Kitten with a Whisk has moved!

Some of you may already know, but BD and I spent the better part of the last two weeks packing, moving, and trying adjust to our new little home. This has been no easy task and we finally spent our first night at the new place this past Saturday. I am in no way exaggerating when I say that not one thing went according to plan and many unexpected disasters happened.

The reasons aren’t important but it was time for us to leave the place we had called home for 4 years. It was a great little (well, not so little) house and I’m not ashamed to say that I hugged it good-bye as we locked the door for the last time. Still, our new place is perfect for just the two of us (though I’m still not so sure how it will be sharing a bathroom with BD yet), and will hopefully be the last place we rent before buying our own home.

So this post is about my old kitchen and my new kitchen. I never really shared much about the old kitchen (OK) but I loved it. BD says it was too small, but I disagreed. It just wasn’t a wide open space and the new kitchen (NK) is smaller anyway. And since I haven’t been able to cook and post much lately I thought this might be fun.

Two weeks ago when BD started packing up the kitchen (who packs the kitchen first, btw?) we started to find lots of things that we never knew existed in our cupboards. Coffee makers, old fashioned biscuit cutters, pie dishes…. I suspect these were all leftovers from previous roommates who are long gone now. I wish one of them had left a springform pan… I’ve been wanting for one of those. It was certainly interesting to see what hid in the depths of our cabinets and I couldn’t help but feel a little sad for all of the forgotten dishes. It was as if they we’re saying – Use me! Use me! I plan on giving them all a little love soon.

So here are some pictures of OK and NK. NK picture were taken prior to us moving in and OK after we left, so please imagine a huge microwave and old, ugly toaster oven somewhere for the full effect.

Old Kitchen

I loved, loved, loved the huge counter space that OK had. You cannot imagine how incredibly useful it was. Especially when BD and I were throwing a dinner or cocktail party, there was plenty of room for both of use to be chopping. Another thing that I wish my NK had was the deep corner counters on either side of the stove. They could hold everything. I also loved how bright and open the kitchen was, and the windowsill was perfect for attempting to grow some fresh herbs. I will also miss having an ice maker. I have simple needs like that.

New Kitchen

NK is a whole different ballgame. I love the look of the wood and black counter tops, but when you throw the microwave, toaster over, coffee maker, knife set, and several other random things on the counter you lose a lot of counter space. My biggest challenge however with this kitchen is the gas stove. I’ve never had one before (OK was a glass flat top one) and it terrifies me. What if I accidentally brush against the knob and gas starts leaking? What if it spontaneously turns on and I burn the house down? (I’m sure my landlord would LOVE to know this worries me) And I just know that I’m gonna burn myself or at least a dishtowel at some point. I’ve only used it once at this point to boil some water for hot dogs. (Most of the kitchen was still packed.) Everyone says that after some adjustment I will love it and I hope so. I am also very grateful for Al-the-gas-guy for his tutorial on how a gas stove works.

Oh! Time out - funny story: BD has only cooked with gas in restaurants and never at home. For whatever reason I assumed it would be the exact same set up but I was wrong. The other night while I was unpacking he went to make us an omelet and I kept hearing the ignition thingy clicking. Like, for a full minute. Finally I called to him and said, “what are you doing?”. And he screamed in frustration. “its broken! It won’t stop clicking, damn it!”. So I had to go show him that you just need to turn the knob a bit to make it stop, which totally made me feel like a smarty-pants. But I didn’t gloat too much….he was too cute.

Anyway, it took me three days to unpack just the kitchen and to figure out where things should go. And some stuff is still in limbo but I’m sure after an adjustment period I will feel right at home there.

Hopefully by next week I’ll have some new recipes to share!

Rae ^..^