Antique Island for the Win!

 There are pros and cons to living in a 166 year-old house. 

The pros are the built-in charm of an old home. Solid hand-hewn timbers that frame the house, old red cedar floors that never hold their finish, and the blending of old with new, like when we put in a new first-floor full bathroom three years ago and left a corner of a support beam exposed. 

Just think of that, a home that's withstood winter's wrath, summer storms, spring floods and a couple of lightning strikes on the catalpa tree in the back yard.... and it stands still, a testament to workmanship and the love of owners. 

Now, raising six kids and Farmer Dave losing his job at the downturn of jobs in the Rochester market some thirty years ago put a dent on the wallet, so things went undone for a bit.... and now the kids are raised, I've got a fun mid-life career and we've got our wonderful pumpkin farm, but we still have to go bit by bit and the kitchen is a case in point. See the kitchen is underneath the upstairs bathroom... a bathroom that's managed to leach water into the kitchen ceiling multiple times over the years, and I can't remodel the kitchen (It's 70+ years old and yeah... needs a remodel!) until that bathroom is done because that's silly... but that bathroom couldn't get done until we had a bath on the first floor because weeks without a shower wasn't on my short list... so project one (downstairs bath) is done... project two (remodeling 70+ year old upstairs bath that is too awful to share on the World Wide Web) is this winter...

And then in a couple of years, we move to kitchen. 

But in the meantime, the most amazing thing happened. 

I bought an island from a wonderful woman on Facebook. Vera had posted a small, rustic painted hutch bottom months ago and I liked it but it was too small... well then in December she posted this:

It's just over five feet long and about 26" wide/deep. And it has cupboards! And drawers! It's the bottom to an old pecan hutch she refinished and I was so happy to get it... because it's big and it is a life-saver in this somewhat old and not well-laid-out kitchen... but don't get me wrong, this kitchen has served us well for over 30 years... it's just that we're a big family and the kitchen was designed for a family of four in the 1950's.... and I'm a baker. Bakers bake. It's what we do. So this is a huge help to me for organizing baking supplies!!! 

Pie pans in one side cupboard... and this is like half of them, the other ones are in use! 

Little cutting boards in this drawer... Off the counter top!!!!

Muffin pans and bread pans in other side cupboard... and my stash of chips because I guarantee you, Farmer Dave will never bend over and look into a baking cupboard! :) A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do and Farmer Dave loves potato chips! SHH... don't tell him where they are! 

The main cupboard... all of my big baking pans, cookie sheets (air bakes and a new variety I'm trying this winter) Pyrex casseroles (that used to be on the highest shelf and I needed a stool to get to them) and layer cake pans. And a sifter that doesn't fit in a drawer. So it's hanging out with the cake pans.

PHOTO BOMB of people playing Sequence, a fun tile game with a deck of cards.... Team Matt/Zach won this one. And the next. And maybe a third. #brats.

Look at this! :) BIG GRIN! These used to live in a big basket on my counter and now here they are, tucked into a drawer and not one bit crowded!  

The two BIG drawers! All my baking and canning utensils are tucked in here!

Scissors, tape, knife sharpeners and staplers.... all off my counter now. Oh, hallelujah! 

This is like the world's greatest organizer... and when the kitchen gets a facelift in a couple of years, this cool cabinet stays here, somewhere because it's awesome.

I am giddy!!!!! I have ten square feet of clear counter space. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!!!!

So that's my major kitchen improvement... and I couldn't be happier.

Sometimes it's the little things (compared to kitchen remodel!) that make the biggest difference! 

What would you change in your kitchen if you could?

Multi-published, baked-goods lover Ruthy Logan Herne loves her life, loves writing beautiful stories of faith, hope, love and redemption and is totally gobsmacked by how amazingly generous God has been to her in so many ways, including adult children that like her most of the time! #BONUS! :) Friend Ruthy on Facebook for more of her free wisdom, visit her website ruthloganherne.com and/or email Ruthy at loganherne@gmail.com where she is proud to say she still answers her own email... because she kind of thinks that's how it should be done.