We are about to make a really big mess....
A good friend of mine once called my kitchen "dysfunctional."
I thought that was a little harsh, but I get what she meant. This 125-year old farmhouse wasn't designed for the 50-person farm-to-table dinners we occasionally put on, let alone for the daily puzzle of hosting and feeding 2 to 21 bed and breakfast guests. With one small bank of cabinets and a single 10-foot countertop, a "work triangle" can't really happen in this space and the flow leaves something to be desired, to say the least. We have creative chaos rather than productive feng-shui, to be sure. But now that we are on the verge of creating our dream kitchen, I find it's hard to let go of the one I know.
Constraints are like haiku - they force you to make something magical with what you have. Having it all is never all it's cracked up to be, and making due is just plain satisfying on so many levels. For one thing, you don't expect perfection from an old kitchen. The cracks and chips and out-of-level angles are charming, endearing. Once you start introducing new elements, the old elements can seem shamefully shabby. How much imperfection can I remove without taking all the character away? I am not sure.
We don't have unlimited resources, so the opportunity to make everything slick and new isn't truly an option. The trick is to fix the dysfunction and leave the charm. Hope we'll succeed. In the meantime, you can see what we're saving on our Kitchen Remod pinterest board.
I thought that was a little harsh, but I get what she meant. This 125-year old farmhouse wasn't designed for the 50-person farm-to-table dinners we occasionally put on, let alone for the daily puzzle of hosting and feeding 2 to 21 bed and breakfast guests. With one small bank of cabinets and a single 10-foot countertop, a "work triangle" can't really happen in this space and the flow leaves something to be desired, to say the least. We have creative chaos rather than productive feng-shui, to be sure. But now that we are on the verge of creating our dream kitchen, I find it's hard to let go of the one I know.
Constraints are like haiku - they force you to make something magical with what you have. Having it all is never all it's cracked up to be, and making due is just plain satisfying on so many levels. For one thing, you don't expect perfection from an old kitchen. The cracks and chips and out-of-level angles are charming, endearing. Once you start introducing new elements, the old elements can seem shamefully shabby. How much imperfection can I remove without taking all the character away? I am not sure.
We don't have unlimited resources, so the opportunity to make everything slick and new isn't truly an option. The trick is to fix the dysfunction and leave the charm. Hope we'll succeed. In the meantime, you can see what we're saving on our Kitchen Remod pinterest board.
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