View from the kitchen
Welcome to my gluten-free kitchen in the Hocking Hills region of Southeastern Ohio. We’re surrounded by woods, deer, woodpeckers, wild turkeys and even coyotes here. In the summer the leaves keep the house shaded and cool, but also block out the light. In the winter we get more light, but it’s Ohio. I chose to use colors and wood finishes that fill the house with light. The men in the family picked the paint colors, since they are the artists. I picked all of the local art and quilts, because I like my food and my art local. I like the neutral backdrop where the books, the art, the textiles, the people and the food provide the color.
When I designed the kitchen 10 years ago, we had been living with a lot of nasty laminate cupboards and countertops and some awful brown shag carpet and yellowing vinyl. There was a certain freedom when living with stuff that old. For a homeschooling family with two big labrador retrievers, we didn’t have to worry about ruining anything with our science and cooking experiments. When it was time for a remodel, I still wanted durable flooring and a kitchen that could take my hands-on approach to homeschooling where everyone cooked. Since we had young kids cooking and mom is a bit of a klutz, I still went with vinyl flooring for easy clean up with dogs and kids and the hope that fewer glasses and bowls would shatter when they hit the floor.
Since it is a smaller kitchen only a few hardworking appliances earn a place on the countertop. The kids couldn’t live without the panini grill for sandwiches, corn quesadillas, French toast, hash browns and grilled chicken tenders. It helps replace all that processed frozen food teens eat with homemade, gluten-free versions they easily make themselves. The slow cooker lives in the cupboard just below, but spends at least two days a week full of soup or stews. My Vitamix is used at least once a day for smoothies. We like the magnetic strips to store our knives as a safe and efficient use of space in our small kitchen.
The large drawers in this row of cabinetry are my favorite.
They store mixing bowls and pots and pans. Somehow the drawer liners always end up in a bunch–probably all the opening closing with four cooks in the house. I don’t have space for a lot of cookware, so my 20-year-old Le Creuset pots work hard. I like having fewer things that are better quality and having them last for years and become part of family history. I can still vividly remember our old yellow lab with both his paws on the stove lapping up homemade chicken noodle soup from the big green Le Creuset pot. He nearly found a new home that day when morning sickness made chicken soup the only thing I could eat. When he went to the big lake in the sky, I replaced him with a corgi who can’t reach the counters or the stove.
The fridge is covered with photos of the kids that I put up when they first went off to college and the nest was empty last fall. I also use these magnetic strips for my menu plans. There are cuter ways to do menu plans now via Pinterest, but these put the plan right in my face so I will follow them. Now I probably cook all these meals or slight variations of them in a month, though they may not appear during the actual week of the plan. This is just enough structure to organize what I have in the pantry and freezer and from grocery sales, yet I am flexible enough to shift meals around. It’s a tool to help, but not a weapon to beat myself up with if I fall off the plan. I have already fallen off the menu plan I post each week and wandered into another week’s plan.
The dining room is small too, yet we have always packed it full of the kids’ friends and we seem to be the place for New Year’s Eve, surprise birthday parties and sleepovers. I like that the kids want to congregate here, despite the tight quarters and in the summer they do spill out to the deck.
The views from the kitchen are the reason we live here.
Even on this snowy winter morning.
That’s my kitchen. Come back every Friday for more snooping in gluten-free kitchens around the US, Canada and the rest of the world.
My son created a badge for this series. After a couple of weeks of trying vector graphics, sketches, and clip art, he decided to use an old recipe card of his grandmother’s and my messy handwriting. He thought it should reflect our family and our kitchen history and I like that.
What a great peek into your kitchen! I’d say those views are spectacular, summer or winter. And I love your extra big drawers to store all the pots and dishes! Hoping I’ll achieve some of that same organization via osmosis before my tiny workspace is featured!
After living with a very ugly kitchen in this house for 5 years, it still makes me feel pampered and blessed to have this one–even after 10 years of very active duty.
Oh, my goodness, this whole posts made me so happy and touched at your honesty and inspired me on so many levels, but when I got to the badge you created … well, I am trying, but not succeeding in blinking back tears. That recipe card image speaks volumes. Wow. Powerful and amazing at how a well-loved recipe card can transport one to times in the kitchen with loved ones who have gone on. Tell your son that he has a real talent at designing a badge that is so much more than a badge. Thank you so much for this post and this series, Wendy! I’m very much looking forward to being part of it.
Hugs,
Shirley
Griffin saw your comment as soon as I approved it and you made his day. Now yesterday I was wondering if there was going to be a badge because it just wasn’t happening. He kept saying “None of this is you. We need to capture you…” and I think he finally found the answer. When he asked me to get out all the old family recipes, I knew we were on to something. Thanks for the lovely comments and for joining me on this fun new project. It’s putting the fun back into blogging for me!
