It's not friday night in the camp kitchen

Fiona is home for a week for Spring Break. We have been enjoying a fun weekend as a family, and I have taken a couple of days off work. Our fondest wish today is for a quiet day at home. We lazed in the living room with various internet devices, coffee and breakfast, and Fiona reminded me that I have not posted my blog for over a month. So here I am!

The camp kitchen is no longer in operation. Our beautiful, wonderful new kitchen is 95% complete. I have posted a couple of photos below.

The camp kitchen has been turned back into a dining room, in time for a wonderful lettuce wrap supper tomorrow night with my parents, which is a family tradition for whenever Fiona comes home.

Cooking in our new kitchen feels like cooking at a fancy vacation home somewhere away. I remember having this feeling about our home in general when we first bought it, so I know that the newness will fade. It sure is fun right now. During this honeymoon period, even loading the dishwasher is no chore. We are happy with the choices we made, and enjoying everything new and bright and shiny and working the way it should. The extra counter space is the best part. In the old kitchen we had practically zero counter space. The new layout adds a nice 7 foot stretch of counter that we did not have before. I could cook something really long... a monster baguette? banana split for 12 people? linear nacho platter? Only time will tell.

My computer, which was formerly set up where the new counter is, has moved down to the spare bedroom in the basement. It's a nice bright room with a big east-facing window. I think I will enjoy this mini-office! I'm glad to move my often messy work station out the kitchen, but I'm glad we had "main floor computers" while Alex and Fiona were growing up. It's better for family togetherness when nobody can go hide out on the internet away from the family (including the Mom and the Dad!) Now that everyone's grown up, it's not such an issue. Besides, we have a few portable internet devices, so we can sit on the couch with iMac, iPad, laptop, iPod, and do family togetherness internet whenever we want to. I'm sure I never imagined this even 5 years ago, but it's a reality, and it works okay.

All in all, the renovation took 5 weeks. The only glitch was a faulty faucet, which necessitated a return visit from the plumber, and delayed having a kitchen sink by a few days. The most nail-biting moment was taking delivery of the gigantic refrigerator. We were not 100% sure it would fit through the door into the kitchen, but it did. The biggest inconvenience was having to wash dishes in the laundry tub in the basement. The hardest decision was choosing the cabinets. The second hardest decision was (and remains) where to put everything away. We are still switching things around in various drawers and cupboards to get just the right arrangements of kitchen tools and food storage. But that's fun. Just don't ask me where the colander is, if you are in a hurry.

And now we have a kitchen pretty enough to put flowers in. And Fiona is home for a week, enjoying it with it. Life is good.

question: have you survived a kitchen reno?

mompoet - it was really not that bad, and it was worth it!

And now for the before and after photos...