This blog has witnessed quite a few “small revolutions” in our lives. In 2010 we moved briefly from Oklahoma to California, and cooked for almost a full year in a nano-kitchen where there was no real stove, no real oven, no real kitchen sink. No dishwasher either, by the way. Last year, as we joined Kansas State University, we went  through a phase of alternating weeks camping in an almost empty home in OK and living in the new place in KS. I am not quite sure how, but I managed to keep the blog going through it all.   It so happens that we are about to face a new revolution: the renovation of our kitchen!   Tomorrow at 8am plastic sheets will enclose the space, cabinets will be removed, floors ripped off. In other words, “all hell will break loose”.

Our main goal is to make the place lighter.  Everything in the kitchen is dark right now. Appliances are black, granite counter tops are black. Cabinets are dark, the floor is dark. But we also want to modernize the appliances. Keep in mind that we nicknamed our range “Poltergeist”.  It gives you an idea of its performance. The fridge makes no ice, but plenty of noises. The dishwasher needs human help to get dishes clean, and whoever designed its racks was a geometry-challenged sadist. So the three appliances are going to be replaced.  Wait until you see the range we ordered!  It will be a gas range, it will be gorgeous, and it will have a real hood on top of it.  Can you imagine the huge smile I have as I type this?  I bet you can… 😉  It won’t arrive for a few weeks still, and because the floor won’t be installed until October, we’ll probably not have the kitchen fully functional until then.

Every weekend I’ve been writing  posts so that the blog can sail as smoothly as possible through the rough waters ahead.  But I thought you should all be aware of the excitement behind the curtains…  Here are a few shots of the “before”.  I can hardly wait to show you the “after”, a couple of months from now.

.

Poltergeist plus his partners in crime: the black fridge, the black microwave with a pseudo-hood underneath that pays lip service to fumes.

The black granite will stay all around the kitchen, except the center island.  We’ve got a different plan for that area…

The floor is a bit too rustic for our  taste.  It seems always dirty, and it adds to the overall darkness of the kitchen.  Hardwood floor in our future!

.
Stay tuned for updates as the weeks move along… and keep your fingers crossed for us!  😉

Photo of our kitchen, 12 hours after publication of this post: they do work pretty fast!