November 29, 2010

Welcome to my kitchen!

Penny at Lake Lure Cottage Kitchen is hosting her second annual Kitchen Reveal. I'd love to peek into your kitchens to see where all of you come up with the wonderful recipes I see on your blogs and thought it would be fun to participate this year. So, welcome to my kitchen... where Karen cooks!
Here's the kitchen from the dining room. This is a one-butt kitchen. More than that and it gets crowded real quick.

These stand-alone cupboards and microwave stand were here when we moved into the house. They were white and my gardener painted them green this summer. They sure do help with storage, but one of these days, I'd like to have some built-ins in their place. 

The ivory refrigerator was also here when we moved in, and eventually I'll replace it (and the microwave) to match the other appliances. Yes, the front of my refrigerator is always that clutter-free. I keep a calendar, a freezer inventory and a few pictures on the side of the fridge. The only thing on the front though, is a little rooster magnet that my former boss brought to me when she visited Portugal.

This bottom cabinet holds most of the things I need for baking... salt, corn meal, brown sugar, powdered sugar, chocolate chips, dried fruit, honey, oats, raisins, etc. The top shelf holds my gardener's crackers and snacks.
This top shelf holds pasta and rice. The bottom shelf is for beans and canned goods. I don't really buy a lot of canned goods, as you can see. I would rather buy fresh fruits and vegetables. I have recipes and tips that I've taken from magazines taped to the inside of the cupboards.
This top corner cupboards holds all my spices on a turntable, which makes it so much easier to find what I need. An inventory of the spices is taped to the door, so I know what I have. You can see we keep the toaster here and also the coffee. I think we're the only people in Montana who drink decaf!
I love these pull-out drawers. It makes fighting with the pans a little easier.
And because there's no room in the kitchen for appliances, I keep them on a shelf in the office. My mixer, dutch oven, blender, food processor, mini-chopper, salad spinner, extra serving pieces, and way down at the end are where I keep my cookbooks.
When we moved into this house, there was an electric stove. We had a gas line run up to the kitchen and bought this stove. I love it. It has two power burners, one simmer burner and two regular burners. I keep my Wusthof knives above the stove for easy access. No, my counters are not always this clutter-free :)
My Mom always liked Martha Stewart and how particular and organized she was. So, like Martha, she kept her dish soap in a decorative bottle on the sink. I do the same. Yes, I always buy green dish soap so it coordinates with the kitchen. Hehe. Love my gooseneck faucet that makes it so easy to wash big pans.
I keep the sugar and flour containers handy by the microwave. Since I spend so much time in the kitchen, I keep pictures of my family there. From left to right, the small picture is my daughter at 4 years old. Behind that is a picture of my daughter and son-in-law. The middle picture is my now 4-year-old granddaughter Kayla and is my favorite picture of her when she was about 7 months old and found her toes! The picture in back is a favorite one of my gardener standing on an abandoned railroad track in the desert. And finally, the picture on the right is of Emily, my now 8-month-old granddaughter.
And because no kitchen is complete without a kitchen gadgets, here's a peek at one of the kitchen drawers with every gadget imaginable. I would organize it, but I think I'd rather go make some cookies.

Thanks for coming along on my kitchen tour. Be sure to visit Penny's blog on December 1 to see who else participated!

27 comments:

  1. Lovely kitchen. Now I am quite sure I won't be sharing mine!! LOL Certainly not my gadget drawer or JUNK drawer as I call it. You are very organized. It jsut tells me this new year is the year to get my act in order.

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  2. I am so happy you joined in, now I know just where you are standing when you are cooking. You have the light colored cupboards too, mine came with the house and I would have never dreamed I would like them but I do, so light and clean. I should have showed my utensil drawer too, just like yours and I would rather bake cookies than clean up anything. Now that knife strip above your stove is great, I had thought about doing that too, they are in a drawer now but maybe your way is easier, especially since I keep losing my scissors! Well thanks for sharing, that Penny, she sure does know how to throw a party!!

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  3. What a fun idea...peeking into these kitchens that we've read about! I have overflow issues for the small appliances too...they've been exiled to the pantry cabinets in the garage. More space is always needed!!!

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  4. If I were brave (and had the time) I'd join in! We are redoing our kitchen after the first of the year, so I will do some before and after pics. Right now, it's all yellow and red.
    I love your kitchen.

