wit wisdom and food

celebrating shared meals

whet your whistle wednesday: kitchens

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We are a hair under 3 months from our moving date. This has me already dreaming of my future kitchen. Who am I kidding I have been planning my future kitchen for years. It hasn’t changed a lot over the years. When I look at real estate listing I actually look for the kitchen with the worst ascetics know that I can gut it all and transform it. I just need the right space, some time and a chunk of change!

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I love the idea of a oven hood and a scalloped hood would look so quaint and cute with my vintage vibe.

I want a big window over my sink so I can look out in the backyard and daydream when I have to do the awful chore of dishes. A cute window shelf for some herbs would make it even more lovely.

I am torn about having an island. I think if I have one I would want my stove in it and a bookcase for my cookbooks on the back side.

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dream fridge…heck I want all of Smeg’s adorable products!

This one is my most repinned kitchen pin (actually got pinned while I typed this!). I love the open shelving for displaying my favorite/most used pieces. This entire remodel is well done by Kim at NewlyWoodwards. If you don’t already know here head over and start following the building of their new house. It is going to be a great journey.

One of the things I am most looking forward to when we have home is painting. These no fail colors will be handy when thinking about cabinet colors.

I think I will be heading towards a white kitchen with lower cabinets in a nice color. I just love how bright it looks. Makes me want to spend the entire day creating in there.

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a retro looking stove to go with my retro fridge

Checkered floor, vintage color and a farmhouse sink in front of a big window…I want one just like this of my very own. Eclectic is my favorite kitchen style.

Room for cream?

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It is all about pinterest these days. I found many great ideas for our wedding on pinterest. Now that we have moved out of the tiny apartment into a house I have found so many great ideas that I have to keep to keep reminding myself that I have a budget and other responsibilities and can’t possibly do them all.

So I am focusing on the functional projects that will be around for a while. The latest project started with a need for more kitchen storage and counter space. I have definitely upgraded from the kitchen in the apartment but this one just didn’t come with quite enough space for a kitchen lover like me. Then came this great coffee bar idea that I found on pinterest. You can see updates on where I found the cabinet, the struggle to get the hardware off over here at this post. So the finished project is finally in the house…

I got the canisters at Midland when I was visiting my parents last month. If you are ever in Indianapolis and have some time for antiquing I highly recommend it. I even managed to find a spot for my Coozie collection on the new coffee bar so that might make it a beverage bar.

I have this piece coming from One Kings Lane, a shopping website which my sister-in-law, Felice, showed me. I think it will add some height the to coffee bar similar to the inspiration coffee bar.

I still love all things vintage. As I have been shopping for rugs I keep trying to imagine having this nice tuscan kitchen or something more adult (read: traditional) but it never seems quite right. I am going to stick to what I am naturally drawn to instead of trying to make a room fit for the pages of a magazine. So the inspiration for the colors in the kitchen came from these things.


From the top: Wrapping paper from a wedding gift, poster from a recent Gaslight Anthem show, and another poster give to me by Maya. The brown on the coffee bar came from the wrapping paper. I liked the other colors in the paper and the two poster are favorites and have a kitchen theme.

Do you get the last poster?

not your average girl

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Ladies, raise your hand if you planned your wedding when you were a teenager, or and adult, while you tried to fall asleep at night. I was never with you. I was busy planning and decorating my dream house. I was always a little different I guess. Never appreciated that while I was decorating my dream home but I have learned to embrace it. I still plan my dream home when I have trouble falling asleep. With my hobbies there is only really one important room in my house. I could buy a house that needed work and renovate one room and make do with everything else. Of course it is the kitchen. While watching a home improvement show they mentioned that improvements to the kitchen are where you get the most value when reselling. Hope whoever buys my house likes my style. I could never have a plain jane or fancy high end kitchen just to get more value. My kitchen will have to be comfortable and make me want to never leave.

First, I must have a very specific floor. black and white checkerboard
As long as I have been planning this house I have known that I want this floor in my kitchen. I just love the way this floor looks in a kitchen. Every time I see a kitchen with this floor it makes me want to sit at the kitchen table, drink coffee and eat muffins while I read the morning paper.


Now that the floor is in place how about some kitchen cabinets…
All white cabinets with some ribbed glass doors. I think my Fiestaware will look pretty nice behind those ribbed glass doors. There will have to be some solid doors because some things should be left to the imagination. Of course there will need to be a large area of open shelves for my cookbook collection.

Now that storage is in order I think it is time to move on to counter tops and one of my other must have pieces, the sink.
In the last few years I have fallen in love with the look of the farmhouse sink. I like how the front breaks up the cabinets. My current sink is a double sink and I can’t fit my pans flat in the bottom. It is also so shallow that i get sprayed with water if I miss judge things wrong. I want that deep, large sink. Counter tops are a little tricky. It has to be granite, but what color is the challenge. I am leaning towards black for the strong contrast it will give to the all white cabinets. Though the black might take away from the look of my favorite kitchen appliance, my red kitchenaid mixer. Guess it doesn’t all have to be planned out now. The other thing I am still divided on is the back splash. Tile all around the kitchen or just behind the stove where it would make cleaning easier. If is tile should it be a solid color or a colorful pattern? Maybe some nice wainscoting behind the sink that really gives that farmhouse retro feel to kitchen. Without having these answers I will still have something to plan on my next sleepless night. One thing that I know I don’t have to keep thinking about is that appliances. Obviously, I cook a lot so I need appliances that have all the modern conveniences, but stainless steel appliances aren’t going to look right. Luck for me there are companies out there that have solved this problem for me. Modern appliances with a retro look…
Just looking at them makes me what to get into the kitchen are start whipping something up. When it is all finished I can serve it on the only appropriate table…