Monday 20 September 2021

Behind Closed Doors

 


So many of you wanted a quick look behind the closed doors of the kitchen, that I guess I should show you a quick peek before we move on to the living room.

Here we go, I'll try and take you in the order that you can see them in this top photo.


The first cupboard is the boiler cupboard, and although you are not supposed to store things in a cupboard containing a combi-boiler I couldn't resist using a bit of the space for my 'tool box'.  Two baskets of sort of household-y tool bits ... hammers, nails, screwdrivers etc.  And a few hooks might have appeared on the side of the cupboard for bits, oh and a cork board on the door ... I blame the Aldi centre aisles for that one!!


The cupboard below holds the consumer unit ... the electric fuse box and cut-off point for the annexe, so the joiner cleverly made me a shelf that sits around it, giving me both shelf space and access in emergencies.  I found a bin that fitted neatly in here and the joiner then altered the shelf to sit behind it when the door is closed, making good use of every last inch of space.

The rest of this cupboard is a mix of cleaning supplies and dog food etc.

Gosh I've shown you the two prettiest interiors first haven't I. 😄


As we come along, here are the shelves and a bit of a close up for you on what is on them.


Below the shelves and the kitchen sink is this cupboard.  Once again the joiner managed to give me a shelf that he cut neatly around the pipes, making full use of all space.  My Remoska and Nutribullet, two of my most used items sit on the lower shelf ready for action.


A step to the left and we have the inside of the double wall cupboard, not really organised properly as such, but it holds the daily crockery and an over abundance of jugs!!

The baskets on the top shelf are all currently empty but I think they will be useful for helping me reach things off the top shelf once I've worked out what will live in them.


The top drawer holds cutlery and spices.


Middle drawer holds pans, measures and funnels.


And the bottom one has my bowls and baking trays.



The shallow drawer below the oven contains some baking sheets and my pizza sheet.


And the hob above the oven looks like this.

And finally one of my most requested peeks behind closed doors ...


The Larder.

Formerly known as the 'Jam Cupboard' this is officially a Welsh Bread and Cheese Cupboard and one of only two large pieces of furniture that came with me from Wales.  It is proving absolutely perfect for storing all my food.

The top half is mostly jars of dried goods, although for now there are lots of bits in baskets that will be used up and probably not replaced in there as well


And the bottom cupboard holds all the tins and a large basket of pasta and rice.

And there you have it, the kitchen is not the largest of spaces at approximately 6ft wide and 12ft long but I'm managing very nicely and most things are now unpacked and in approximately the right places.

Time to close all these doors and head up to the living room methinks.


Sue xx





30 comments:

  1. That's beautiful and a very well thought out use of space! Fiona x

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    1. It took a bit of planning but we got there in the end 🙂

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  2. Very nicely organized. I hope you are feeling better.

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    1. It's been a bad couple of weeks, but I have an x-ray this afternoon so perhaps I'll finally get some answers.

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  3. Compact and bijou as they say but everything one or even two people could need. We accumulate so much stuff in out lives and we really don't need half of it. Plenty of food in the larder. PS: the bungalow wasn't any good, the rear garden was still owned by the council ;0( I hope you feel better, take care.

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    1. Gosh yes there's far too much in the larder, but after watching the news last night and Alan commenting on how bare our Aldi was I'm feeling less guilty.

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  4. Looks like you've made very good use of your space. Bringing the Welsh cupboard on the move was certainly the right decision.

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    1. It's worked out well, and stops the kitchen looking too modern, something that I really didn't want.

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  5. All looking very spick and span. The jam cupboard certainly makes a good larder.

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    1. It's surprising how much it holds and it's going to be interesting to see how long it takes for me to eat all the contents!!

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  6. Your kitchen packs a lovely modern country kitchen feel into a small space, and the bar stool looks supremely comfortable!
    I have kitchen fitters in right now...they began 3 weeks ago today, and made such a hash, I had to send them away and get a competent electrician in. Almost everything was wrong (no exaggeration), and it was only the fact that I worked in the building industry for 40 years, and had an architect friend (male...) who came in twice to read them the riot act, that means it has now been done properly. It's so annoying that some tradesmen see a single, older woman, and think they can get away with anything. Sexism and ageism are unfortunately alive and kicking!

