Way Down the Project List: The kitchen

Our kitchen needs work. Lots of work. Sure, it has the basics. There's the old, lovely gold oven (1970s??). It kind of works; we've learned most of its quirks, like it runs about 30 degrees too hot and the bottom rack (borrowed from another oven) doesn't slide out. But I can turn out some decent meals on it, so it stays. For now.

Then there's the dishwasher. The soap dispenser section doesn't open on its own anymore, so we just put the liquid soap straight onto the door. When the dishwasher door is open, no one can open the fridge. In fact, when the dishwasher door is open, no one can walk through the kitchen at all. And the control buttons on the outside of the door are a big temptation to the 4 year old, who often changes the settings, unbeknownst to me until I wonder why the dishwasher has been running for 1-1/2 hours and find out it is set on "pots and pans" again.

Then there is the knife drawer. If I walk by, it pops open. I shut it. It opens. I shut it and wait. It stays put. I start to walk away, and it opens again. It's me against the knife drawer. The crowning glory of our dated kitchen is the strip of wallpaper circling the top of our kitchen walls, displaying a series of chickens and cows. It has just got to go!

When I have completed all my other half-finished projects, I am going to get to work on this kitchen. The wallpaper will be the first to go. Then the scratched and burnt Formica counters that I suspect are original to this 1962 house. Then I will re-arrange the cabinets so that the kitchen is more efficient and we can open the fridge or the dishwasher and not block all other activity. I have a vision of what it COULD be . . . and it includes red. I love red kitchens. Warm and welcoming. Here's a red kitchen I swoon over - this was torn from a magazine several years ago. I can see this kitchen in my house, with copper pots hanging above a new gas range. Sigh . .