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  5. Well, isn't this fun?! I like the whole idea and may participate if I get my floor replaced. (it came with the house is bleh-yech-patooie-gray) As for your kitchen, I too love your stove, knife rack and bottle of green soap. I have an old Orangina bottle that I keep filled with yellow dishsoap to match my kitchen. :) Love this post, Karen!

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  6. I've got a one butt kitchen too. My extra storage shelves for all my big kitchen gadgets are in the basement. One of these days I hope to have the gourmet kitchen of my dreams. :-)

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  7. I LOVE kitchen reveal day. I am doing mine tomorrow. i so love your colors. Wish i had the nerve and wasn't so cheap to rip out my electric stove and put in gas.

    Love the post, thanks for playing along

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  8. Thanks for showing us your kitchen and I really like the colors. I'm a gas stove person as well and wouldn't cook on anything else. We have a drawer or three like yours. Although our kitchen is a little larger, I consider it a one butt'er as well preferring to be in it alone - maybe it's because I take up too much room.:-)

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  9. I love poking around in your kitchen cabinets and you all did a beautiful job. Thanks for letting me come by.

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  10. I love that your kitchen counttertops are so organized and clutter free. I love a clean, uncluttered kitchen. I was not brave enough to open my cabinet for the reveal. Mine are not quite that organized. Thanks for sharing.

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  11. Interesting idea. I'd be somewhat scared to show my kitchen. Or, at least, scared to suffer the reactions of MY WIFE. I'm afraid she thinks that any mess, even if I created it, reflects badly upon her. In addition, our refrigerator is simply festooned with ephemera (although that makes it interesting, too.)

    Maybe...

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  12. Karen your kitchen is so organized & beautiful!!! Happy Holidays!!! Lara

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  13. Karen, nice kitchen...everything so well organized...great pictures...loved seen it :-)

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  14. You set a high standard! I don't think I'll be showing the inside of cupboards or drawers until some major organizing takes place. I love the clean and uncluttered counter tops!

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  15. This is fantastic Karen, I always wonder what kind of space creative chef types like you get to work in. Your kitchen is super clutter free, open & light with all the stuff you need right in easy access. Love those pull out drawers, sooooo getting those in our next place, and the pictures of your family are a great idea :-) I don't think there's enough light in my kitchen to get any photos unfortunately lol

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  16. Oh, you have a gas stove. I am so jealous!!
    And your shelves are so tidy! I am such a slob....would never dream of opening my pantry cupboards. My glass cupboards are fine though. :)n Fun tour of your kitchen, and such fun meeting you!

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  17. I love this post!! Thanks for let me peek into your lovely kitchen, you have mostly all the gadgets in your kitchen, compare to mine, look like i still need to buy a lot of gadgets to fill into my new kitchen. Thanks again!

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  18. I enjoyed my tour! Next time I'll have to bring my own coffee--with caffeine!

    Best,
    Bonnie

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  19. You are so much more organized than me... green with envy! Speaking of green, I am *totally* coveting your dutch oven.

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  20. Thanks for letting us into your home.

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  21. I love your kitchen and how casual and chatty the tour felt. Like I was really standing there with you! GREG

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  22. I love looking into other peoples' kitchens. Yours is cute and homey and very well organized. It would take me two weeks of constant cleaning and organizing to show everyone my little cooking corner of the world.

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  23. I think it's so much fun to see other people's kitchens...yours is so bright and pretty. I love the extra cupboards - the green looks great.

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  24. I love the color scheme in your kitchen! That blue with the creamy white. Just gorgeous!

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  25. I saw you on Julie's site - don't know why I haven't been to visit in forever! I think I was going to the other site you had. Anyway, LOVE your kitchen and it looks so efficient and organized. I am due for a new stove - the burners keep going out on me in the midst of cooking - well, it is at least 15 years old, and I want to switch over to gas too, but like you I'd have to have a gas line run and it seems such a hassle. Was it?

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  26. I can relate to the one butt kitchen. That's really all that fits in mine too. And I need some pull out drawers like yours!!!

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  27. Karen, I love the clutter free appearance of your kitchen. In addition the place where the magic happens is bright and cheerful as well. No wonder you give us such great food. I hope you are having a great day. Blessings...Mary

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