Appliance....opposite of blues

Some of you know much of this story. We moved into our house in 1998, telling ourselves that we needed to get right into a major remodeling project (which I started talking about on this forum sometime shortly thereafter). The kitchen, in particular, was a mess. One light fixture on the ceiling, so there were shadows everywhere. The range was a '70's vintage GE electric with a non-functioning burner. No range hood, so the whole house fan became our range hood. The dishwasher was the kind you wheel over to the sink and connect to the faucet. Counter space was limited, cabinets were warped and doors didn't close, etc. We quickly replaced the range with a LaCanche version with gas burners and an all-convection-all-the-time oven, and we still have that. We quit using the dishwasher, though, after I noticed that if I was wearing shorts and brushed up against it, I could feel a distinct electrical current. And then things stalled. We hired a designer. And didn't like their design. We hired another designer. And didn't like their design. And this went on for a long time. We'd hire a designer, not like the design, and then a few years later, try again. Other things got in the way as well. Finally, in 2022, we hired a designer who was recommended by a friend and crucially, we didn't try and make major changes to the kitchen footprint. The ensuing remodel involved much more than the kitchen, started in April of 2024, and still has elements that are unfinished. (Our contractor is a great builder and a godawful project manager) What remains are details, though, and we've been using the kitchen now for five or six months. What an amazing thing to be rocketed from the seventies to now!! We have lots of lights all over the place, so you can see what you're mixing, slicing, etc. We have a wall oven with all sort of crazy programs and such. It has a steam function which I've been using for making sandwich rolls - they come out great! It also isn't all-convection-all-the-time, which makes my wife happy when she bakes stuff. We have a range hood!! I can sear meat on a hot cast iron skillet and not set off the smoke detector! I'm absolutely amazed at how well the dishwasher works. I had no idea our glassware could come out looking so perfectly clean! And even though we didn't really change the footprint, we managed to get more counter space out of it. Nothing's started breaking yet (other then the temp display on the fridge, which was quickly fixed), so we'll see how these things end up working out in the long term, but right now they're pretty cool.

I know most of you have been working in kitchens like this for years now, but for me, this is like having been transported into the future!

Great story, Mike, and congratulations!

My new place is not so dramatic a shift as yours -- five decades!!! --but everything is simply bigger and newer (by about 20 years) so a pleasure to just cook without having to play Tower of Hanoi at the same time.

Great story, Mike. I can relate. When we bought our house in '90, it had a newly renovated kitchen, but they'd done it on the cheap. What looked like a range hood actually exhausted into the room and the cabinetry was less than great quality. Now, we're within 5 years of selling the house and thinking about upgrading the kitchen, but we'll probably just do a cosmetic upgrade since we won't be here long term.

Congratulations!
While we replaced/upgraded appliances, we struggled a bit with our small kitchen for 14 years (inadequate counter space, storage, poor lighting).In 2017 we did a full redo, but keeping same small footprint. More counter space, more/nicer cabinets and drawers (we bought Ikea "boxes" but had custom maple doors), upgraded appliances, more attractive floor, undercounter and aimed lighting, etc. It makes Betsy happy.
Enjoy your space Mike!

[Jenise]

So happy for you, Mike! How wonderful that you were able to get more counter space without changing the footprint. You can't put a price on counter space. I had two friends here working with me for the last four hours making 101 sourdough meatloaf sandwiches for tonight's wine tasting. 15 pounds of meat (2/3 beef, 1/3 turkey) filled four extra wide sheet pans and six additional standard size baking sheets were loaded with the cut sourdough buns (think miniature boules). I have the counter space to do all that, which is why these big projects always get done at my house (both good and bad, as you'd expect).

Thanks, everyone! I'm sure everyone here knows that you don't need a great kitchen to make great food, but it's sure a lot more fun to work in one that's reasonably well set up.

Mark - do you think you'll be staying in the area or are you planning on a more significant relocation?

A wonderful story, Mike, and so happy for you and your wife to have a great kitchen area to enjoy. I still love my kitchen, even though it was remodeled 20 years ago. I selected high-end appliances and got what I wanted. I've hardly made any repairs over the years, and I am still happy with everything.
Last night I was putting together what was left of my dinner with leftovers. I wanted potatoes, but something very easy. I cut up baby Yukon Golds and put them into a pan with salt, pepper, and what was left of Apple Cider. Man, those were very tasty.
Today I am making a German Halupki, which are stuffed cabbage rolls, a recipe given to me by a friend from Germany many years ago. I am using good ground beef, onion, garlic, whole peeled tomatoes from a can leftover from another recipe, sauerkraut juice, and maybe a bit of Farro. These are layered in a baking dish with a great sauerkraut I love, a bit of tomato juice. A side will be asparagus, drizzled with Pecan oil, salt, and pepper, then grilled along with cherry tomatoes. I absolutely love stuffed cabbage rolls.

Thanks, everyone! I'm sure everyone here knows that you don't need a great kitchen to make great food, but it's sure a lot more fun to work in one that's reasonably well set up.

Mark - do you think you'll be staying in the area or are you planning on a more significant relocation?

Totally up in the air, Mike. Once we're done with our jobs here, there's nothing tying us to this area. The big wildcard is what our son ends up doing. As a Senior CS major, he has some major life choices ahead of him soon and we will probably relocate to be somewhat close to him. We might first relocate to Michigan to avoid punitive capital gains taxes when we sell our house up there (actually, here, since I'm posting from there now).

Interesting! Seems like your son would likely end up in one of the more tech-y areas of the country - NorCal, Austin, Boston(?) None of those would be terrible places to live!

My nephew (data science major) has accepted a sort of an internship in Dallas.

Interesting! Seems like your son would likely end up in one of the more tech-y areas of the country - NorCal, Austin, Boston(?) None of those would be terrible places to live!

Keep in mind that, as a budding software engineer, he will likely be able to work remotely, meaning that he could like anywhere pretty much. That being said, he has mentioned how much he likes living in our little town. It would be richly ironic if he moves back here, as this is the one place we wouldn't want to live.

Interesting! Seems like your son would likely end up in one of the more tech-y areas of the country - NorCal, Austin, Boston(?) None of those would be terrible places to live!

Keep in mind that, as a budding software engineer, he will likely be able to work remotely, meaning that he could like anywhere pretty much. That being said, he has mentioned how much he likes living in our little town. It would be richly ironic if he moves back here, as this is the one place we wouldn't want to live.

Yeah, I should have been more cognizant of that given that my daughter works for a non-profit that has no office and employees scattered across five or six states. Hope he decides on a location that's more to your liking!

We went through a complete redesign when we moved ten years ago - blank slate, new plan developed from all the things we had or hadn't liked before. Great feeling to come up with a personal kitchen plan including all new appliances. We haven't found anything we would have done differently after living with it.