step one in setting this place up was cleaning and designing the kitchen because eating is one of two or three things that i have to do almost every single day, whether i like it or not, on threat of starving, which means dying. no thanks.
this is not a chef's kitchen, and it's not designed to feed a family, although i could feed a party in here rather than a family. i'm not much into family, but i don't tend to have parties, either. this is a one person kitchen in every way, but i'd challenge you to find me a better one, anywhere.
i need to acknowledge that my new vlog camera, which was cheap, is somewhat lacking in terms of picture quality, and that i need to address that. i've been considering buying a second polaroid, which was my old vlog camera. however, it gets the point across for now.
this is a shot walking in from the side entrance, looking towards the bathroom. the closed door is for the hot water heater for the whole house.
this is a shot walking in from the living room:
and this is a shot looking back from the bathroom, to the side entrance, with the to-be-installed walk-in laundry closet behind me:
that looks pretty good, right?
so, how did i get here?
first, let me say that i think i've got everything i need. am i missing something? send me an email; it's on the side. i might argue with you, but i'd like to hear as many ideas as you have.
walking in from the side, the first item is this three-tier console table, which is a hallway and not a kitchen item, and which i don't currently have a clear use for, but will probably remain where it is:
this is currently storing cleaning supplies, but i will move them to under the counter when i get a wood plank for it, soon. when i remove them, it will only have that coffee maker. i currently have three extra coffee makers, an extra toaster and a few extra scales, and they'll probably stay on this table. it's otherwise a big random shit table, which i definitely have and will retain a use for, as i always have a pile of things i can't organize or store in a clear way, yet.
i initially bought this on kijiji in june for $30 + $10 delivery to fit into a small area in the kitchen i just moved out of. it was supposed to have a voip phone and a media laptop for zoom on the top, and a stereo system and a chromebook in the middle, with whatever on the bottom. those items would feed out to the kvm peripherals on a small kitchen table. i was going to get some kitchen stools and roll back and forth.
that place didn't work out, and this table doesn't work in that context in this apartment, but will be a great second entry table to throw shit on when you come in, and a kitchen overflow table if necessary. i will probably leave the voip phone in the bedroom and get a zoom videophone for the couch. i'm almost there with the latter but want to do some clear research to be sure, and i was a little turned off by the small video in the model i was looking at. i might want to run the videophone to an external monitor.
beside the console table is what i'm calling my ghetto hutch, which is two stacked cabinets i found on the curb, one of which has become a spice cabinet since i took the doors off and the other of which is a general use cabinet, with pasta and quinoa in tupperware.
this cost a total of $0 for me to recover and reclaim, and it is highly likely that i will continue to use the top cabinet as a spice rack indefinitely. i had previously placed it directly on the stove in order to replace the stovetop cabinets in my last basement, but i cannot do that here. the bottom cabinet, which retains it's doors, could be used for anything, but i like this particular use of pasta on the top shelf and quinoa on the bottom. the real function of the bottom shelf, however, is to keep the spice rack off the floor, which is why it's now a ghetto hutch.
the spices from the top shelf down, left to right, are:
bob's nutritional yeast / frank's hot sauce / garlic or onion salt
paprika / dried dill (empty space) / open baking soda for odours / black pepper
dried thyme / dried basil / dried oregano
cayenne pepper / ground cumin / raw, plain sunflower seeds
i keep my hemp seeds in the fridge nowadays.
next to the ghetto hutch is the start of the counter, and there is a cut out area under the counter that likely once had a garbage can but that i filled in with a plastic drawer system, instead:
i bought four of these modular, stackable drawers for $30 after moving in. i wanted to buy a $40 unit with five drawers, but it wouldn't let me, so i instead bought a four unit version and took a large drawer out of a similar broken drawer system that had been left here by the previous tenant. as can be seen, this unit fits perfectly into the space, which was carefully measured for that outcome, and the reason i purchased this unit, specifically. the tongs and juice maker were both left here; the cheese grater was purchased in roughly 2013. drawers are something you can always use more of, and can always be repurposed for some different purpose.
next, this is a picture of the entirety of the counter:
there are items here that are old, that are new and that were found, but i want to point out that i drink a lot of coffee and that's what you're seeing here - two floating shelves i connected to the walls and the cabinet with oversized pegs and packing tape (it's sturdy, but don't push on it) that have coffee cups and dried coffee/tea respectively, a single serve coffee maker i use with cappucino grounds, a 12 cup or big pot coffee maker and a kettle, along with a knife holder, a new toaster, a new scale and an old blender, the latter three on a microwave.
i discarded a gross old toaster oven when i moved in here, partly because it hadn't been cleaned in eons. i have a toaster and i have a microwave and i have an actual oven, too. i don't quite the point of the toaster oven; my mom liked them for making sandwiches, but i actually tend to avoid toasting sandwich bread because it decreases the nutrients in the bread. i'll toast white bread, and i like to toast bagels, hence the new bagel toaster.