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    1. The bar stool is pretty comfy and is the only reason I am able to sit at my laptop for brief periods of time.

      I don't think any kitchen fit goes smoothly in reality, but it does sound like you're having a particularly frustrating time :-(

      Even mine isn't completely finished as I have exposed wires where the switch for the under cupboard lights should be and am still waiting for an electrician to come. I have refused to pay the final payment for the kitchen until this is sorted ... so fingers crossed!

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  7. That looks great! I like how the shelves were adjusted to make the most of your available space. Well done!

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    1. I was really impressed with the joiner he made everything just so and was a real perfectionist, nice to see in this day and age in a young man.

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  8. Great use of space. You managed to get all that you need in.

    God bless.

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    1. It's working well, I just have a few tweaks to do once I am able to sort through things again.

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  9. You've got everything so well organized. I still am a bit higgledy piggledy here, not helped by having my new cooker out in the room waiting for our electrician to come next month to do the rewiring (and to fit the cooker). I'm not sure if I could manage in such a tiny kitchen as yours but I guess you get used to the space available.

    I am going to get some essentials topped up tomorrow and hopefully Llandod's Aldi and Tescopolis won't have too many empty shelves. I will get some more cat food as that's what we can't do without.

    I hope your X-ray result is soon with you and you have a result for your back problem and treatment to follow quickly.

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    1. I love working in a small space, there's less walking and most things within reach and after the caravan and its tiny worktops this seems pretty luxurious.

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  10. It all looks wonderful and you've certainly done a great job of organizing everything! I especially love those wide and deep drawers. Drawers for storage just makes so much sense to me. How is the table top/desk working out for you? It looks like you've found a very nice and comfy chair for it! Take care!

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    1. Those deep drawers are SO much better than having cupboards that you have to bend down to get things out of, nothing is out of reach. They and the breakfast bar/desk top are my BEST decisions. It's really handy having the extra surface on the other side of the kitchen to put things down on out of the way while I am cooking or unpacking shopping.

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  11. Great use of the space Sue and everything you need at your finger tips:) Hopefully you will get some answers from your x-ray, take good care♥

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    1. Haha yes, literally at my fingertips, everything is within easy reach ... well apart from things on the top shelf of the cupboard, I need a step stool for those :-)

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  12. You are just so clever at making the very best of every inch of storage space in order to avoid visible clutter - it all looks brilliant although I am sure that, in time, you will be changing and adjusting because that's what you do! :-)
    Hoping the X ray went OK and that the results are helpful.
    xx

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    1. I think playing Tetris for years has finally paid off ;-)

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  13. Superb use of space Sue. How clever of you! I was particularly taken by your pot collection, because you have pots with two handles. In New Zealand every pot set you can but has pots with one handle, except perhaps the largest, which still has one long handle and a crescent on the opposite side. I’m not strong enough to safely cope with a pot with one handle any more and have recently bought a second small double handled pot which cost a FORTUNE. Are sets with two handles common in Europe now? If they are, that why we can’t get them - the antipodes gets Europe’s leftovers!

    Back to the point - you must be pleased that all your efforts to get the kitchen set up have resulted in such a workable and attractive space.

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    1. Pans with two handles are suddenly a lot more popular here in the UK, and I guess as our ovens and hobs are new and these came with them, we have suddenly come very up to date :-)

      Unfortunately none of my old one handled pans would work with the induction hob so we have a few pans to sell at next years car boot sales, I do have to buy one more as I need a small non-stick pan for my Winter porridges.

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  14. Now that it is just me and The Dog I find I need so much less space than before. Apart from drinking glasses the crockery is way down as there is virtually no entertaining to be done. My very small dishwasher cycles the bits with ease. This may have a bit to do with covid but I don't think so. I really must get rid of the boxes of 8 settings of 'good china' and perhaps a few of the cut glasses!

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    1. I guess I'm very lucky having Alan next door as if either of us has company we can borrow a few extra cups or plates from the other. I wash everything by hand so just one or two small bowls of washing up is all it takes.

      Perhaps you could actually use the 'good' china and the cut glasses yourself every day ... you really are worth it. xx

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