Our new kitchen

We did it!

We have our new kitchen! And when I say “we did it”, I mean “we survived with no kitchen for two weeks while builders did all the work.”  But it feels like quite an accomplishment. Plus, the builders did a much, much nicer job than we would have. It looks gorgeous.

(Secretly, I think the winners here are the cats, who were NOT PLEASED to be locked up all day while the builders were here, and they know we owe them one. They declined to be photographed for this post.)

As you saw from my last kitchen post, we replaced almost everything. New cabinets. New counters. New floor. New dishwasher and microwave. We even widened the entryway, making the kitchen much more open to the living room.

We went with wood cabinets, and granite countertops. The difference between this and the laminate countertops we had before… it doesn’t bear comparison.  There are lots of little nice things, too, like a deeper sink, and a much quieter garbage disposal – things we’re only just beginning to appreciate.

My favorite touch may be the floor. We decided on cork flooring, which came up when we were researching our options and didn’t really like any of them.  We had tile before, and it was cold and hard – no fun to stand on more than a few minutes. We weren’t eager to get tile again. The alternatives, like laminate or linoleum, just didn’t look right to us. Not that anyone was going to be scrutinizing our floors, but we wanted something that would fit.  Cork was the winner.  Not only is it sustainable, but it’s warm to the touch and naturally springy, very easy on the feet. I’m looking forward to cooking something elaborate this weekend so I can start enjoying it.

Which leaves me with just one question left to answer: when I haven’t been able to cook in over two weeks, and I want to celebrate a big accomplishment… what do I make?