A Peek Into My New Kitchen Changes

Here's my newly re-vamped appliance workspace! It's been a long time coming. Nearly a year ago, I removed the shelves that John and I had installed when I first bought the house, and then I repainted the walls in this creamy beige color. I have to say, though, these new shelves are much better.

After searching for months for 1. something that would fit, 2. something we would like, and 3. something that could be re-purposed elsewhere easily, we finally spent a nearly two-year old wedding gift card at Crate and Barrel on the folding shelves above. The best part was that our new shelves were free! Moreover, they were a snap to pull out of the box and fit into the corner (they fit exactly). And, as a surprise benefit, the light-colored wood matched the wood trim in the kitchen.

The impetus for the change was my upgrade to a Cuisinart 14-cup food processor. I needed space for it on the kitchen island that I use for the primary baking workspace.

The Cuisinart also was a good buy. I had a gift card from Macy's for about $160 and two store coupons that would make it nearly free for me. But, the saleswoman said the coupons could not be applied to electrics such as the food processor. Fortunately, John was with me (to carry things as I limped along in my post-surgical, ski-boot-looking device) and applied for a Macy's credit card, for which we received about $36 off the purchase. In the end, including tax, the Cuisinart cost us $14. Yay! Not a bad bit of frugal business, eh? But it doesn't stop there. Because I "spent" more than $100 on a Cuisinart appliance at Macy's, I got a $20 gift card voucher for a future purpose.

And now, there it sits, right next to the KitchenAid Artisan stand mixer.

Finally, the biggest change, although it may seem like the smallest one, was that we repositioned my Home Depot $5 flood lamp that I use for filming my kitchen photos and videos. John also found me a more powerful bulb and rigged up a power strip so that the lamp and the appliances could be powered in a very handy way. He's just the best!

Now I just need to start cooking there again! Well, I did a tiny bit just to try out the new toy, and I'll post on that later in the week.

Finally, just a short health update, all is coming along with my left foot 3+ weeks post-surgery. The surgeon took more x-rays this past Tuesday and said things couldn't be better. Best of all, now I'm back into my sneakers (albeit very loosely tied) and limping a bit less. When all is done, I'll post the photos of the whole thing up in my Picasa Web Albums, but not on the blog because some of it is pretty gory.

More than anything, I'm looking forward to being on my feet for a while because this coming weekend I have pies to bake. Mmmmmm. Pie.