Building my Dream Kitchen, One Chunk at a Time

On our first day in Chicago, I started building my dream kitchen in my head. Our furniture hadn't arrived. It was just us, sitting on the floor with our picnic, sun streaming through the windows onto the hardwood floor, the chipping formica counter, and the cracked white appliances. I couldn't wait to make it my own.



I've been building it slowly, piece by piece. I started with an exhilarating appliance spree at ABT electronics.

I love my stove, my pulse quickens every time I twist one of its big knobs and feels its sheer, raw power. I found the most powerful stove that wasn't meant for a professional kitchen: an LG Studio series gas range, with five burners, including one made of two concentric burner circles that makes water boil so fast, it almost scares me.
The fridge, on the other hand, is living proof that its not all about looks. The LG 4 Door French Door fridge looked beautiful in the store, but somehow, nothing seems to fit inside. Now I experience buyer's remorse every time I struggle to fit a bottle of white wine between two gallons of milk. 
The microwave broke the bank, the only way to make it fit next to the fridge, ironic to be forced to buy a Viking microwave just to make popcorn. But it's good to know that should I have a chicken nugget emergency, I can use this exorbitantly priced appliance as a second teeny tiny oven.
I went with LG for the dishwasher too, lured in by a massive discount on a floor unit. And while it entertains us with its tinny musical tune, it does not clean anywhere near as well as the Frigidaire unit I left behind in Ohio, making me rethink my membership with team No Rinse.


The appliances were just the beginning of the fun. Next comes the grandly named Venetian Gold granite countertops with its honey tone and its splotches of merlot that I just selected on Friday, from hundreds of other giant slabs. After the granite will come the butcher block table, and then the tiles, before finishing with a fresh coat of paint. Slowly, slowly, month by month, piece by piece, block by block, I'm building my dream kitchen.



I could have rushed through it, hired someone to just do it all in one fell swoop, but I've never had so much fun.