Kitchen Challenge Part 7: Kitchen Komplete!
I've spent a large part of this summer reveling in the wonders of my brand new kitchen. Most mornings you'll catch me, just in from the garden with a haul of tomatoes, laying my sweaty cheek on the icy cold marble. Late at night, you'll find my husband with the fridge door open, basking in the glow as the chilly air rolls down the shelves. I've hosted a few bar-b-cues and a Paella Party and have been cooking up a storm as I try to use up everything ripening in the yard. It's been a good summer of travel and houseguests and time spent doing what I love in a place that feels so perfectly made for it. So I'd call the kitchen rehab a smashing success!
The finishing touches went up a few weeks ago with the installation of our custom-made shelves! The salvaged wood was cut, sanded and stained at our local wood shop, Square Nail Chicago.
The final project was getting the hood hooked up which took some ingenuity on my husband's part. It was surprisingly difficult to find hoods designed to be free standing and not vented up through a soffit. He ended up having to cut a hole in the back of the hood we purchased and rearrange the vent so it could face towards the wall. It seems to have worked because I've been frying up a storm and haven't set the smoke alarm of yet!
A summer of cooking, several dinner parties and Thanksgiving down without incident means I'm calling the kitchen a SUCCESS!
The expansive countertops have provided more than enough space to roll out dough for tasty Hand Pies, decorate a round of homemade Halloween cookies and chop veggies for savory Andouille Sausage Cornbread Stuffing, while the deep and open sink has been perfect for everything from cutting and arranging flowers to defrosting a turkey.
I had some concerns about the SubZero fridge being a touch on the small side but, much like Mary Popin's magical bag, it seems to absorb everything I put into it. The Wolf stove is a high powered wonder and, while the broiler works so well that my food is almost always one second away from a major conflagration, the convection feature makes for extremely quick baking! The Bosh dishwasher is quiet, efficient and gentle enough for my vintage dishes so at the end of the day, kitchen clean up is a breeze!
