon it’ll be taller, and have shelving, and be suitable for vegetable slicing in all its butcher-blocky glory. And just beyond it, we’ll have more counter space, and storage space, and (oh, I love this part!) a pot rack above so we’ll finally have a place for all our pots!
Oh, and… shhhh… we’ve got a secret:
We’re barely spending anything.
How’s that?
It’s like this:
- All the paint? We’ve got from the
Habitat for Humanity storeHabitat ReStore and from the mis-tinted five-buck-a-gallon section at Rodda. - The gas cooktop is from the last time my brother renovated his kitchen. We snagged it at his yard sale for free.
- The pot rack, Chopper’s step dad made from copper pipe scraps at his place of work.
- The butcher block island is an old table my sister’s restoring for us as a Christmas present.
- The shelving? We’re building it ourselves and the lumber’s all used cedar decking, free from Craig’s List.
We’re still on the prowl for flooring, more counter tops, a dishwasher, and an oven (or a double-decker, if we’re extra lucky), and we’d die happy if we could score replacement cupboards, and of course this would be tons easier if we could just hire a contractor or buy everything new, but here’s what makes this extra cool:
Not only have we spent just twenty bucks on the entire project so far, we are saving trees from the lumber mill and junk from the landfill! We are frugal eco-warriors! Woohoo!
And, naturally, because we’ve got lots of searching and building to do, this project will take quite a while, and that means one thing for certain: many many messy kitchen days in our future!
Thanks! Oh how I like seeing a messy kitchen, it feels like home!
How fun hearing about what you’re doing with your kitchen. Please give us photos are the project unfolds. Congratulations on the dishwasher. The one I have now is my very first dishewasher I ever owned, so I can relate to how exciting it is.
Hey, if it’s like our ongoing DIY kitchen remodel, it’ll be at least 2 years in the making… Having a vent hood for the first time has been pretty amazing.
By the way, your floor appears to be *vinyl*, not linoleum. They’re very different! :^) For example, linoleum is considered a ‘green’ product, vinyl is not.
Good luck with the project, and tracking down more pieces!
Ilva, if a kitchen’s too clean, I’m suspicious. I look and I think, hmmm… so you order take out how many times a week? ;-)
Kalyn, trust me, there will be photos! We don’t have a dishwasher just yet though – that’s bound to be another Craig’s List item — but we do know where we want to put it when we get it! (A while ago we had one of those roll around kind with the hose attachment for the sink. Ugh. Damn hose kept falling off and spewing water everywhere. Now, it’s built-in or nothing!)
Tricia: Is it vinyl? To be honest, I haven’t the foggiest. I just call it “ugly and in dire need of replacing.” We’ve been looking for used flooring at Habitat for Humanity, but so far, nothing’s been right. This’ll probably be the hardest part of the project — and clearly it requires more research.
You got a job to do. That ain’t nearly messy enough.
Get messin’.
That project sounds like a lot of fun! Should you need any mechanical engineer-ish ideas or puzzlings, Dan would be happy to help. He’s pretty decent with a Mikita, too ;-)
I cannot cook without making a huge mess. Luckily I married I guy that goes right along behind me cleaning up! It’s a wonderful marraige.
I love your kitchen!
Miz D,
I think it’s time for a new movement, one not involving the bowels if our kitchens.
Lovely kitchen – But not nearly messy enough!
Oh, you crazy people, actually liking our messy kitchen!
(And don’t worry: It’s much messier today. Chopper brewed beer.)
Kathy, you know I may take you up on that. We like men with drills.
I’m still smiling …nice post
ummm… wow. Just, wow. Your kitchen would have made me ballistic. Or suicidal. Or both. Probably both. Good job on your “new” kitchen. I admire your ability to find “useless” items and make them work for you. We had no place for a built-in dishwasher so had the plumber affix a hose directly into the water line. (You can see it by my sink.) No more moving that puppy back and forth to the sink. No more leaking water (or gushing water as the case may be). It works for us. Thanks for a great post. Good luck with your kitchen.
Anjali, we will be smiling too — when it’s all done!
Hey Sally, both is about right for me on many days, but trust me: the kitchen is in good shape compared to certain other areas of the house. We have much much work to do all around.
BTW (glancing at your photos), Chopper will be jealous of your slow cooker. He wants one for his birthday.
Thanks for the mention of the Habitat for Humanity store. We are actually called the “Habitat ReStore”. I mention this since ReStores are popping up all over the country [over 500 at last count] and the branding of that name is going to start taking off.
Anyone wanting to have an idea of some of the items we get in month to month should go to our website http://www.pdxrestore.org and sign up for our monthly enewsletter; in it I include lots of updates on whats currently in the store.
Thanks again for the mention.
Hey, you’re welcome, Joe. We’ll be shopping there again (and again) and I’ll do a write up of the place — and get the name right! You do great work there.
ps: linkie name all fixed. :-)
Great job with the recycling of materials for the kitchen – wish people would do it more. Consumption patterns are THE sustainability issue – Reduce, Reuse and only then Recycle!
Hey guys i was thinking it looks so clean!! What’s this about a dishwasher?? Do I smell pine-sol in that picture. No.. wait, it was my imagination or my lack of medication!!- Love you guys
I don’t understand all this talk about “messy kitchen.” The more the kitchen get used for cooking, isn’t it going to be “messier” with cooking utensils and ingredients laying on counters instead of in its own space in shelves or cabinets? After all, we eat 3 meals a day and use it 3 times a day at least (unless we work outside of house). I think your kitchen looks fine.
I think you’re right, Jill. All those sparkly clean kitchens? Those people order way too much take-out.