Kitchen Floors and All That!

I’m learning that in this area, the kitchens were outdoors until about 1910 or so; summer kitchens were built in the yard to avoid heating up the entire house with meal preparation…..when kitchens evolved into actual rooms attached to the main house, small families put in what amounted to a “galley” kitchen while larger families added the large square kitchens most associate with farmhouses…..although wider than a normal galley kitchen, our kitchen is a long rectangle.

When our P.O’s took up residence and renovation in the late 1980’s……all that was in the kitchen were an old stove, an old sink, and simple open shelves built by the farmer held the necessities of a cook.

Those shelves were in the cupboard under the stairs (known in our house as the Harry Potter Cupboard) when we moved in…..one is now used in the mudroom for “junk” baskets and the other holds all my genealogy binders in my office!


The very 80's kitchen - taken on our second viewing of the house (Dec 2003)

The P.O’s put in a very 80’s kitchen…..in fact, the only difference in the cabinetry in this kitchen and the one I left behind was the hardware. The blue counter tops, while very pretty, were not what I wanted in my kitchen (I had just upgraded our kitchen from blue to white in the old house); and the floor…well, linoleum put down in the late 1980’s doesn’t look very nice in 2004…that was renovation #1 on my list after completing the task of giving all the walls and trim throughout the house a fresh coat of paint.


Our Shanna laying on the worn out linoleum the day we moved in


The flooring of the kitchen where it met the mudroom (2004)

With all the other renovation that needed done in the house, my dream of having a “period” kitchen was going to have to wait a few years…..I’d need to make do with the kitchen I had….but I could make some changes to it…..and changes have been made in between the larger, more important projects like electrical update/upgrades, plumbing changes, insulation and wall repairs etc…..

Note the new floor and the white tiles - Sept 2004 - Jan 2005

We extended the counter top and made room for our trash can....I needed the extra space for cooking!

September 2004 – January 2005 - The first thing we did was lay new flooring - a porcelain tile; the tiles were laid during Hurricane Jeanne - shortly after New Year's Day, I began to lay the tile on the counters and back splash

March 2008 – Finally, we were able to replace the appliances – not one of the old ones matched another one in that kitchen…and the fridge had been a trial to me since the day we moved in…..In fact, at one point David and I went shopping for a new fridge shortly after we moved in; but I couldn’t afford any that I loved and so decided to live with the one I had until I could…..I’ve learned that good things do indeed come to those who wait…..

The new fridge and dishwasher

The new stove and over the stove micro - not the new white sink and faucet (put in January 2006)



Nikki’s new friend, Gerard the Professional Painter, had a stainless fridge, flat-top stove and dishwasher for sale for less than a $1000.00 total….we jumped on it…..and then of course, my old counter top micro (white with a black door) no longer “fit” the kitchen…nor did the old stove hood……so David and I went shopping…we found a dented over the stove micro and talked the shop owner into selling it to us at a huge discount….in the end, we had all new appliances for less than the price of a new fridge….(I of course used this as an object lesson to my children…I waited four years and LOOK what I got for my patience……blah, blah, blah…..LOL)

Next Kitchen Project

Once all the stainless had gone in, I whipped out a magazine photo I’d tucked into my idea binder to show David…..

Me: “look honey…see how pretty that green cabinetry looks against stainless steel?”….

David: “hmmm, yeah?……..

Me: “I can sand and prime and antique paint the cabinets to make them look more appropriate in this old farmhouse….and replace the hardware…..and oh, wouldn’t that be great?”

David: “don’t talk to me!”

Anyway, I’ll be painting the cabinetry this color this summer….it only took four years, new tile floor and counters and stainless appliances to get my way….but as I said, I’ve learned that good things come to those who wait……………………..!