Kitchen Transformational

I moved to Sandpoint about 3 1/2 years ago and moved in with my then boyfriend now husband, Jon. He has lived here all his life and has lived in the same house for 30 years. He’s raised two boys in the house and you could kind of tell.
We did a bunch of remodeling when I first moved up, replacing the floors, doors, and trim in the living room and the bedrooms right away. We removed old wallpaper and repainted. About a year later we worked over one of the bathrooms. Then we added a garden out back and replaced the old aluminum frame windows with something that didn’t grow mold all winter.
All the time we’ve been working on the house, we knew we would eventually remodel the kitchen but it seemed like such a daunting task. We use our kitchen a lot and cook dinner from scratch almost every night. I bake bread and other treats on a regular basis.
We don’t have TV so we spend most of our evenings hanging out cooking and eating. What would our life be like living without a kitchen for the time it took to remodel? Would we be able to endure it? We’re starting to find out.
This is no simple remodel. The cabinets and appliances are all being replaced and, most importantly, we’re replacing the floor. This means at some point, we will have to empty everything out of the kitchen. No fridge, no oven, and no horizontal surfaces (unless you include the floor, which we can’t, since we’re replacing it)
We’re still in the beginning stages of the remodel so I’m guessing it’s going to get a lot worse, but I’ve already starting to realize it’s not going to be easy.
The first thing I did was pack up anything that I thought we could live without for a few months. Those sushi plates that are so beautiful to look at and that I only use once a year (maybe) were an easy call. So were the Santa mugs (please, let us be done before Christmas).
The Cuisinart was a harder decision. I use it fairly regularly but couldn’t I realistically do without it for this relatively brief time and just chop stuff up the old fashioned way? I packed it and two weeks later I was wishing I hadn’t.
However, one lesson I’ve learned during this packing extravaganza is that we own a bunch of stuff that we just don’t really need. The meat grinder is nice to have when you want it but couldn’t we live the rest of our lives without it and still be happy. Do we really need all 50+ cookbooks or could we happily make do with the six I didn’t pack and find anything else we wanted on-line? Why do we have so much stuff and, worse yet, why do I miss it now that I can’t get to it even if I’d forgotten about it until I packed it?
I also learned that having a pantry is essential to being able to get rid of your upper cabinets and still be able to have a functioning kitchen. We wanted to be able to do some of the prep work and some of the painting before we took out all the cabinets and this required the removal of our upper cabinets; you know the ones with everything you use on a regular basis right there in front of you and super handy?
Well, all that stuff had to go somewhere. Some of it went into the space vacated by packing some of the stuff in the lower cabinets, some of it got packed, and a ridiculous amount of it went into the pantry that Jon built over the winter. The pantry is now completely full and it is amazing how much you can fit in a well-designed 3’x3’x8’ closet. It is also astounding how hard it is to find anything in there now.
I’ve come to realize that there is a reason why there are upper cabinets in most kitchens. While we are making due with not having any (and really enjoying the openness of the kitchen without them), not having glasses and coffee mugs (not to mention plates, olive oil, spices, etc.) within easy reach is getting to be a pain.
I’ve also noticed what creatures of habit we are. Everything had a home before we started this project and now neither of us knows where the other person decided the temporary home of an item should be. (In fact, Jon just interrupted my writing to ask where I had put his saucepan.) Where stuff lives now depends on who puts away the dishes.

The last lesson I’ve learned (so far) is one I’ve always known but it’s never been driven home quite like this: horizontal surfaces collect a lot of stuff. Our countertop was always the collection point for the mail, for reminder notes, or for things that didn’t quite have a home yet.
But now there are so many things without a home that no horizontal surface is off limits. The dining room chairs stacked upside-down in the living room are home the paper towels and the paper towel holder (which had to be removed from the wall for painting). The step stool has some sanding pads and a couple of energy bars on top. And the counter is covered with such a variety of food and building supplies, I don’t have the time to go into it.

The Countertop

We still have quite a ways to go before life in the kitchen returns to normal and I’m sure there will be more lessons learned along the way (like just how unenjoyable it is to do the dinner dishes in the bathtub). For now, we are still having fun (and getting along just fine, thank you). We both believe that whatever else this remodel throws at us, the new kitchen will be worth the struggle.

Keep Your Man Happy While He Remodels The Kitchen Blue Cheese Dressing
Adapted from The Best of Thymes by Marge Clark
Makes 2 ½ c

½ c sour cream
½ c plain yogurt (I use non-fat to try and counteract all the other fat in the recipe)
1 c mayonnaise
8 oz. blue cheese, crumbled
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 t apple cider vinegar
½ t salt
pepper to taste
1 T fresh chives, chopped (optional)

Mix all the ingredients together well. Best if placed in a glass jar and refrigerated overnight, but damned tasty even if you can’t wait. Will keep up to a month but probably won’t last that long.