Planning The Kitchen

Recently on my homesteading board the discussion centered on our "dream kitchens" and what we would want. Most people want cabinets. Or 2 dishwashers. Or islands. I took out all the cabinets in my kitchen after we first moved here. I wanted my pantry to be a separate room. A room where everything is in plain view. Open cupboards. Someone can come to my house and help me in the kitchen and all they have to do is to walk into my pantry and see immediately what they are looking for.

Most of the people on the board wanted the refrigerator near the sink and the stove. Living as I do, with an alternative energy system, I don't recommend doing that. I would rather my refrigerator be in my pantry if I had the room for it. Cooler in there and not near my two cooking ranges. No heat near it. Better for your energy system. Of course, they want it closer so they don't have to walk so far. I have bad knees from arthritis, yet I really don't mind having to walk a few feet more to get something from the pantry. I do it all the time. Since my refrigerator is so small anyway, I keep much of my cold stuff in the pantry that is a very cool room anyway. My water jug is always kept in there and the water is very cold all the time.

The other door in the pantry leads to my root cellar. All old houses used to have those two rooms, the pantry and the root cellar. I am reorganizing my root cellar right now. I had cleaned it all out last year, but now I am trying to add shelves and storage containers that are completely rodent free. Then I can use it again. It has a dirt floor and fieldstone walls. It also has a big wooden bin that was built off the floor, attached to the ceiling. It looks like a wooden wagon......big! I love it. Probably was used for apples as our property had over 30 or 40 apple trees on it.

In my kitchen I do have 2 cooking ranges, one is my Premier Gas Cooking Range. It has no electrical parts on it at all. No clock. No oven light. Nothing. No glow bar in the oven. The other cooking range is my black cast iron wood cookstove. We use it daily, including all summmer. It is the first thing guests notice when they come into my house.

So basically my kitchen is set up the way I want it. We just have to finish our walls, windows, doors, floor and ceiling. Then I will have my dream kitchen too.......