Welcome on board! This is my Galley

[tod2]

The recent chat about kitchens on the 'Blah blah blah' section prompted me to take a few snaps of my galley.
Maybe other AnyPorters would like to add theirs ?

My Kitchen

[breeze]

So this is where the magic happens. Tod, your kitchen is very warm-looking with all the wood. It seems well stocked but still neat. How do you manage that? There's plenty of light and it's very practical with three sinks. The black (or brown?) and white curtains are snazzy. I can tell you love this room.

Really, it could appear in a home magazine.

I like kitchens in general and wherever we go I always try to peek into the kitchen--homes, restaurants, B&Bs. Of course nobody really is ready to show off their kitchen, especially if they've just fed you and think it's a mess. I don't care if the room is a mess or not. I just like to see what tools and equipment people have to work with.

[htmb]

Very nice, Tod. You certainly have lots of great counter space and plenty of room to move around. It looks like a wonderful kitchen for preparing family-sized meals.

[mich64]

Your kitchen is beautiful Tod and very functional. I would love to have that much counter space! I hope to post some photos tomorrow!

[tod2]

Thank you.
I designed this one quite differently to the first one we installed when we built the house. The old cupboards had a center prep bowl and hob. I soon learned that walking around this hexagonal fitting was a mistake, but I lived with it for at least 15 years.
I also used to have a double oven with both at eye-level. Much better than the under-the-counter oven I have now but I could not find a good place to put it.
We have always had a separate washing up area which is great to hide away dirty dishes!
My most functional and loved part of my kitchen is the tea & coffee making area. I have the kettle on the counter top with the cups etc. right next to it and below in the cupboard, all the ingredients. I have done away with filter machine but might treat myself to a Nespresso one of these days. I am the only one that drinks espresso coffee.

Breeze - the Roman blinds are printed Zebra skin to match the cushions on the seat of the kitchen chairs.

Mich64- I would love to see your galley and loads of others too whether large or small, neat and tidy or chaotic and friendly!

[patricklondon]

Aha:

My kitchen transformation


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[tod2]

Wonderful! Amazing transformation similar to a butterfly!
Thanks so much for showing us.

[breeze]

That was fun, Patrick, and it's the best way to look back at home renovations. All over in 2 minutes!

[htmb]

Since I've actually cooked every single day for the past two weeks, and the space is also relatively clean at the moment, I have taken a few photos of my kitchen.

When I bought my home I added the bookshelf, hanging pot rack and center island. They were relatively inexpensive, and purchased at second hand shops.

The drop leave table in the corner by the window was the table where we ate meals my first twelve years of life. It later became my father's "desk," where he would spread out, sort, and organize his paperwork. It's a bad habit I've inherited, though I use my dining room table instead.

The round table and chairs were in my parent's kitchen from when I was twelve, until the day my father died. The chairs were my great-grandmother's; something my mother had inherited. This table usually looks like a paper dump because my granddaughters use it as their art table.

The framed pieces on the wall are all needlework made by my mother, sister and grandmother. There are also some framed magazine covers that still have the mailing labels for a great-great-grandmother I never knew. My three older children were extremely close to their parents and I think having all these little reminders around has always been comforting. Plus, they are also things I like.

[htmb]

I forgot to mention the brass fixture over the round table. It came from the Jesuit school my father attended when he was a boy. My mother rescued it in the late 1950's, before they demolished the building in downtown Tampa. The fixture had been completely black and covered in grime. Once she got it all cleaned up, my mother had it hung in the hallway of our home.

[whatagain]

Thanks for inviting us :-)

We want to repaint our own kitchen - will try to post ... but the kitchen is more my wife's realm, albeit I can use (some of) it.

[tod2]

Wonderful Htmb! Your galley is cosy and steeped in family history past and present. Just so nice. I really like your area for a bookshelf and the table under it.

[amboseli]

Tod, such a big kitchen, and so much counterspace!
Patrick, I can't see yours.
Here's mine ... totally different. My US friends say it's very European, whatever that means.


image hosting 10mb limit

[tod2]

Yes Amboseli I am very lucky.
Your kitchen looks the height of European chic! As I don't see handles on the cupboard doors I am presuming you pull them open from underneath?

[htmb]

Your kitchen looks quite new, Amboseli.

[amboseli]

@tod
Yes, some of the doors I pull open from underneath. Some of them have magnetic touch latches.

htmb
My kitchen is 10 years old (my Smeg bombino fridge is more recent). I'm still happy with it.

[breeze]

I'm really enjoying this thread.

htmb, you have a good eye--that or good luck, probably both--with thrift shops. It's a very personal kitchen, as well as being functional and pretty.

Your hanging pan rack seems to be unique. Was it something different in its former life?

amboseli, your kitchen looks brand-new. Hard to believe it's 10 years old! I like the smooth-front look and wanted it for our cupboards but couldn't get it. Our carpenter knew how to do it but didn't have the (expensive) equipment.

pariswat, I'd like to see before- and after-painting photos of your kitchen.

