quilting fabrics in the kitchen

I neglected to mention that I finally finished making the cafe curtains for the kitchen in July.  They were a bit of a nuisance to make as I had to piece together the curtain fabric because it wasn't wide enough to fit the window.

As Christmas is coming way to soon, I finally finished making the double-sided placemats for the kitchen.  The reverse side of the mats are the same yellow cupcake pattern found on the curtains.  The actual mats were easy enough to pull together.  It was the binding that was a nuisance to create and sew!  Next time(??!), I'll use a wider binding!

The pink, yellow and turquoise patterns are all Robert Kaufman Fabric from the Sweet Tooth Collection and named Camellia Cupcakes.  N loves the fabric and keeps commenting that she could just eat our curtains!  Considering I ad libbed the curtains and the placemats, I am pleased enough with their outcomes!

last week's find

Well before the beginning of the kitchen reno, I realized that a regular table would not fit into the reno-ed kitchen.  A dining area, other than the peninsula, was not going to be feasible so I started my quest for the "perfect" vintage desk so that I could hover around spy upon the children while they worked on the computer.  For months, I have vigilantly visited antique stores and mid-century stores with my measuring tape in hand; I have cruised the internet searching for "Herman Miller vintage desk".  All for naught.  I finally relented and agreed that my dh's grandfather's 29"-wide arborite table would work for the desk but this table was still too wide.

True story:  last Saturday the phone rang and my dh was on the line phoning from our farm.  "Guess what I found!", he encouraged me.  I guessed gold.

But it was better than gold: it was a vintage table with grey arborite that my father-in-law purchased from an office auction in the 1980s.  It is 20" in depth and perfect in every way (altho I'm a little undecided whether we should paint the legs and apron of the table).  The table has sat holding "stuff" in the machine-shed since the 1980s.

My dh picked up our Acme stools and desk chair yesterday.  We are elated with the stools and chair and feel that much closer to the kitchen starting to function as planned!

Miele steam oven review

We have been completely delighted by our new kitchen appliances.  You may recall that I was very enthusiastic about getting a steam oven to replace the microwave.  However, it took a long time before our Miele steam oven was functional; we don't believe the oven's problem was the oven but that the oven wasn't getting sufficient electricity.  (Simply put, the electrician didn't read the manual closely and thought the steam oven was functional with lesser power supplied to it).

We've had the steam oven operational for a few weeks now.  We use it virtually every day, at least once per day.  It makes phenomenal rice.  We cook most of our vegetables in the steam oven.  My dh makes his morning oatmeal in the steam oven (which is nice because you just plunk the pan into the oven, trot to the shower and return and it is ready to eat ~ you don't have to babysit the steam oven like you do the cooktop).  I make better scrambled eggs in the steam oven than on the stove.

We My dh used it last week to make canned peaches: we my dh blanched the peaches in the oven (to remove the skins), we sterilized the jars in the steam oven, and, once we filled the jars with peaches and juice, we cooked the peaches in the steam oven which eliminated the heavy canner.  It will be a dream to use the steam oven to blanch and freeze yellow beans next year!

We haven't done much reheating of casseroles yet in the steam oven but that will be attempted in the future.  We tend to still (periodically) microwave frozen breads (as the microwave has been banished to the basement).  Also on my to-do list is to make creme brulee in the steam oven.

My dh is delighted to clean the steam oven now that he has found Shamwow which soaks up any residue steam water like a dream!  He thinks the time it takes to clean the steam oven would be about equivalent to the time he would spend washing/drying a pot and we just place the used pan in the dishwasher.  It is so nice that it's really hard to burn food in a steam oven either!
 

bending backwards

Yes, I know I've been neglectful.  Worse, I haven't even been away travelling.  Instead, I took K and N to see Cirque du Soleil's

which was very good.  However, I saw Cirque du Soleil in the early 1990s (before it became an international phenomenon) in its circus tent which hosted a smaller audience and was a more intimate experience.   (I recall tickets were extremely expensive to attend Cirque Du Soleil in the 1990s as a result.) Although Alegria was very well done, I missed the circus tent feel to it!

