Kitchen During, 4/17/13
Posted on April 17, 2013 Posted by John Scalzi 40 Comments
As promised: Topless kitchen! It looks a little bereft.
For those wondering why it’ll be a day or two for the new counters, the answer is that they are being custom-made by a local craftsman (the same one who made the shelves, desk and cabinetry in my office, actually). He’s off making them even as we speak. He’ll be here tomorrow to slot them in. Stay tuned!
When our kitchen was done, the biggest problem we had with topless cabinets was the cat persistently, insistently, trying to sneak into the cabinets from above. We eventually had to cover them up with random pieces of shelving and cardboard.
I am soooo jealous. ;) My landlord has been promising to replace the awful cigarette burned counters in my apartment since I moved there. Six years ago.
Behold the topless towers of Kithchenum
If your felines are like my felines, they’ll like the kitchen much better this way! Ours thoroughly enjoyed prowling during remodeling.
Given Redshirts is #1 I am surprised the cabinets are not going too! ;)
I have some interesting pictures of our kitchen remodel. I tore everything out to the studs & had a contractor come in to remove the heating pipes as we put in-floor heat in. The best pictures were of the post fire mess. He set fire to the interior wall and it made it to the roof before he got the fire department over.
That is an impressive collection of refrigerator magnets. They are a totally underrated collector’s item.
I cringed when someone emailed me a link to this titled “Sclazi topless photos”.
;)
Frankly:
It’s the Locus bestseller list. Also, we like the cabinets.
Meh, the cabinets look fine. Unless you wanted different color wood, probably no need.
Counters on the other hand, bet she is getting shiny stone of some kind.
So pretty.
Your magnets look pretty. No witty sayings? I have a big magnet that says “thou shall not weigh more than thy refrigerator” right next to one that says ” life is uncertain, eat desert first”. I try to live somewhere between those two points.
When you find someone who does good work, stick with ’em.
No sledgehammers like they have on TV? Guess the media lies about that as well.
Is this the face that something something something the topless cabinets of Ilium?
I can never get that quote right.
You will, as other have said, be finding cat prints and cat hair in the strangest places after this. You have just created a cat labyrinth, and they are driven to explore.
Granite? Corian? Marble? Laminate? Dammit, John, we need answers.
Well, I never. Kitchen porn on Whatever!
I love to put soapstone in a kitchen. It’s so durable. I don’t blame you for not wanting to replace the cabinets. They’re really expensive and if yours are in good shape, there is no need.
I see new counters made from:
1) The wood from old whiskey casks.
2) manuscripts found in the dumpster behind an editor’s office
3)writer’s block, the hardest or most difficult substance in the universe…
Counters made from the distilled, vitrified impotent rage of various kooky, silly, wacky racist sexist homophobic dipshits, collected from the moderation queue of this very website?
I don’t think I would want to put my food on that, Ben.
Wow. As someone who has recently been through the whole topless-cabinets thing, I would like to say that you have very very neat contractors. Well done, them.
Will you be adding any extra task lighting, or is what you have sufficient (or will be, with the new countertops)? With the lights off, it looks somewhat dark, but most kitchens need more than ambient light.
Just curious… Do you know the manufacturer of the kitchen cabinets themselves? They (as far as I can tell) match exactly what we have and we are trying to get new (shorter) doors for over the new range/micro/vent hood arrangement we now have…The contractor and I can not find a markers mark anywhere…
The walls look a lot more purple (plum?) in the counter topless shot than in the “before” picture. Trick of the light or were the previous counters making the walls seem browner in comparison? (In other words, a different trick of the light.)
Scalzi… Goooood point. Guess I hadn’t thought that one all the way through.
What truly appalls me is how neat the kitchen is. I don’t think my kitchen has been that neat and uncluttered since I moved in. I’d better not show my mom these pictures! I’m having my toilet replaced next week – now I’ll have to scrub the bathroom to achieve some sort of cleanliness/neatness parity…
An alpha-male would make his OWN cabinets. Stoopid beta-male, relying on other people to do his work for him!
(But seriously, good on you for employing a local craftsman to do a custom job!)
Other than the oddly horizontal plug on the island and the tantalizing hint of something shocking in your plate collection, that has to be the least remarkable kitchen I’ve ever seen. It’s almost like you live in the midwest!
You want to move your fridge (cold source) away from your oven (hot source) so perhaps a quick kitchen the configuration is in order
Countertops made from GP hull material, of course.
I hope you don’t mind me saying so, but if that was my kitchen, I’d paint the walls a very light blue or a verdigris for contrast with what looks like a pretty dark wood.
@ Kelly Sedinger
I don’t pay my neighbor’s kid to mow my lawn because I’m incapable of doing it myself. I pay him because it would be a waste of my time and it isn’t a waste of his.
Wouldn’t an alpha male need to prove the superior value of his time by not doing what he could pay a beta-male to do? Not that Scalzi’s cabinet maker is a beta-male. In fact…
John, as someone who’s first job in college was as a part-time assistant in a very small cabinetry shop (only one master craftsman), thank you for supporting local craftsmen (and women).
You have just created Cat-topia! Please post the inevitable cat pics. They are going to have soooo much fun tonight.
My, you like your dark woods. Must be a Midwest thing.
John – if it were my book all you would hear is “Its on the best seller list!” It was just a joke. I used to tell people “I’m a Peabody award winner. . . no, not THAT one, a different one”.
You don’t know how importamt counters are until you between the old and the new . Best-sellers are wonderful, but you gotta still make a cuppa and a sandwich too. I tried just eating books; it didn’t work out well.
Did you take my stove? I’m pretty sure it was there when I left the house today…
If it’s gone when I get home, you’ll have some explaining to do.
Also, those are very attractive cabinets.
Heck, I’m just jealous at how many outlets you have. My kitchen has a severe lack of them so you have to shuffle things around to use appliances.
Magnets are our preferred souvenir. They are easy to store & display.
Gulliver: I was kidding!