Our Classy Kitchen

So far I've been showing the nice rooms, the ones that needed just a bit of work to make them comfortable, and while we intend to go through this house, room by room, to get it where we want it to be, there are some rooms that need less work than the others.  Then there's the kitchen.



There are so many things not to love about the kitchen.  The floor:

not only is it hideous, it's in terrible shape.











The tile.  Again, ugly, chipped, cracked.  And yellow, my very least favorite color.










And this horrible addition of tile behind the range from the 70s.  It was so hideous I hung a framed poster over the stove to hide most of it.  The stove is not centered on the tile backsplash, because someone installed a hideous gas line that sticks out ---






The 'new' gas line for the stove.  In the worst possible place, and a lovely feature you see as you walk into the kitchen.  Note my clever trash bin camouflage.

The acoustic ceiling tiles and the loudest industrial fan ever.  It works, but it sounds like a jet engine.





 




The outlet for the (ugly) room air conditioner. It just hangs out there.  The air conditioner itself is hideous, but until we can get central air and central heat, it is going to have to stick around.  The front panel is on the floor behind the space heater.  The space heater is there because this kitchen is also serving as our bathing area and it gets kind of COLD in here when you're doing your bathing out of the sink.







The "installation" of the dishwasher - just shoved up against the wall with the insulation/plastic all hanging out.  (but it does work! and I'm grateful to have a dishwasher after the last place we rented that didn't have one).  Just not loving the classy look.










The flourescent ceiling fixture.  More view of the lovely acoustic tile ceiling.  There was also a sticky ceiling fan over the seating area, but I took that hideous thing out as we were moving in.  When you turned it on, it rocked back and forth in a dangerous fashion - and it was, well, hideous.






The thing I dislike most about the kitchen is that it's completely cut off from the rest of the house.  All these things will be remedied in time, and there ARE some things that I do LIKE about the kitchen......

I like the wall hung faucet, deep porcelain sink, and the large windows that face the south side.  It's always sunny and cheerful in here.  (lovely cracked tile and the window itself, like all the windows in the house need to be replaced).

Like a lot of California kitchens, there are built-in breadboards.  This house has 2 of them.  Lots of big cabinets, and drawers I haven't even filled yet. 

Yum, Cocoa Krispies.

It has a nice dining area - it looks hideous right now, but Dale and I find ourselves sitting here often in front of the large window that opens out over the front porch, chatting at the end of the day.  I want to build in some window seats, it's a really nice place to sit.  Oh, lovely blue velvet curtains - those are there for privacy for now, since we have to strip down in the kitchen to wash up, and this front window is HUGE and faces the street.  After the bathroom is done, I'll change these to something more attractive.


The other thing this kitchen has that I like is a pocket door so you can close off the noise of the dishwasher and jet engine fan if you need to.  I love pocket doors. 



We're going to have to live with this kitchen for a couple of years - there are bigger priorities to get done  - if we first add on a bathroom, we can get a new appraisal and get more favorable financing terms, so that's the next thing in line after getting the bathroom done.  The addition off the master bedroom will enlarge the bedroom, add a bath and a laundry area and open out to the patio.  Then we'll get central heat and air done, running ducts and all, then finally, we'll do the kitchen.  So I have to make it livable for the next couple of years the way it kind of is.  Maybe change the floor and build the window seats.  Maybe add a pass-through to the living room to open it up a bit.  Some temporary measures until we can get the whole thing overhauled.  But for now, well, this is our classy kitchen!