My dh and I also saw Bryan Adams on his Bare Bones tour.  For the Bryan Adams' fan (me), it was a delightful concert.  He encouraged us to sing along and interacted with the audience.  It was a lot of fun!  I was a bit disheartened that he didn't sing, "Cuts like a Knife"!  He's had a lot of hits!

Last weekend's excuse for not blogging was that we had a storm Saturday evening which knocked out television and internet capacity until Monday morning.  What a step back into the 1980s that was!  So bored with nothing to do, everyone got lots of shut-eye that weekend!  The weather on Sunday evening was awful and we actually had to listen to the radio to determine whether there was a weather watch (although we could have phoned the weather hotline).

Also, I've had the opportunity to test-try my kitchen which was deliberately made ergonomic because of my chronic back issues.  (I've had 2 series of back issues in August, more recently last weekend when my back went out.)  This is what I loved about the kitchen last weekend because my back wouldn't permit me to reach lower than my upper thighs:

I love my Liebherr fridge!  Everything that I needed from the fridge was within reach; the freezer is located below the fridge but was basically unaccessible by me because of my back.  (Our fruits and dairy products are in the other identical fridge adjacent to this fridge.) Brilliant!

My back hasn't recovered fully by this weekend yet so I enjoyed using my Mixer Lifter to make cookie batter.  Even if I didn't have a poor back, I would still install the Mixer Lifter (which could be used for any heavy appliance such as a food processor as it accommodates up to about 60 lbs) in the kitchen.  My mixer is about 18 lbs and I know, bad back or not, I wouldn't be bringing it out regularly to use because it is too cumbersome to get out of a lower cabinet.  Now I bring it out just because I have the Mixer Lifter!  If you have it, use it!

recipe junkie

In attempting to return the kitchen to normal functioning order, I have had to make space in my cupboard for my recipe books which used to hang out on the bookshelves beside the sink.  (The new shelves aren't as user-friendly because they are narrower and shorter than the original shelves).  I always knew that I hoarded recipes, now the reality has been confirmed.

I have a pile of untried recipes in a magazine of untried recipes sitting on the buffet in the dining room.  I opened a (non-subsciption) magazine this morning and there was another magazine that had recipes within it that I quickly zipped through and dog-earred potential recipes for my attention.  There's another magazine  celebrating Epicure products that contains dog-earred recipes that I've kept for about a year, none of which I have attempted.

I am a recipe junkie.

When my dh and I first married, I made an effort to try a new recipe once per week.  On the whole, I was quite dedicated to this task and found some recipes that enchanted the taste-buds but, on the whole, my dh would often shrivel his nose and remark, "Another new recipe" and give it the thumbs-down.  This was particularly so when the slow-cooker was used.  He dreads the slow-cooker and has threatened to forcefully remove it from the house.  I only bring it out periodically to try a new recipe but use it for making chicken soup and oatmeal (and periodically for steamed potatoes).

I am now faced with at least 3 stockpiles of untried recipes.  I have trouble recycling them.  I think it is time to go through them realistically and test-try a few, but toss most of them out.  I also face the same conundrum with recipe books that I have never used.

I should muster the self-discipline of test-trying a new recipe weekly.  I go on this kick periodically but lack the endurance and self-discipline of continuing this effort.  (It doesn't help that K & N are fussy eaters and test-trying recipes is a sure way of ensuring that they pick at their meals!)

manually distracted

I've been a little distracted lately and I had to check my blog this evening to see whether I promised to do the draw today or tomorrow!  Eeek!  Sorry for the delay!  My dh drew 'According to Kim's name!  Congrats Kim!  The bracelet will be delivered within the next few days!