Love, love, love this post! Those drawers are so terrific, I’d love to have them. But my favorite part may be the view from your window. And the badge. Well, it’s just perfect.
I can’t wait to share your post next week! Very wise young man, that son of mine. I agree on the badge.
This is a great series. Thanks for giving us a peek into your kitchen and the others to come.
Thanks, Kristin. I’m pretty excited myself. I get to see everything first!
I was stunned by the badge your son made, because I have that very same recipe card given to me at a bridal shower sharing recipes from special ladies in my hometown. Took me back so fast I wasn’t prepared for it. I love peaking into your world and secretly wish I had the large drawers just like yours. Ok, no secret now. Thanks for sharing your family stories and precious memories so we can feel just like we are there with you in your lovely home. It was fun to stop in for a visit.
Thanks for visiting, Debbie. That card was one of my mom’s from the late 70s and had a recipe for Mom’s Killer Cupcakes on it, a big part of my late teens. If anyone remembers Black Bottom Cupcakes with the cream cheese filling, that’s the recipe.
wow, that is one dream kitchen
Why thank you, Angela. I was dreaming about it for 5 years before it was a reality.
Wonderful post! This series is a brilliant idea. The kitchen is the heart and soul of the home, and it will be so much fun to get to know our blogging friends on a deeper level.
(I’m having drawer envy right now as our temporary kitchen has a total of 3 shallow drawers!)
Can’t wait to share your kitchen, Heather.
Thank you for inviting us into your kitchen. What fun to see how another person deals with too little counter space. It looks like you have figured out how to make everything work. You are right…space isn’t what draws the kids and their friends- it’s being welcomed by adults who are interested in you. Thanks, again.
Thank you for stopping by with kind words and letting me know you were here, Christine.
I LOVE the badge. It’s marvelous. And it’s very nice to see such an intimate look into your kitchen. It’s beautiful (and I love how clear your counters are!) and it looks like a very easy place to cook in.
I cleared those counters just for you, Lillian. Really, they look a lot different when a certain someone is home from college. I took these photos right after I dug out from the holiday chaos.
I love the recipe card first with your hand writing. Love it! Your kitchen looks so amazing to me. I see lots of love, sharing and good cooking places. I’m so excited about this series and I’m so glad you shared yours first!
Diane, you are the only one who loves my handwriting. The only bad grades I got in school were for penmanship. Well, until college and I just was no good at logic. Excited to see your kitchen too.
It’s a beautiful kitchen! I am completely jealous of the pull-out pots and pans drawer. Ours are inconveniently housed in a deep cabinet–everything needs to come out to find what I want.
Those drawers are on my wish list! I also really love the cheery color of your countertops–just lovely.
and!! to look out the window to see NATURE and not nosy neighbors? wow. again, completely jealous.
Aww, thanks Steph, thanks. I’ll try to remember that about nosy neighbors when I have to drive 20 minutes to get groceries.
Wendy, this is great. I mean, really great. I love how family-oriented and personal these photos and that badge are. Yay for this series.
And Yay for you for joining me with your kitchen too!
Ahhh…Wendy. That recipe card looks so similar to the ones I covet in my box full of my grandma’s old recipes (in her handwriting). Griffin knew exactly what he was doing – he is a brilliant young man (of course, you already know that).
I love love love your kitchen and all of the colors and accents of color that you use. I totally adore that quilt that is hanging in the dining room with the beautiful star. I can just feel the love in the kitchen as you are creating your meals.
And, I have very similar deep drawers in my kitchen that are one of my favorite things as well. Who knew the kinds of things you could fit in a kitchen drawer? Even my soup pot fits in there. LOL
Thank you so much for starting this series. Seeing everyone’s kitchens seems like it just connects us that much more even when we are hundreds of miles away from each other. As we are reading each other’s recipes we can picture everyone as they are cooking in their home settings. So so fun!
You are so sweet, Kim. Thank you. I have to say I can’t wait to feature your red kitchen. The glimpses you give us on your blog have me wanting to see the whole thing.
Your son did a great job with the badge for the series! What a genius idea! Thank you for sharing your kitchen. I absolutely LOVE those big drawers. My Granny and Papa had a lot of pull out drawers and racks that Papa made WAY before it became the cool thing in the kitchen. One of my aunts has since remodeled her kitchen to be similar. Can’t wait to have a house of our own so I can do the same thing. Digging through cabinets gets tedious and exhausting.
Thanks, Debi. Seeing how great those two kids of mine have turned out is the only thing that has kept me from feeling down about my yearlong job search. At least those years of staying home and being out of the workforce were totally worth it. Next time a recent college grad waltzes in and gets the job about to be offered to me, I will have proof I did the right thing. Thanks for stopping by and for joining the series real soon.
