13. Kitchen

This is our kitchen today.

The sign says, "Many have eaten here, few have died."
Rebecca made it for me.

I still love it like I did when we moved into the house. I love the big window over the sink and the functionality of it, but now that I've worked in it for six years, there are some things about it that I can't wait to change. The weird lighting, for instance. There isn't enough of it and sometimes one of the two flourescent fixtures won't turn on at all thanks to our old, low-voltage electrical work. I'm looking forward to seeing that replaced one day. I also want two ovens.

My biggest beef with the kitchen isn't with the kitchen itself, but with the family room on the other side of the penninsula where the stove is located. For one, it has carpet and that carpet is absolutely disgusting from the tracking in at the front door and the cooking on the stove. Also, the penninsula and the stairs make it a weird space. It's hard to arrange the furniture and have enough light where we need it. We have a kitchen table that fits decently in the eat-in space, but if anyone in addition to the four of us eat there, it gets very crowded. It boils down to needing more space for family - for eating and for sitting around, and if some upgrades come with it, well, that will be fine with me.

After our trip to IKEA, this is the kitchen we are picturing in our heads. We have some work to do to figure out how to fit it in our space, but it has all of the things I want, including two full-sized ovens.

Our model kitchen, courtesy of IKEA.

We've been collecting pictures of kitchens for a while now, so who knows if this is what it will actually end up looking like when we finally do it, but we both like it and it renewed Dave's hope for a classic black and white tile floor.