If You Can't Stand the Heat...

The downstairs kitchen is nearly functional now. In fact, we cooked part of Thanksgiving dinner and most of Christmas dinner here. It was very handy having the double oven, big burners, and industrial-sized refrigerator right outside the dining room table. Makes it easier to cook and serve without dragging everything through the house.

(Side note: In all the time we've lived here, we've never eaten meals on the same floor we've cooked them. Food always seems to go up/downstairs. In the very beginning, both kitchens were nonfunctional, so we plugged in a cheap toaster oven and carried our TV dinners up to the second floor to eat. Then we remodeled the 2nd-floor kitchen but started carrying everything back downstairs to the family room. Lately we've been moving ourselves out of the ground floor in preparation for opening the business, so now we eat on the 3rd floor. Crazy. Christmas was pretty much the first time we've been able to eat without climbing stairs.)

The maple countertops went in just before Christmas, and the sink right after that. Once the plumbing and electrical work was done, I hung the cabinet doors and started loading everything up. Last week, we built some shelves; those got hung yesterday. We're still waiting on the tin backsplash, but apart from that it's just about ready to go!

We also got a freezer. At first, I wasn't sure we'd need one, and didn't want to waste what little space we have, but really, the need became apparent after awhile. It's a freestanding unit, much like the refrigerator, with a stainless worktop. Unlike most residential freezers which keep food at around 5 degrees, this thing operates at -10 degrees and below. It's cold! Makes it very handy for chilling beer glasses on short notice.

One side effect is that it keeps the kitchen nice and warm. Because physics. Any refrigeration unit will put out more heat than it takes in, so having a big refrigerator and freezer in a small kitchen keeps the place toasty. The place is noticeably warmer now (in January) than it was just a few months ago. I'm beginning to wonder if that extra heating duct that we put in last year will be necessary after all.