I write this from Charlotte, NC. Nothing but rain since I arrived, courtesy of Tropical Storm Ida. I saw South Pacific last night – what a spectacular production! It is the National Tour of the recent Lincoln Center revival and I have to tell you it is superb. They just don’t write gorgeous musicals like this one anymore. I am here to work with an opera singer who will be replacing the lead for 5 weeks. He is Welsh and he has to have a French dialect. In the small world category, I ran into a cast member who is a friend of both my husband and I. I love when that happens!

You asked for photos of the kitchen – so here goes. It is very hard to get a good shot in that room because there are so many windows. Don’t get me wrong, we love the windows. The sunlight that pours into the kitchen is one of the things we fell in love with when we saw the cottage. I’ve given it a go and we’ll see how you like them.

Our kitchen and living room are one big open space. We don’t have a dining room, but we have an eating area in the kitchen. The photo at the top of this post looks into the kitchen from the living room. Because there are so many windows, there isn’t a lot of wall space for cupboards – hence my kitchen island.

You may have noticed that the stove and dishwasher are black and the refrigerator is white. The kitchen came that way. I am not especially fond of black appliances (my husband likes them), but we are not about to buy new ones at this point. We also have tile countertops – I don’t like them, either. Some day…

We bought this hutch several years ago when we first moved out East. It had metal 50’s handles on the doors and I replaced them with glass handles. There is a lot of pottery inside those glass doors and I will share it with you on another post. If you look at the top shelf on the right, you will see the McCoy pottery that was in my old header (now on my awards page.) I used to have a large collection of Fiesta that I sold but I kept a few things, like the mixing bowls on top of the hutch – next to our cow, Monty. Say hello to Monty!

This bench is next to the hutch (and right below the new chalkboard.) I love its hinged top, which allows storage for all sorts of hammers, staple guns, and containers of spackle. The cushions on either end are by Martha Stewart for Kmart – I’ve had them a long time. The center cushion is one of a set of two that I got in San Diego. I like the mix of fabrics. (Those are ‘dog towels’ under the bench – we have to wipe dirty, muddy paws quite frequently!)

I was standing right next to the island when I took this photo. You can see the door, our handy-dandy pantry and the table and chairs.

A different view – you see all the windows? Lots of light, thank goodness, but they don’t make for the best photos. You can see our paper towel holder behind the table. It is a industrial chain display that we bought at auction and repurposed with some dowels. I know it is funky, but that’s why we love it!

Here is a closer look. You’d think we’d always have plenty of paper towels on hand…you’d be wrong!

Back to the table. Those legs are the reason I fell in love with it. We wanted a round table. Heidi found this at auction for her store. There is a post somewhere in this blog about how I hounded her until she finally gave up and let me have it. It is perfect and it even has two leaves!

My husband loves this kitchen because the ceilings are so high! Our cottage was built in 1891, so most of the ceilings are quite low and Don is over 6’4″. As you look toward the living room, you see this sign. It is a reproduction (originals were so expensive) and we love it. I’ll give you a close-up:

And here is the view from the kitchen to the living room – complete with furry creatures.

In Part 2, I plan on sharing some of the pottery, china and little treasures that live in the kitchen. Hope you liked the tour – it certainly isn’t high tech, but it is bright, cheery and cozy and we love it.