Kitchens past and present
The kitchen in the picture above was my first kitchen. It was my only kitchen for the first 20 years of my life. It changed over the years but was always a place I loved to be. My Mom worked full time as a nurse on afternoon shift so the evening meal was my Dad's responsibility. He enjoyed cooking and so do I. My Dad was Mennonite. Frugality and Mennonites seem to go hand in hand so my parents canned and froze the excess from our large garden. I always loved to help and I can remember long hours spent in this kitchen making pickles, jams, relish and other good things. One year I remember my parents went away at the height of cucumber season. I did not want the cucumbers to go to waste so while they were away Chuck and I made pickles.. We had only been dating a few months but Chuck pitched right in and we got them done. Four years ago my Mom moved in with my brother. She no longer need most of her kitchen things so I took most of them. I am very sentimental and love using the utensils that they used. Everyday in my kitchen I use something of theirs. I am lucky to have a few things from both of my grandmothers too. This was just a simple kitchen but I loved it.
Here is my new kitchen. Well, one side of it. As you can see there are no countertops yet. The company is coming from Toronto today to measure and template for granite. Disregard the light fixture as that is going shortly. We will be painting it in a colour called "Perfect Taupe" from Behr. Chuck will do all the plumbing and put in some under counter lighting. I can't wait to get cooking and baking in here. I won't miss doing dishes in the laundry sink :)
I have two loads of laundry to hang out so I must get to it. Enjoy the day!
Robin
love it, it's going to be so bright and airy looking, can't wait to see the countertops.
ReplyDeleteThanks Gill. We went with a white kitchen exactly for that reason. There is a very large maple tree right outside the kitchen window that shades the kitchen from May to October. It keeps the house very cool in the summer so we didn't want to get rid of it.
DeleteYour new kitchen looks great! I think I grew up with the same kitchen chairs you did (and we are the same age, btw! :) ) I still have my Mum's rolling pin and cheese grater and a few other things from the kitchen. It's nice using them, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteThanks Natalie,we do love it! We still have one of these kitchen chairs and the matching table. Chuck uses them when he works on his antique radio's. My parents bought the set used when they married in 1957. I'm glad you have a few of your Mom's things. I feel such a connection with my parents and grandmother's when I use them.
DeleteKitchen is coming along great. Nice that you have that nice big window over the sink.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to seeing the counter tops you picked out.
That was one of the requirements of the kitchen when we were house-hunting. It looks out over the backyard and my bird feeders.
DeleteI don't remember a lot about the kitchen in the old farmhouse in Gaspé, though I do remember the wooden counter tops, the olive green appliances and the DEEP farm house sink! I used to fill it to the very top, and when I did that, my Malibu Barbie would float upright. :-) There actually were two sinks, the other was very shallow.
ReplyDeleteAs for canning, etc., that's not something we did; Mom blanched, using washed out milk bags for the baggies. We had a veggie garden in the back field and a potato garden in the front field. I hated picking all the veggies and having to help blanch for the winter. Of course the potatoes and turnips just went into the root cellar. The water table was so high that in the spring the leftovers would be floating up near the trap door in the kitchen floor.
Gee, you're taking me down memory lane! I'll get off that road now. LOL.
Kim I didn't realize you grew up on a farm. My Dad's parents had a farm. They grew peaches,pears,plums,grapes,apples and apricots.My parents used the washed out milk bags too. From May, starting with rhubarb, to October with apples it seemed always something was being canned or frozen in the kitchen. I loved reading your memories! My Mom had the olive green appliances too.
DeleteNot a farm, just a couple of acres of land, most of it taken up by the gardens. It was a lovely spot, at least lovely in my memory, and my only true home. NOT Gaspé itself, but that land. I miss living in that kind of setting, and have since I was 16 when Mom and I moved to Halifax. You couldn't pay me to ever live in Quebec again, though.
ReplyDeleteChuck grew up in Montreal and has never expressed any interest in moving back. I know what you mean about the land. I feel the same way about my grandparents farm.
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