Monday, November 09, 2009

Kitchen CLOSED for remodeling! Stay tune for a new remodeled kitchen!

Hello all,

I have not been blogging since I have been PACKING for the last 2 months, little by little. Our kitchen will be remodeled COMPLETELY! The project starts today(Nov. 9). It will be demolished completely! The old cabinets will be thrown away, floors will be stripped, and a wall will be added. It is a huge project and I have been dreaming to have a new kitchen since we moved to our house 16.5 years ago.

As a gourmet cook who prepares many different kind of dishes from many culture, you can imagine how much spices and ingredients I have. I have a LOT! I also have a lot of small appliances. Most of them have been boxed now but I still can access some of them.

Here is a picture of our old kitchen. I have been cooking in it for 16.5 years and it is getting worse. If you lean on the middle part of the cabinet door, it will collapse and go through. I have been patching them with small nails.

This kitchen is also dark and we will pick a lighter color of cabinets and floor.

There is a door to a formal dining room that will be taken out and closed with a wall. It will be covered with more cabinets for more space. Yay!


A new bar will be added at the end of this cabinet. So I will have more cabinets and storage space underneath the bar. Yay! The ceiling will also be raised another 6-8 inches. Another yay!

Demolition begins. We hired this done and PLBC Construction is doing it. He is well qualified, clean worker, and offers reasonable pricing.



The sample cabinet on the floor (lighter color) was the one we chose. Then, we have to choose a new granite for the counter top (sample board is next to the cabinet sample). Decisions, decisions!



Now, I am cooking in our garage. This is my temporary kitchen in a 2-car garage.

Look all those spices and ingredients I have. They are all piled in temporary boxes.



I have a butane burner to cook with. Pots and pans are piled in a box below. Tupperware and plastic ware is piled in another box, also below. But all my tools are available on hand, on the table.



A roll up chopping table is also handy. A small microwave is sitting in the background. Also, more boxes with staples ingredients, spices, seitan flour, etc. are organized. They are all in accessible boxes for my use.


I also have a temporary appliances table with food processor, toaster oven, slow cooker, rice cooker, panini grill, waffle iron, and electric skillet that are accessiblewhen it is needed. I will be cooking with those, too. I don't have a large oven so I can't bake cakes, casseroles, or bread.



We also have a refridgerator and a laundry sink installed in the garage. This is how and where we wash our dishes and cookware.



This is where we eat, our temporary dining table in the garage. Next to a stepping ladder...he he.... It can be cold in the morning so we have to eat quickly before our food becomes cold. What do you think? This is my first time going through remodeling so it is an experience.

7 comments:

Zero-Radius-Kitchen-Sink said...

I love the fact that you have a lot of windows in the kitchen. I hope you don’t plan to change that.

Bryanna Clark Grogan said...

Good luck with the reno, Debbie! I know you'll pull off some super meals despite the difficulties! And anyway, you have such FANTASTIC vegan restaurants around your area!!

I'm sorry I haven't commented for so long. Your blogs are so inspiring and mouth-watering!

Angelique said...

Hi, I'm new to your blog (found you via Caribbean Vegan) and was wondering how you like cooking on the butane burner? I recently obtained an electric single burner and it's baaaad (can't get anything to a boil, never gets hot enough). Is the butane burner working well, just like on a regular stove cooktop?

spiceislandvegan said...

Angelique,

Butane burner works if there is no wind. If you cook outside you have to block the wind but if you cook inside which I did. It's the same as the gas burner. It works great! The only thing is you have to buy a lot of butane canisters. It takes about 3 or 4 hours cooking time and then you have to change to another canister. I only use it when I was remodeling. Now the kitchen is finished. I am just too lazy to blog. :-)

Angelique said...

Thanks for your quick reply! :)

Dori said...

Love seeing the temp kitchen and the before, can't wait to see the new one!

Tiago said...

I have to paint my buenos aires rent where I have been living the past 10 months, and everything was a mess. Really is a hugh problem live in in those conditions.