Kitchen Confidential

Author:  Autumn (Janette)

With all due respects to Anthony Bourdain who wrote a book by the same name, it is only fitting that this blog entry be named “Kitchen Confidential”.

When we remodeled the kitchen in our new place, we removed the wall between the kitchen and the great room/dining room.  I knew I would need to find a screen of some sort to provide some privacy to both the cook (me) and our guests when we are entertaining.

During a routine stop at a neighborhood antique store, I found this great screen.  It has a lot of detail, is very heavy and very old, and needed a face lift.

When I am cooking, I can see right into the great room.  The architect designed it this way because since it is just my husband and I 99.9% of the time, we wanted to be able to have a conversation when I am cooking and he is watching television.

The down side is that when we our entertaining formally, our dinner guests can see into the kitchen from the dining room table.  That is where the screen comes into play.

I want our screen to blend in visually with the kitchen’s cabinets, so I painted it the same shade of white.  I might put a grey glaze on it in the future which is the same shade as the grey glazed peninsula.

Now our guest can’t see my kitchen magic going on when they are seated at the table.  It makes whatever I am doing in there confidential.  Get it?

I put felt sliders on the bottom so that when it is not in use, I can easily slide it to rest in a dead space between two doorways.

We have a lot of new readers since I first posted photos of our kitchen.  Here’s a mini-tour for you.

This is from the opposite wall.

The area under the peninsula has a book shelf, wine rack, glassed in shelf area, and a few hidden storage areas.  The color is grey with a white glaze.

Instead of a tile back splash, we used bead board behind all of the cabinets except the stove.  Because of code, tile must be used in that area.  We selected a honed subway tile in carrara marble to match the honed marble counter tops.

This is our eating area.  Everything that goes on in the kitchen is supervised by “Lulubelle”, our security cow.  The eating area is beside french doors that go into the sun room.  If I want to change things up, this area can easily morph into a sitting area.

Also in the eating area is a built-in hutch.  It comes in handy as an extra counter space for buffets.  I am pleased that the carrara still looks good other than some etching which is expected.  The frosted door there goes into my pantry/office (here).

The hutch is a great place to hang some of our copper pots.

Here’s another angle showing the eating area with the sun room beyond.  If you would like to see more of the kitchen, you can go here.

Take care.

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