[patricklondon]

Amboseli, my kitchen went from the "country kitchen" look that was fashionable when my flat was built (all fussy bits and fake wood grain that you had to take a toothbrush to for cleaning, and not well planned in terms of space) to....... something not far off yours (no projecting handles, just a "lip" to pull, and "soft close" drawers and doors. Since I got the idea from a flat I stayed in in Amsterdam and found almost exactly the same sort of cabinets here, you could well say it's a European look. I get the impression that minimal and space-saving are more common watchwords over here....




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[htmb]

Breeze, the pot rack was purchased on a whim at a shop down the street. It was new and was labeled as having a "French design" to it. I doubt it was repurposed from anything else. At the time of the purchase, I'd never been to France, and had no plans to go.

Of course, I was not pleased to see my worst-looking pot was so obvious in my photos.

There's a tiny town north of Gainesville called High Springs. It's on the way to the Ichetucknee River, but not that far off I-75. There are a few antique/junk shops in the middle of town and that's where I found the old bookshelf and the center island.

[tod2]

Jan 18, 2016 14:45:14 GMT htmb said:

Of course, I was not pleased to see my worst-looking pot was so obvious in my photos.

Aw shucks Htmb, nothing a little oven cleaner can't handle. I take thick pieces of newspaper outside - line up my 'stained' cook and glassware...yes that's right, white corningware marks terribly when mac 'n cheese or a stew has bubbled over the rim, so all get sprayed with oven cleaner and left for an hour or more on the newsprint.
There used to be a 'paint on' version but I have not seen it around for years.
Wear gloves because this stuff is not good for your skin. Then rinse in hot water , maybe nudging the last stubborn bits off with a Zim ( a Zim here is a sponge with scour pad on one side.)

[onlyMark]

Tod, very nice. I've always liked the separate 'dirty kitchen'. You need the space though to install one.

Patrick, good redo of it. I especially like the can of WD40. A must have in any house.

Htmb, mementos and memories ought to form a part of any kitchen, especially to make it homely. Excellent.

Amboseli, clean, crisp and chic. Lovely one though me keeping it that way in just not going to happen. I'd end up with half motorbike on the counter top.

I've just put up a couple of photos of the kitchen we have on the thread I've been doing about the house renovation in Spain. The last page has the two photos but buried further back somewhere there are a number more showing its development over the years from being a bare space to something more usable. It should be on this link....

anyportinastorm.proboards.com/thread/5638/spanish-renovation?page=12

[amboseli]

Patrick ... almost unbelievable but our former kitchen, too, was a "country kitchen" look with all fussy bits and fake wood grain that you had to take a toothbrush to for cleaning. We seem to have the same taste. Good taste, I mean.

[htmb]

That's for the encouragement, Tod, but that pan belonged to one of my sons when he was in college. Since he was limited as to what he could haul to Arizona, I inherited a lot of his kitchen supplies. His brother and I were just debating whether or not to pass the pan along. It's warped and no longer sits flat on my electric stove top. I actually scratched the cook surface the other day with the damn thing. It really needs to go as soon as I can replace it with something of a similar size. However, I'm too cheap to really want to make the purchase.

[mich64]

Very nice galleys everyone!





one more photo I will add tomorrow, of the fidge/stove.

[Deleted]

After seeing all of these pristine kitchens, there is not a snowball's chance in hell that you will ever see mine.

[bixaorellana]

Oh gawd ~ ditto on that.

The truth is, I am proud of my kitchen because of the modifications I made so that it's now usable, rather than the stupidly mysterious cl*sterf*ck of insane design it was before.

Maybe I'll do a little before & after on it and at least get some pity posts.

[mich64]

We will be renovating the kitchen and have been asking for input from friends and family. I have a few ideas but I think we will hire a kitchen designer from one of the hardware stores to see if there is something we are just not seeing. I just find the work area too small and would enjoy more space when the two of us are in there together. I am happy with my storage space though.





Patrick I like your countertop, what is it made from?

Amboseli, I also like your countertop, what type is yours?

htmb, I like that your island looks like a piece of furniture, is it set permanently or can your move it?

[patricklondon]

Jan 19, 2016 19:38:15 GMT mich64 said:

Patrick I like your countertop, what is it made from?

The standard laminate MDF or whatever it is. I see the same pattern all over the place, one of many different stone/marble/terrazzo effects.

I went to one of our chain DIY stores that also do kitchens and bathrooms, and I was very pleased I did: their designer spotted all the ways in which the original designers had simply wasted potential storage space.

[mich64]

That is what I am thinking Patrick, they deal with different layouts all the time and can maybe come up with something we never thought of.

When we did the kitchen in our condo last year we found a laminate at the DIY store that looks like travertine, we were so pleased with it.

[amboseli]

My countertop is Jasberg granite.
As you may have seen, I don't have any tiles on the walls.
My backsplash is made of glass and that's about the best choice I made when we renovated our house.