The Beautiful Kitchen

You'd never recognize our kitchen now.  Well, that is, of course you would.  There was no room to change the blueprint, so the lay-out is exactly the same.  And the cabinets are the colored the same base stain.  But otherwise, you'd never recognize it.
The house is 30 years old, and the original cabinet doors, a rather attractive if soft knotty pine, had long since seen better days. They were gouged. They had lost whatever finish I put on when I sanded and restained them them 10 years ago. The door to the end cabinet, broken into two ragged pieces when we moved in, still looked pretty good from the Elmer’s Glue (I have a deep, abiding belief in the powers of Elmer’s Glue) and staples that I used to repair it when we moved in 20 year ago, but still . . . . I also loved our faux green granite laminate counter tops, but again . . . . The time had come.

 We chose new cabinets (with those lovely drawers and a corner door that allow you to actually access your cupboard space). The wooden floors stayed, of course.  A few pieces didn't make it in yet.  The vent grill, the leaded glass door to two cabinets (ones with the wrong pttern were sent), the wheels to the extra pantry drawer: these are all on order and coming soon. There’s bound to be a glitch or two in a job like this, and as snafus go, these are tiny ones that are easily endured.

The kitchen is now glorious. Well, it will be when those last final touches are complete. Meanwhile, I have to confess it's an enormous convenience to reach through the empty insets directly and directly take out my dishes. I wonder how many times I’ll bang my hands against the glass when the doors are finally installed. The cabinets are a medium cherry with a black wash (sounds awful but looks lovely). The granite – real this time – is called Typhoon Bordeaux. The background is white marble with gray and amber waved striations. It is so beautiful, it takes my breath away. Because we ran the new cabinets to the ceiling, we’ve added a lot of storage which translates into things being put away. This means there is more work space on the countertops, and better lighting with the under-cabinet lights. It is almost, almost perfect.
All that is required to make it completely perfect is to find someone to cook in it.