You see, I've been a little distracted by the glimmer from my kitchen!  I've been busy wiping sawdust off shelves, carrying stuff back into the kitchen and trying to organize it in a thoughtful way.  We've started reading the appliance manuals too!  I'm delighted to have this learning curve!

Without further ado, here are some photos before we moved back in Thursday (and the photos don't justify the kitchen ~ in the evening, the countertop sparkles like stars in a very dark night sky ~ click to magnify them!):

For the curious, the paint is Benjamin Moore's CC67 Gray Wisp on the bulkheads, CC680 Raindance and the walls and Cloud White for the ceiling and trim.  The school house lights and hardware are from Rejuvenation.  Adding the bulkheads was a marvellous idea and is our favourite evening lighting source as the pot-lights cause the kitchen to sparkle.  We love the fridges and the induction cooktop is as speedy as promised in causing water to boil.  I just finished initiating the oven so it is ready for baking; I have to finish setting up the steam oven!  The renovation was a little short of 6 weeks which is incredible considering we had to have the oven cabinet re-made because we had focussed on the height of the oven and not the height of the steam oven to determine how high the oven should be from the floor.  We are so delighted!

crafting and organizing up a storm

Yes, I realize I've been neglectful so here's my past week in a nutshell:

The kitchen reno progressed slowly last week.  The painting is done.  The delay is waiting for the countertops' material to be ordered and cut out; we expect the countertops and backsplash to be installed this week.  With the built-in oven and steam oven, we discovered that we were focussing too much on the height of the oven and not enough focus on the steam oven.  As a consequence, the oven cabinetry was reordered and will be installed this week.  Although I am itching to post a photo to show you how it has progressed, I am holding out!  The kitchen electrical/plumbing is to be complete on June 21 and we expect to move back into the kitchen then!  The initial schedule was that the kitchen would be complete by June 17; the current scheduled completion date is June 21.  This shows the amazing scheduling skills of our general contractor (as the project started with demolition on May 10).

Little N celebrated her 5th birthday!  I pulled out two frozen cakes from the freezer and iced them on my freezer so she had 1 for her daycare and 1 for her home celebration.  To celebrate her birthday, I also made her a charm bracelet in an effort to capture her interests and personality at age 5!

I've also been participating in Baker's Dozen, an online scrapbooking class offered through Big Picture Scrapbooking!  It provides a scrapbooking prompt and layout on alternating days so I have really plowed through some photos in a short time!  It has been a lot of fun and, without a question, is the highlight of my day as I ponder which photos and supplies to use to respond to a prompt.  In addition to needing lots of white space on a layout, I have discovered that journalling is one of the most important elements to my scrapbooking layouts as I try to capture the emotions and details of why I've scrapbooked the photos.  (I often include my journalling on the back of the layout in case I run out of space on the front of it!  Click on the photo to enlarge it!)

 

temporary kitchen

I suspect it is one of those curiosities that we don't speak about, or at least I am always curious as to how others have survived renos.  I had heard of the horrors of the kitchen reno experienced by others and braced myself for ours.  As mentioned earlier, I consider our basement reno (completed late in 2008) as being significantly more horrific than the current kitchen reno.  Having a good general contractor for the kitchen reno helps significantly, but I spent a lot of time preparing for this kitchen reno too both in terms of what work would be done ( ~ don't forget we plunged into a full basement reno complete with concrete sub-floor removal and replacement with basically 3 weeks notice!) and prepared food in advance.  I cooked and baked up a storm prior to this kitchen reno as we have kids' soccer twice a week and had piano lessons once per week both by 6 p.m..  We had not counted on miserable May weather and had planned to barbecue a lot more than we have.

Let's look at the temporary kitchen facilities.  The basement laundryroom has become our food prep area.

The restored laundry sink on the re-used vanity (from the earlier basement reno) has been a critical and useful element of this renovation.

