I’ll echo Oneof7: I’m super-excited to be back in Ontario. So much closer to friends and family, and the FAB mothership.

When I first saw the kitchen in our new house, I was really happy. Finally, a bigger space for the chef to operate. Oh yeah, and more storage space for the chef’s ever-growing gadget collection. I swear that kitchen gadgets are sentient, organic beings that multiply in closed drawers. Well, that’s the way it seems to me, but what do I know? I’m just the deer-in-the-headlights sous chef (but I can whip up a mean, mean martini).

As Oneof7 wrote earlier, when we had a closer look at the space, it became apparent that the kitchen was lacking in key areas. The glaring deficiency was of course, the lack of drawers. There were two deep corner cabinets for pots and stuff, but they didn’t work for us. So, after a weekend of debate, we decided that we’d start peeling the onion…you know where that leads, right? Pull the cabinets out. Rip up the floor. And new appliances. New backsplash. New counter. New pro-grade hood fan. I grew nervous and opened a lovely pint of Stella Artois. “What the hell have I done?”, I mused…Stella #2 was opened in short order. Oh no, replacing the floors was my idea…Stella #3.

My directive to the chef was this: “We’ve got one chance here to design this the way we want. Let’s do this right.” Chef has lamented that since cooking school, she hasn’t cooked with gas – well, unless I’m in the room, but really that’s quite different and undesirable. But, I digress…we took the approach of designing the whole kitchen around the gas range. We quickly decided that we’d go 36” versus the standard 30” – it gives us a full six-burner stove top and a larger oven. For the serious chef, this is what you want.

So…after several design meetings, we made our choices. I thought it really interesting that they asked the same questions about four times. I think that served two purposes: it ensures the designer gets it right; more importantly, it confirms that you as the buyer are certain of your decisions. It’s a sound approach, and we appreciated it.

The ball is rolling. We’re nervous and excited about this all at once. One thing is for sure: we can’t wait ‘til it’s finished and to be able to share with our friends. That, dear reader, is the true motivation!

Anyone seen my pint? Anyone?

<Mooby>