Never meant to be a show stopper, it has proven itself as the work horse it was meant to be. Recently I found myself in the midst of several tasks and thought I'd show you the process. Although I do tidy up the kitchen every evening and start clean every morning, during the day the space is usually chaos. All of the following pics were taken while standing on our staircase leading to the upstairs rooms.
Working from the left is our small refrigerator with semi dinky freezer on top. It needed defrosting, thus the open door and exposed towel to soak up the drips. To its right is our washing machine full of dirty clothes soon to be placed outside on the clothes line. Dirty clothes basket in bottom cubby to the right of that and bag of freezer items in Aldi's bag on floor.
Note the bag of flour on the counter, I was also making bread that day, and the beans in the sink drainer as well as freshly picked green beans in the sink itself are being washed. Later that afternoon the beans were all pressure canned.
The yellow box in another bottom cubby, contains all the regular tools we need for immediate house repairs, a hammer, nails, screws, a drill etc...Directly under the sink is garbage for burning. My blue "backsplash" is just painted on but the paint is high quality enamel and very easy to wash clean. Moving around the kitchen...
You'll see the stove on the far right. I had moved the green beans to the kitchen table for cutting, so I could wash the breakfast dishes before canning the beans. On the stove I'm heating water to fill the bean jars which will be placed on our homemade concrete counter top after I do the dishes and put them away. We run the gas stove with a small propane tank located just outside the kitchen. The tank is refilled approximately every 6 months when Keith hauls it to the local Big R store.
Everything I need is within reach in this kitchen, all my baking supplies for example are in the middle cubby just to the left of the stove. Looking at this picture, I am surprised there is not a visible path worn in the concrete yet, as most mornings all I do is go back and forth between frig, sink and stove.
I often use our oval shaped kitchen table as more counter space, right now you can see canning book resources on it, but even then I could easily use yet another 10 feet or more of counter. I make do some days by placing my large wooden cutting board on top my washing machine. It makes a great place for stacking up canning jars in wait to be filled. I can also stack pots and pans on top of our rocket mass stove, which also serves as a great cooling place for cookies, or hot bread since it is never used in the summer.
Moving to the far end of my food prep area...
you can see our rocket mass stove and more storage in the metal rack behind it. On the side of the gas stove I keep a barrel of honey and containers for composting materials which are emptied in our compost pile every day. Above the gas stove are the pots and pans I use everyday with my beloved cast iron pans on a small stand behind the honey barrel.
So there it is. An everyday homesteaders kitchen.
I like it. I think that enamel paint is a great idea. It shows what one can do on so little, and in this day and age of over inflated houses and egos we need a down to earth viewpoint to keep our keels stabilized.
ReplyDeleteMy keel is only slightly more stabilized than it was a decade ago, but still, there's progress. It is amazing though how creative one can be when one is income challenged!
DeleteIt looks like a great set up. I don't think I could work in it but that has nothing to do with the functionality. I find that if there are too many things visually, I just can't concentrate. It's an overload thing for me. Beautiful countertops!
ReplyDeleteI am that way with my writing, pens must be in their holders, paper in the right place, splash of whiskey in my glass, lighting must be bright and my desk cleared. But that all happens in a whole different building on our place. In my kitchen I do ok with everything out of place but it must be put back together at bedtime or I can't sleep!
DeleteI love it. You're a brave lady to show your kitchen in the middle of the food preservation rush :) And I literally zoomed in the picture and laughed out loud - you and I buy a lot of the same things at Aldi! The red lids on those Aldi peanut butter jars fit on canning jars perfectly btw - perfect for not messing with the band and lid after you've opened something.
ReplyDelete"Typical" kitchen remodels are insanely expensive. It doesn't make the food taste any better. :) We gutted our kitchen when we moved in, no choice. Spray painted the metal cupboards, reused stained the 50's countertop, refinished the "pickled" hardwood floor (hundreds of staple holes after we ripped up the many layers of linoleum) and salvaged everything we could. Except the yellow plastic tiles, drew the line at that one.
Brave or stupid, it's a fine line. I also love to zoom in on peoples pics, there is so much information there isn't it? And thanks so much for the info on the red PB jar lids fitting caning jars. I had no idea!
DeleteLove the pots and pans on your wall!
ReplyDeleteThanks. Vertical storage is everything here
DeleteVery French, with all those open shelves and curtains. You still find very small versions of your kitchen in grand chateaux.
ReplyDeleteMerci! The open concept is handy for grabbing things but so handy for keeping things clean. I'll pull out a glass and find carrot pieces stuck to it. Go figure.
DeleteIt's a lovely kitchen and I've never understood the need to spend so much money to have a shiny, fitted kitchen. I hate fitted kitchens! Is it the way the photo was taken or is your kitchen curved? It doesn't looks square to me.I nearly bought a house once,just because it had a round kitchen!!!
ReplyDeleteThank you and our kitchen is most definitely curved. We converted a round 21 ft diameter grain bin into our home three summers ago. If you go back to the beginning of my blog you can see how we did it.
DeleteAnd, like a true farm kitchen, you have the fresh eggs right out on the counter. Most folks don't know you don't have to refridgerate eggs if you don't take wash off the bloom. Otherwise, if you had longer arms, you would never actually have to move from place in that kitchen. Nice job!
ReplyDeleteYou bet cha! Eggs on the counter everyday. We eat tons of them so they are always being rotated. Newest collected eggs go in the bottom of the bowl and work themselves up, with my help of course.
DeleteI imagine you would have to be very organized in your little house. I have a small kitchen but I think it's a smidge bigger than yours! Have you ever thought of doing your canning outside?
ReplyDeleteI am more organized here than I was in our 3000 SF Farm house we used to live in. Truly, a place for everything and everything in its place as there is no room to do anything else. During the day the place gets messy with all our activities but at night it gets tidy again. Still, I collect too much. There room for more downsizing.
DeleteYes, you are right in the insane cost of remodeling anything today, Donna. While we are thankful that the apt management where we currently live gave us an upgraded kitchen this year, it didn’t increase space or functionality, only appearances. But I have to admit having new cabinets that do not need shelf paper to cover up old stains, etc. is great! Thanks for the tour and the commentary. It looks like the space works well for you with adaptations.
ReplyDelete"Appearances" must not be underrated, however. Just finished cleaning my kitchen for guests coming this afternoon (so happy they gave us warning) and missing a bit, my old cupboard doors, where I could hide things!
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