This antique table below from the 1950s belonged to my dh's grandfather from the 1950s and serves for my cooking area.  Having 2 electric elements has been a lifesaver for me!  (Unfortunately, I blow a fuse if I try to cook with the cook top at the same time as using the nearby microwave!)  The adjacent chest freezer is very convenient as it is a good and larger area where I do my prep work for cooking and serving.

We've been using my craft room (adjacent to the laundry room) as our dining area.  This has worked quite well (although I am squished for crafting purposes!).  I am so glad that I have linoleum flooring in the craft room as well!

With our temporary kitchen and dining facilities, we have dined for the majority of our meals at home and have managed to retain most of our sanity and remain on schedule as well!

close enCOUNTER of another kind

The kitchen reno remains 1 day behind schedule.  Isn't that incredible?!  Merely one day.

We've encountered another rock blocking our path: the chosen engineered stone for my countertop has been withdrawn so I've got a little shopping to do tomorrow.  There is a back-up available so my shopping may be quick!

(PS: The general contractor encouraged the painter to use the tints of our chosen paint colours in the primer so that we could ensure that it was the colour we wanted to have for first and second coats.  Brilliant!)

progress

We've been quite pleased that the general contractor for the kitchen reno is only 1 day behind his work-schedule, mainly because of discovery of quirks to the house's structure (ie: the kitchen isn't completely rectangular!).  We have been discussing the necessity of playing tricks on the eye to make everything in the room appear on the square.

We ended last work-week with a newly foam insulated kitchen.  K was delighted that the foam insulation was purple, her favorite colour!  This week, we have new drywall which is getting mudded.  The paint (priming at a minimum) is expected on Thursday and the subfloor is expected to be installed on Friday.  Cabinetry is scheduled to be installed next week.  (The photo to the left shows the bulkheads have been built).

In comparison to our 2008 basement reno (where the walls were stripped to their structural supports and the concrete floor and subplumbing were replaced and then the basement was rebuilt/finished), this reno is heavenly.  Due to its small size, everything seems to fall together so quickly.  The amount of noise and drywall dust is nominal in comparison to the basement reno as well as the general disruption to the house (ie: I'm not tripping over boxes lined up in the hallways and not locating items for over 1 year following the basement reno!)

Another challenge overcome is that the curtain fabric that I was planning to use was no longer available online.  I scrambled to look for an alternative that would work with the selected paint colours without success.  My solution?  Ebay.  Geez, I love eBay.  I've ordered the fabric from eBay and, considering my propensity for fussiness, I've decided to make the cafe curtains myself. Of course, I have no experience making curtains.  I just need to figure out how to do it (so any tips/pointers would be appreciated).  And yes, I purchased extra fabric.  I was thinking some coordinating placemats for the peninsula might be fun too?  If you are looking for me this summer, I suspect I'll be somewhere close to my sewing machine.

old kitchen nostalgia

I suffered from nostalgia this past weekend as we packed up the last of our kitchen paraphernalia.  I thought of how:

• I measured K and N as they grew during infancy on the squares of the vinyl floor;
• they crashed their baby's strollers into the cupboard doors;
• the drawers were excellent for baby-proofing as they were so hard and heavy to manoeuvre.

These thoughts quickly passed as I recalled:

• the ongoing battle with sawdust in the drawers despite being over 60 years old;
• the fan that works but sounds like an airplane landing in the kitchen;

• the heating duct above the fridge* and water pipes located in the lower cabinet took up precious cupboard space;
• how difficult it is to access the original lazy susan.

So it is all gone.  The demolition started yesterday.  To our surprise, we have no drywall left on kitchen walls (as we were only expecting the exterior walls to be removed for re-insulation purposes).  Some structural issues have been discovered over the deck door; the kitchen (not surprising) was built on an angle which makes it tricky for installation of cabinetry.

Central heat for the house has been turned off to reduce circulation of demolition and drywall dust.  Thank goodness for a natural gas fireplace which we use as a furnace!  We expect to be camping in our basement for the next 5.5 weeks!

