I've mentioned in several posts that our kitchen is really little. Well, I decided to video it so if you are interested, you can see just how small it is. :)
The scar on the wall above the stove was made when they put in a new electric line for the stove. I really need to white wash the walls again, but, well, I'm not in the mood... The sound you hear is the clock on the wall beside the stove.
The onions are not real - they are there to hide the gap between the wall and the cupboards. :) We put the cupboards up sometime after the first year we'd lived here and knew we were going to stay long term. Mel put them up using big nails to hang them on and then big nails pounded into the wall below them at an angle to anchor them up. We found out that Natasha, who stayed here on our first HMA, actually called the landlord and asked him to come check and make sure they weren't going to fall down on her - after they'd been up for two years!! Mel actually kind of hung on them with all his weight to make sure they weren't going to fall off the wall. Sheesh. They've been there now for over 9 years. (If they fall off the wall now, it's because I wrote about it you know!)
Mel and I bought and put in all of the cupboards and cabinets except the one between the stove and sink, and the one hanging on the wall above the drying dishes. We bought the sink, the stove and the washer (which I'm standing beside). The big thing on the wall between the sink and the stove is the kalunka (water heater). It is really old and needs to be replaced, but we don't want to spend the money for that as long as it still works. And we'd rather not have the landlord replace it because sure enough, our rent would increase. heh heh.
The grapevine is beautiful over the window, but it blocks way too much light for me. I try to keep it cut back a bit but this year we were gone during the time it could have safely been pruned.
The stuff on the counter has no place else to go - coffee pot (used every day), scale (used every meal), toaster (keeps stuff from falling off between the cabinet and wall :) ), mixer covered in tea towel (no other room). On the washer are 3 6 liter bottles of filtered water that we keep mostly full for when the water is off, my wonderful crock-pot (which is drying across the room and the lid is on the countertop) and our electric tea kettle. What I hope you can't see are all the little ants scurrying across the countertop (ok, there were only one or two), and how the floor needs to be mopped and other stuff that needs a good spring cleaning. :) :) :)
Well, that is our kitchen, here in Kherson. I've cooked meals for up to 12 people in this kitchen and enjoyed doing it. The key is organization and preparing whatever you can ahead of time. Working as a cook at Christ Haven Lodge and Horn Creek Conference Center was great training for cooking in this little kitchen. I do miss the space, though. I would love to have a big kitchen - never have, probably never will. But that's ok.
Oh - we do have a fridge - it's in the hallway, over by the coat rack and outside door. You know - where every one keeps their fridge! (hear hysterical laughter) It gives me a bit of exercise every day - going from the kitchen to the fridge and back while cooking.
4 comments:
if it is any consolation, our kitchen here is just as tiny :)
I've become so used to my kitchen that it's smallness doesn't bother me at all unless someone wants to help me. Then - well, it is actually kind of funny. Mel and I in the kitchen together take up all of the room and end up bumping into each other if we're not careful. It's the smallest kitchen I've been in here in Ukraine. Just 2/3's the size of Melinda's, but her flat is smaller than ours. And Thornton's new house has a kitchen at least as big as our living room, if not bigger. But I like ours - I'm used to it.
Brings back memories of our adoption trip to Ukraine in 2000. We stayed in a private home for a month and it looks JUST like the kitchen where we stayed. Except hers had a built in radio in the wall near the door. Ate many Pelmeni in that kitchen :-) It was a long trip and difficult at times but I still get somewhat nostalgic about it too. Wouldn't mind visiting again to see how things have changed.
Our landlord removed the radio well before we ever moved in. However, the "office" flat we rent directly below us on the first floor has the original radio still in it. It plays continually - we turn it down so low we can't hear it at all, but the woman who cleans that flat listens to it and leaves it on loud when she leaves. We always know when she's been there. :)
If you are able to come back to Ukraine some time, you will find that the country has changed greatly. One example - here in our small city we just had a new store open that would rival a Home Depot in the States. The country is in a financial crisis, but new stores keep being built. I'm not sure who is actually buying the stuff in them, though.
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