Ever since my kitchen was installed and the fitters left me with my lovely new kitchen, a little thing has bugged me. Where the worktop splashback meets the green of the kitchen cupboards at the side of the hob, there was the joining line. Just a line where wood meets green minding it's own business ... and bugging me. It just seemed to look unfinished. And now eighteen months later I have finally done something about it.
I was putting something under the bed the other day in the storage area and I came across the little wooden shelf you see in this photo with the salt, pepper and oil on it ... and I immediately knew where it was going. Now instead of seeing the line I see a lovely little shelf that is holding things that were previously taking up space on the worktop, and the join is hidden from view.
I have another little shelf that is exactly the same, and yes I wandered around the lodge looking for a suitable place to put that up too, but no joy ... up to now!!
As you can see I took the photo while my breakfast veggie omelette was cooking.
This is getting to be one of my go to breakfasts, tasty and very filling and coming in at around 250 calories so a perfect meal for the Fast 800 and a good start to the day. Someone asked me how I was getting on with the diet, after a brilliant first week when I lost 5lbs, last week saw me giving in to cravings a couple of times and with a death in the family on Sunday, a bar of comfort chocolate may have been consumed.
Somehow I still managed to lose a pound ... for which I am eternally grateful ... as this, along with my coat feeling a bit looser has spurred me on to give it another real attempt this week.
Six pounds down in two weeks, plus sleeping so much better and feeling good means I really do need to buckle down and get on with things.
Yes, my flipping skills are now legendary. 😁
Seeing the photo of the worktop (counter to all you lovely overseas readers) and writing about the kitchen reminds me that a couple of weeks ago someone asked about why all my kitchen shots seem to include this worktop. Meals shown on this worktop, shopping laid out and photographed on this worktop, and in this mornings case, oiled chopping boards drying out on this worktop.
Well to put it simply, this is the only worktop in my kitchen!!
Just a smidge over three foot of counter space in-between the hob and the sink, that's it folks. So yes everything food related takes place on here. So, having that little shelf take a tiny bit of the strain is an even better idea now that I think about it, and not just a cosmetic 'join hiding' exercise.
Yes, there is the breakfast bar, but I have never eaten on it as the height is just not quite right. It had to go at this height as the radiator is underneath. But I do manage to use it as an office space as long as I don't sit there for too long.
The joys of tiny home living ... but I love it.
Sue xx
My condolences on the death in your family.
ReplyDeleteI know that feeling of finding something and knowing just where it belongs. I've been finding things and knowing just where they belong in a house that hasn't even been built yet!
Thank you. xx
DeleteNow, THAT sounds like a very special talent. Once it's built though you will know exactly where to put everything. :-)
I can relate to the minimum of counter space. I used to feel sorry for myself, but have recently seen that others have even less and aren't complaining :) So I will make do and be happy! And I'm very sorry about the death in your family.
ReplyDeleteYou just get used to what you have don't you. This kitchen is so well planned that I really don't struggle to do anything ... as long as I'm neat and tidy and put things away as soon as I have finished with them.
DeleteThank you, it was sudden but not unexpected.
Sorry to hear your sad news - so many deaths at this time of year - we have had the same recently and had a wait of over a month for the funeral. Your worktop is just slightly bigger than the one here in our caravan and yet I manage perfectly well to cook most of the time and if I need to I spread out onto the table. I often wonder what people do in those enormous kitchens everyone wants on escape to the Country!! Loving the shelf. x
ReplyDeleteOh! - I also wonder about the huge kitchens on Escape to the Country - all that extra cleaning - for what?
DeleteI would rather have a comfortable place to sit and read or craft than kitchen worktops
Country Cook
We were commenting on each blogs simultaneously. :-)
DeleteI hope we won't have to wait as long for the funeral, but it will be a couple of weeks at least.
You just get used to working in the space that you have don't you. I actually had more counter space in the caravan than I have here, two single and one double units worth in fact. Thinking about it though I'm living in less square footage here than I did in the caravan, so that's not that unexpected. :-)
CC. Our first farmhouse had a HUGE kitchen and as I am a constant 'wiper down' of surfaces I found myself permanently with a cloth in my hand, for the worktops and the extra large farmhouse table and the Aga. Over and over all day long.
DeleteMost satisfying- well done you on finding the perfect solution to “green meeting wood” it is the small details that can give great pleasure isn’t it 😃
ReplyDelete- and your flipping is flipping brilliant, I do like the look of your breakfast
Sending you best wishes
Country Cook
Isn't it weird that after years of having 'omelette splodges' on my plate I am suddenly able to turn out such beauties. I bet if someone stood over me and watched, I'd be back to splodges in an instant. :-)
DeleteSorry about the recent family bereavement.
ReplyDeleteYou manage your space so well, last year as part of a kitchen refit we doubled our work surface, it's amazing how quickly I took it for granted!
Alison in Wales x
You really do don't you. I have always found that we have expanded to fit the space that we live in and then had to shrink considerably when we moved on to somewhere smaller. Here Alan has LOTS of space and I have a lot less, which is exactly the way we both like it. :-)
DeleteSo sorry to read of your family loss. Sending hugs, xx
ReplyDeleteThis house has many more metres of kitchen worktop than I need. I realised long ago I do everything in an "L" which is barely 2' x 2' between the sink and the cooker. Maybe that is why I find cooking in a campervan so easy? 🤭
It's such a shame that my cousins have lost their Mum just before Mother's Day, I really feel for them.
DeleteI find that lots of workspace just means more wiping down and more chance for things to stay out when they would be much better put away. It's good that you can cook in a small space, I really prefer it this way, being able to chuck things in the sink while I'm stood at the hob is a big advantage. :-)
Always got to scratch an itch!
ReplyDeleteAnd it's so satisfying when you finally get around to doing it. ;-)
DeleteI'm so sorry about the sad loss in your family.
ReplyDeleteYou've done brilliantly with your diet, losing 6lb even with the blip.
We don't have any work surfaces at all, just a scrubbed pine table and a variety of chopping boards. xxx
The one thing I miss is a table and chairs, maybe next time we move I'll be able to have one again.
DeleteSo sorry to read about your family loss, Sue.
ReplyDeleteA good use of your little shelf. I'm itching to put up a shelf or two in my own kitchen but I'm scared of drilling into something crucial like electricity cables! A tradesman drilled into our broadband cable a week ago and severed our connection, and HE should have known what he was doing :(
A beautiful omelette too!
There was no drilling involved here, just a bit of strong double sided tape and then screws straight into the wood. Alan tightened it up for me to make sure it was sturdy.
DeleteI once put up a whole wall of shelves in an alcove to hold VHS videos using No Nails and dressmakers pins. Looking at the property details when that house recently went back on the market again, the shelves are still up, but now full of DVDs!!
Sorry to read about the loss in your family. Please accept my condolences.
ReplyDeleteWe have done the same thing with shelves. Hiding spots that bug us but that give us a bit more space to store items off the counter.
God bless.
Thank you. xx
DeleteEven the tiniest shelf if it holds useful things is a real bonus space isn't it.
I am sorry for your family loss. Your compact kitchen is intentional and very cute.
ReplyDeleteThank you.
DeleteIt's the best kitchen that I have ever had, designed by me and built by kitchen fitters ... so maybe that's the answer, design for what you need and how you cook and it will really work.