Yes, it's true. After all these years, it still comes down to the cheese sandwich.
It originally started out as a FBLTB (fake bacon, lettuce, tomato, and basil) sandwich on this awesome bread from Trader Joe's that doesn't have any sugar in it. The basil and lettuce were fresh from the AeroGarden, and the tomato and Veganaise were from the co-op. I'm sure the fake bacon was from the grocery store.
I could have stopped there, but didn't. I had a block of 70% lower fat cheddar from Cabot in the fridge that needed to be finished before we left for Utah, so in it went. I don't regret it one bit. It was one of the best sandwiches ever.
Thar she blows, our new kitchen. Well, it's not quite done, done, but it will look the same to most folks from this angle. When the delivery men delivered the new behemoth of a fridge, they scratched up the brand new laminate floors. It took the entire month of June to get satisfaction on that one. And, our floor guy still has to come back and replace the damaged boards with the extras we bought "just in case."
The view above is what you see as you walk through the living room into the kitchen. Previously, we had large, ceramic, white tile that I hated. We also had a much smaller, noisier, and less efficient fridge. This counter-depth KitchenAid model is very quiet and uses much less energy to cool its contents. The real estate folks always say to do one fancy upgrade to the kitchen, and this is it. We had to buy the left-opening, single-door model because the garage door is to the right, so we didn't have clearance for any of the French-door models.
Overall, we're pretty pleased with the outcome. Above, you can see the new Silestone counter, extra-deep (10-in) Franke stainless sink, cherry cabinets, and pewter handles. John's favorite part is the chrome grate that fits into the sink. It's nice because it keep the scratches down, but it's not my favorite part of the re-do.
Above is the view from the garage door across the kitchen and into the dining room/end-of-living room. The top cabinet is a new addition, and it's where we keep the glasses. We also moved the stacking bookshelves from the kitchen into the dining room. Here you can see that I now display some of my Polish pottery and Le Creuset-ware along with the cookbooks on the shelves.
To add more light to my workspace in the kitchen, John swapped out the new light fixture above for the old, faux stained-glass one. While I'll miss the look of the old one, this fixture adds so much more light and plays off the pewter handles of the cabinets.
I know, and I apologize for the terrible photography above. That said, we moved the wee fridge (where I keep my baking supplies) into the kitchen along with the AeroGarden. This makes it a lot more convenient to bake and cook than having to go back and forth from the dining room, where these had been. We also had to buy a very slim garbage pail to fit in the smaller spot. This one works well--we found it at Target.
You also may have noticed that we purchased Gel Pro mats for in front of the sink and work areas in the kitchen.
I was able to match the floors and the cabinets pretty well with the Chestnut mats. They were very expensive, but well worth it for all the time I spend on my feet (when I'm not breaking the damn things) cooking.
Finally, here's a very short movie (less than 2 mins.) with a brief look at how the whole thing fits together.
If you're been keeping up with Altered Plates, you probably already know about my broken foot. So, that explains why I haven't updated here in a while.
Now that I'm back up and around, I'll be posting more often, but I just wanted to let you know I haven't forgotten about you. Thanks for keeping up!
