Bucking a Trend.

**Note to all my friends in blogland: I cannot seem to comment! Since I have cleaned up the computer through a second round of infections, I cannot stay signed into blogger--and it ignores everything I type into your comment boxes. I'm trying to resolve the issue--but please be aware I have been visiting! Mella, Scb, Lorijo, Anne, and Leena--you are in my thoughts.



The shelves above the stove are gone.

It was an impulsive decision, really. I watched that marvelous video on how to build an efficient farm kitchen and gasped when I saw the woman reach up into her cupboard above the stove and take down her serving dishes. I could not believe how effortless it was.

Me? I have been running into the dining room to the hutch for the platters and bowls I need to serve dinner. This is something new for us, actually. Until a few months ago, I just used to serve everyone from the stove. Then I read Ellyn Satter, a dietician who specializes in helping families with obesity. She recommends that each person serve themselves--and since lining up at the stove wasn't going to fly in our awkward kitchen, I needed to set the food out on the table. But it was getting to be quite the chore: especially as I was doing my best to serve at least two kinds of veggies instead of just one at every meal.

Then, one day last week, the post referral linky came up with the AT: Fall 2009 Kitchen cleaning plan. It included this picture.


Everyone commented how exhausting it was. And even though I removed the top shelf and we now have a smaller (mostly) white microwave, it was exhausting, still.

(trying out my new camera after Christmas.)

So, I decided to buck the trend of creating display shelves in kitchens (by removing cabinet doors) and see what I could do to put up a cabinet.

Edited to add this photo which I found after constructing this post. This is the best, I think, this spot ever looked!



I was in luck.

Home Despot had kitchen cabinets for sale: the one near us offered any one you wanted for $99.00. The one on the north side of town had dropped their price to $69.00 but they didn't have the size we wanted (two door 30" x 30" more or less). So, we spoke to the Guy In Charge at the store near us and got ourselves what we needed for $69.00.

Wow. Did we get what we paid for! They are square, I'll say that much for them, but the doors don't meet in the middle and there was even a bit of water damage on the side. The back--except for two narrow strips at the top and bottom--consists of nothing but flimsy particle board. We were not going to hang them simply by drilling through the back into the studs behind like This Old House recommended.


Oh--and about the studs --the wall has only two-- one at each end. So we used toggle bolts for the screws on the left hand side of the cabinet (the middle of the wall). We put a board on the wall to take the weight of the cabinet and then screwed each corner into that wall through what we had.


My son and husband worked together. It took a few days, but all is quiet on the east wall, now.


I feel like I can breathe.

Linking to Met Monday at Between Naps on the Porch. Check out the other great entries.