My Mom Cave

Welcome to my Mom Cave.

Susan at Between Naps on the Porch is hosting a Mom Cave party sponsored by HomeGoods.  I've never been to a HomeGoods, but I like their commercials.  Dear HomeGoods, Please come to my town!!

When I first started thinking about which space in the house I would call  my Mom Cave, my office came to mind.  It houses my desk and computer.  And my cookbook collection.

It's bright.

And sunny.

And Misty will tell you there's a big comfy couch and matching ottoman for reading or napping.  But after I thought about it for a while, I came to the conclusion that my real Mom Cave is my kitchen.

It's not the biggest kitchen I've ever had, but I love it and I happily spend a lot of time in here.

I love my range is a my baby.  Hubby bought it for me when we built our last house, and I was very happy to have it moved half way across the country when we bought this house.

 I like these guys too - Mr. and Mrs. KitchenAid.  I prefer using the 5-quart white one for making things like bread doughs and cake batters, while I prefer the 6-quart model for making big batches of buttercream or focaccia.  Sometimes I use them both at the same time, like when I'm making a wedding cake.  I have extra bowls, beaters, and whisks for each - they come in very handy.

My dishwasher has a stainless steel interior.  It's very quiet and no tomato stains!!  It gets quite a workout here - I do at least 2 loads a day, sometimes more. 

I realy enjoy the granite counters - very low maintenance.  My only real complaint about the kitchen is the fact that there are no outside windows.  It can get kind of dark, so we had under cabinet lighting installed throughout.

I custom ordered this cherry and walnut cutting board from the guy who makes a lot of the boards you see on the food network.  It's huge and I can chop tons of veggies on it with room to spare.  That onion is one of those big Spanish globe onioins - it looks so tiny sitting on that board.

More counters... and the sink.  I really would have liked a single bowl sink, but our builder installed this thing instead.  It's hard to wash large platters and sheet trays with that divider in the way, but what's done is done.  There are saddle stools on the other side of this counter for guests.  I prefer to work in the kitchen solo, but I don't mind if you watch.  It's a nice spot to sit with my laptop and research recipes or prepare my next blog post too.  I'd like to get that bread machine and ice cream maker put away and pretty the space up with a rooster lamp, or a tiered basket to store my ever changing supply of fruits and veggies.

This little counter is right next to the oven.  It's where I keep my olive oil selection, salt and pepper, onions, garlic, and shallots.  And my rotating cake stand, of course!

Wanna peek in some of my cabinets and drawers?

This is my baking cabinet.  I like it to stay orgaized which is pretty easy to do since I'm the only one who goes in there.  Except for the chocolate chips on the to shelf - hubby treats himself to a handful just about every day. I would never have left that bag like that, but I'm too short to reach it, and I know he'll get into again tomorrow, so I don't worry about it.  Anyway, this is where I store kitchen twine, baking spices, cocoas, various extracts and French essense, vanilla beans, a zillions kinds of decorative sugar, liquid measrues, etc.

This is my baking drawer.  It houses several sets of measuring cups and spoons, piping tips, pastry brushes, a pastry blender, a stainless steel ruler, hand mixer attachments, a big cake lifter thingy, and 6 cookie scoops in various sizes.

My spice drawer.  Agian, it stays neat because I'm the only one who goes in there.

Here's my bulk spice and tea cabinet.  Popcorn too... we love our popcorn.

I'm short and have an especially hard time reaching anything in this corner cabinet, so I store items that I don't use very often in here.  Cake plates, extra mixer bowls, water pitchers, crystal bowls and vases, etc.

My mixing bowls and various pie plates are down low for easy access.  I love beautiful pie plates.

Some of my cake pans specialty.  I have another cabinet that holds just round pans in every size imaginable.

Everyday dishes and storage containers.  I'm bummed Rubbermaid decided to stop making their Stain Shield storage containers, because I use them exclusively to store food items in my fridge.  They're selling similar ones with red lids now.  Burgundy is okay, but me and red don't get along.  I only have one tiny item in my kitchen that's red, and the only reason why it stays is because my mother gave it to me - otherwise it would be history.

This is the cabinet under my sink.  I bought that adjustable metal organizer shelf thingy when Linens and Things was going out of business.  Since this cabinet has that wooden divider, I had to assemble the shelf inside the cabinet.  It took me about an hour to fit it around all the pipes, drains, and garbage disposal.  What a hassle, but I like the extra storage it provides.  If we ever move, I think I'll just let it stay with the house.

 

 

There are two lazy susan cabinets.  This one houses small appliances that I don't use very often.  I didn't get a picture of the other one, but that's where I store my flours, sugars, and rices.  (rices - that sounds weird)

This is the pantry that originally came with the house.  I transformed it into a storage closet for pots and pans, crock pots, sheet trays, bulk onion and potato storage, etc.

This is a pantry we built to replace the tiny inadequate pantry the house came with - I can see everything at a glance.  This was a huge improvement to the functionality of the kitchen.



I'm sorry I can't show you what's inside this cabinet.  You know how most people have a junk drawer in their kitchen?  Well I have a junk cabinet.  Seriously, it's not pretty - and you could be hit on the head with falling Chinese take-out containers, jelly jars of all sizes, or dried up bottles of glue if you peeked inside.  I could really use some HomeGoods organization in here!! 

Well, that's about it.  I'll walk you to the door, but first check out my gelpro mat.  Ceramic floors are hard to stand on, so this baby makes my feet feel oh so good.  If you've been thinking about getting one of these, go for it!

Thanks for visiting.