The contractor will start building the bulkheads tomorrow; the electrician is due sometime tomorrow too. I am so glad not to be general contracting this project!

(* Most of our heating ducts in the house are located above my head; they apparently didn't realize in 1949 that hot air rises!)

the end is near!

I'm on the countdown: the demolition of our kitchen starts May 10!  It has felt like it is approaching.  It isn't very common to find a dishwasher sitting in our livingroom but it's been here since the end of February!  Our salesperson has been fabulous and has saved us lots of money on our appliances!

I've started baking like crazy knowing that I'll be oven-less for 5 weeks.  N has her birthday in June and I am contemplating making a cake to send with her for daycare so that I can be certain that it is nut-free and permitted at daycare!  (I draw the line on gluten-free baking: I'd have to hunt for and test-try to try to locate a decent recipe!)  I just have to stock up with some cooking for freezing and we are set to go!  (Except we hope to make strawberry jam this weekend and the list seems to grow!)

We purchased the cabinet hardware from Rejuvenation ( ~ swoon ~ it is so fortunate that I don't live close to that store!) in February when there was a sale on shipping/handling.  There was a sale on period lighting in March so we purchased our main kitchen light fixtures there too.  I can hardly wait to see this all pulled together!

We I've also been working on the final details.  Having lived with the paint samples and pressing my little flooring, counter-top and fabric samples beside them, I have finally determined the colour.

I've started cleaning up the basement laundry vanity as the laundryroom will become our kitchen very soon.  We will be purchasing an electric 2-burner stovetop for cooking purposes.  I will have to start packing up the kitchen as well!  The end is near!!

all that glitters

When we came for our first visit to our 1949 bungalow, my dh and I were quite disappointed that previous owners had not updated the kitchen.  The kitchen features its original wooden cabinets, complete with bookshelves, the vent below the sink, the ceiling fan,  and a heating duct taking up the cabinet above the fridge.  The cabinet's 60 year old drawers continue to leave sawdust in the drawers below.  The primary advantage of the original cabinetry is that they thwarted little active people from reorganizing the drawers' contents because they are so cumbersome to open.

Fast-forward almost 7 years and we are glad we didn't purchase a renovated kitchen for more reasons than I will post about this time!  What pushed us to renovate the kitchen at this time is that, whenever it is -20 degrees C or colder, we need to place a fan in front of the lower cabinetry to circulate air and, hopefully, prevent the dishwasher's water pipes from freezing (as it did in 2008).  The renovation will be quite significant including removing and re-insulating the inner walls.

Enough about the history of this reno!  The demolition will commence on May 10!  We are expecting to be kitchen-less for about 5 weeks.  Can you sense that I am delighted?

We decided to create a retro-influenced 1949ish to about 1952 kitchen so that it blends in with the other characteristics of the house that will be very functional.  The plan is that we will have plain white-faced cabinetry (laminate) which mimics the style of the existing cabinetry, including the rounded bookshelves.  The "wavy" valance is being abandoned for a more neutral valance and we will be installing bulkheads above the upper cabinets to shoot work light onto the counter-top.  We'll have schoolhouse general lighting (mainly because it is as appropriately retro that we can obtain locally) in the "dining" and "kitchen" areas.

The plan is: it will glitter.  We are using Cambria quartz for the countertop.  The anticipated grey retro-looking LSI flooring will dominate the "dining" area and, in the kitchen area, the grey LSI flooring is expected to feature a cut-out of LSI's black sparkly chips.  We are hoping to use 1X1 black sparkly tiles (but haven't selected the main tile) for backsplash purposes.  All this remains tentative as we have been waiting ~ urgh ~ for about 4 or more weeks to get a flooring and tile quote.

Meanwhile, I am starting to play with colour.  I am not attracted to yellow but that cupcake swatch from Tonic Living is sweet so I am playing with blue paint-tones to complement that swatch.  I need to go look for paint-tones that would go with the cherry swatch.  What do you think: cupcake or cherry swatch?