Heating Things Up and Avoiding Lights... and a Red Door

I didn't think I'd have another kitchen update so soon, but here we go.

You may remember our old stove situation. It was not good. Don't ask me why, but Mrs. Serpico had an apartment-sized stove in the kitchen. These things are great if you live in Manhattan or Tokyo... or some city where space is really at a premium.

These stoves look like this:


That's almost exactly the stove we'd been using. Here's how our kitchen used to look:


You can sort of see that little white stove next to the enormous microwave. These apartment-sized stoves are 20" wide. Try putting more than one pot or pan on there... it's not easy or fun. On the plus side, the oven part is so small (how small is it?) that it heats up quickly and makes your baking times shorter.

But let's talk about upgrades and fancy-pants stoves now.

We knew we wanted an electric stove. Yes, I know... true gourmet chefs scoff at electric stoves because they like to cook with a flame, etc, etc. But we don't have a gas line in our kitchen, and we're comfortable with an electric stove/oven. So there.

Here's the new stove... fresh from the good ol' scratch n' dent. That place is awesome.


It's a Maytag Gemini double oven. I found a link for it at the Maytag site, but it wouldn't load up properly for me, so, as dumb as it sounds, go ahead and Google it if you want.

Basically, this stove can do crazy amazing things. I can't even begin to explain all the features. One of the coolest aspects is the double oven. One oven is just a regular oven (the top one), but the bottom one can be used as a convection oven or a regular oven. The convection oven cooks twice as fast as a regular oven using fans and magical powers to make that happen. Yes, that's science.

Bottom line: the new stove is great. We love it. We sometimes just walk into the kitchen and giggle.

So, another concern in the kitchen has been the windows. If you look at the "before" picture of our kitchen you can see that the two big windows in the back corner of the kitchen had Mrs. Serpico's lovely flower curtains as treatments. Two problems here:
1. We are not flower curtain people.
2. Those curtains did nothing to give us privacy or block light.

Now, most people don't want to block light from coming into their kitchen, but most people also don't have neighbors who light up their driveways as if they were trying to prevent a prison break. Our neighbors are nice folks who take care of their home and are generally good people, but they have installed what may be the brightest lights known to humankind in their driveway. And their driveway is right next to our kitchen. This means that our kitchen is blindingly bright as soon as darkness falls.... or attempts to fall. Honestly, I don't think the sun could light their driveway as brightly as these lights.

This wouldn't be so bad, but they also have a flag hanging on the side of their house. This flag flaps majestically in the wind. Yes, Old Glory looks lovely, and I certainly don't begrudge their patriotism. However, the flag is very close to one of the lights, and when the flag does its majestic flapping thing, it blocks the light. And then it unblocks it. And then blocks it. All night. The effect is something like a very slow, indifferent strobe light. And, yes, it's annoying.

So we needed to mitigate this. The answer: new shades.

Since it's the kitchen, we decided to keep it simple and clean. Here's what we did:


No more flowered curtains. It's nice. Also, it's more private. And less strobey.

And did you think Ol' Painty Pants was gone for good? You'd be wrong. She showed up just long enough to see a beige door and want to paint it red.



Observant viewers will notice that the door looks to be very similar in shade to the dining room. It is not similar. It is actually exactly the same shade. Ol' Painty Pants is not one to waste paint.

OK, now... upcoming projects:
Remove kitchen drop ceiling.
Install track lighting in kitchen.
New dishwasher.
New microwave.
New wooden kitchen countertops and sink.
Paint kitchen.
New cabinet hardware.
New floor in kitchen (remove carpet, add tile).
New lighting in dining room.
New light/ceiling fan in Small Bear's room.
Light kit for ceiling fan in our bedroom.

It's gonna happen. Eventually. For now, we love our stove and shades.

Darkness Reigns

I was going to post a picture taken in the kitchen in The Serpico House as I cooked dinner last night, but there was a problem with this plan--the camera wasn't picking up enough light to take a picture that looked like anything other than a mushy, dark blur. It's a good thing that ground turkey undergoes a rather radical color change during the cooking process, because there is a high probability of under- or over-cooking in such light-scarce conditions. I don't like it.

In short, our kitchen is a bleak tunnel of darkness at night. This makes cooking rather problematic, as you can imagine. Grilling on the back patio is no problem because there's a light close to the grill. I'm thinking I will be doing most of my cooking out there.

Also, the stove in our kitchen is kind of a joke. I mean, sure, it works, but... well, let me explain. It's one of those mini stoves meant for a very small kitchen, such as the ones found in studio apartments. Where a standard-sized stove is 30" wide, this one is significantly smaller. I haven't measured ours, but it must be more like 20-22" wide. And if you don't think that bit of extra girth makes a difference (that's what SHE said)... well... you just ought to try cooking with more than one pot on one of these things. Not fun.



Additionally, our stove, much like the one pictured above, has its knobs conveniently located on its front. This is great for ease of use when we decide to cook something on the miniscule work surface, but it's not so great if you've got a highly inquisitive two-year-old kid running around the house, eager to open any doors or turn any handle-looking items in his path. Yes, Xavier has grown rather fond of turning the knobs on the stove just to see the light come on. It's not good.

Luckily, there are these things....They snap over the stove knobs and make it impossible for them to be turned without the clear part unlocked, and (thankfully) Xavier hasn't figured that out yet. This means we have to take an extra step before cooking, but it makes our kitchen safer for the small one, so we'll deal with it.

Meanwhile, I think we'll need to get some kind of clamp-on light to hook up near the stove. I will probably snag one at Staples or something. It's a temporary but necessary measure until we get the kitchen rehabbed.