You know Wendy, this series is great because I feel like I’m visiting your house for tea or dinner. How fun! And we even get to peek into your cupboards! I’m glad I’ll get to join in later this year and can’t wait to visit everyone’s kitchens. I’ll have to clean mine first though, haha. Very sweet and personal badge.
-Sea
You don’t have to mop or dust if you go for soft focus. Don’t ask me how I know.
Your kitchen series is a great idea and I will look forward to seeing other kitchens soon. I blinked back some tears over your son’s comments and I love that he found the perfect badge!
It is so sweet how that badge is tugging on a lot of heartstrings this morning. I’m lucky to have such a sensitive art director.
I absolutely love this – the view into your backyard is amazing too!!
How do people LIVE without parchment paper? I will never understand this.
Another one of life’s mysteries… Looking forward to your paleo kitchen too.
Okay, I get it. Exactly as it sounds! In My Gluten-Free Kitchen! What a fun idea. I love snooping around other people’s kitchens. Boy, yours sure is clean. =) Love the image of the dog lapping up the chicken noodle soup. I’ve had my own experiences with big dogs eating food off the counter.
Great post Wendy. Lovely kitchen (and the other rooms — and the outside).
Ahh the magic of photography. I still have to pull out the stove after several dinner parties and the college girl cooking up a storm. I bet there must be a few cups of fried rice down the side of the stove(and who knows what else).
I like this series Wendy – it’s still foodie, but a nice change and a fun behind the scenes look! Your kitchen looks warm and cozy, just like I would expect.
I’m used to deer, coyotes and bears in our back yard, but wild turkeys? seriously?! How cool is that?
I only see the turkeys maybe once a year and I hear the coyotes at night. Still pretty cool.
I have a feeling I’m going to be hugely jealous after all of these posts!
I’m betting you will be hugely jealous of some and in awe of others who make what they have work despite little space or all the bells and whistles. I hope I’ve gathered both. Thanks so much for stopping by and letting me know you are reading.
What a practical, cozy and warm kitchen. I’m enamored. I also love that Cardinal out on your bird feeder. We get a lot of those too, but we don’t get that high contrast with the white snow though. I also love those deep drawers. I have a couple of deep drawers, but they’yre smaller in width. I agree with having investment cookware, especially if you cook a lot. I had considered going with Le Creuset, but I opted for Lagostina stainless steel. Sometimes I wish I had gone for Le Creuset since I now can’t buy Lagostina in the U.S. (Williams-Sonoma stopped carrying them). More on my kitchen in a few months.
That’s right, Amanda. I am excited to share your kitchen. Way back in the 1990′s, the Le Creuset pots were extravagant Christmas gifts two years in a row. Little did I know I would still be using them and they would hold so many memories.
Love the pics, especially the one with the cardinal! If I had a view like that, I’d have a hard time leaving the kitchen
Now you know my secret. I find it hard to leave here and when I do travel the world, I always appreciate it when I come home.
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I love this series, it feels like you invited us all into your lovely home in the woods for a visit and a cup of tea. I also love how warm your kitchen feels and I absolutely LOVE the out of window photo of the cardinal. It reminds me of what it must look like back home in Iowa. I’m skipping winter this year down in Florida.
Thanks for sharing Wendy.
You should be very happy to be in Florida today, Debra. It just started snowing again after several inches Thursday and Friday. It is lovely looking out the window, but walking the corgi is chilly. Can’t wait for your kitchen.
Wendy, what a lovely and beautiful small space. I LOVE small homes and small spaces and your home is absolutely gorgeous… I’ve been debating whether or not I was going to clean my kitchen for the pictures for my post and I’m wondering if I should just be my messy self… haha!! Your kitchen is beautiful and I absolutely LOVE the quilts on the wall!! We have very similar tastes!
Carrie. A piece with true confessions and photos would certainly work for this series. I guess I could have used the shots of my kitchen during the holidays and before I dug out. I chose to capture that brief moment when all was in order. It’ll be a nice reminder of what I have underneath the daily debris. Thank you for joining in!
Wendy, thank you for having us in for a warm and welcoming visit. I love your view from the kitchen. And like yours, our le Creuset is used much! xoLexie
You are so welcome, Lexie and if you want to do your kitchen from a camper, the offer still stand.
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LOVE it, too!! I am in process of painting my kitchen cupboards (rather Tuscan, tho I ‘hear’ that’s passe …) & so the colours are similar to what I’m working on! I have lived with some very small kitchens, esp when I lived in community with shared spaces …. & have been recalling what I liked about those as I spruce up & rearrange MY GF kitchen!
And working on containing the mess ….
Thanks for the tour!
Thanks for stopping by, Dia. I appreciate all of your comments. How can Tuscan be passe already? I think it should never go out of style.
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