Kitchen design 101

I met with Karen the Kitchen Designer today in Cooperstown—our second meeting. We made some more progress in designing the kitchen on a moderately low budget. Fortunately my choice of a simple farmhouse/Shaker style is less expensive than the more ornate versions that I dislike.

In our first meeting I settled on a cabinet style that The Husband Ok'd. He's giving into my need for a soapstone countertop, and I gave into both the designer's and architect's use of an island, rather than the farmhouse table I thought I wanted. But the easy solution was getting the local guy who makes some beautiful farm tables to either create the whole island, or get the base from the hardware store and have him milk paint it, and then he provides the island's wood top, legs for the counter area, and also makes some open wall shelves (instead of upper cabinets) with the same milk paint finish. (www.garyfosterfurniture.com)

The tough part was actually finding a widespread faucet to go with the Kohler cast iron sink I chose. Too many modern designs that don't work for me, not enough old-fashioned looks that weren't either ridiculously expensive, or just plain ugly. The one in the pic looks good in wrought iron, but I really didn't like it in the chrome. Even though several folks have recommended Moen, I might have to go with another brand just to find one I like. (BTW: This is one of the cheaper ones!)

Back to the web shopping...

Shout out to Jersey Girl: Thanks for Granny's recipe for mac and cheese! It was excellent, even in the toaster oven, with raw milk, raw milk cheddar, fresh eggs, fresh breadcrumbs and some horseradish mustard just for kicks. I had that, and salmon stuffed with crab florentine, and some Cupcake Vineyard Petite Sirah...a perfect combination!