...come into my kitchen.

So when I'm not playing with my new lambs, I'm here.  In the kitchen.  Probably my favorite room in the house.  Well, with my sewing room a very close second (but I'll let you peek there another time).  I've been told it's a very comfortable room, evoking the thoughts and smells of Grandma.  Okay, not the BenGay or stale Avon perfume smells of Grandma.  Think fresh baked bread. . . . one of my favorite pieces is my 1920s Sellers Hoosier cabinet.  Bought it locally several years ago, and it has become my baking station.  The top filled with measuring cups and spices, the bottom with pans and cookie sheets.

Extra supplies are stored on top of the cabinet.  I have saltines in the NaBisCo can and marshmellows in the Cracker Jack can.  I use the sifter, the grater, the nut chopper, the mortar and pestal . . . well, suffice it to say that everything gets used including the enamelware pans hanging on the wall.

I found a chrome cannister set at my local thrift store.  Get this, my husband bought one piece and I bought the other three pieces on three separate trips to the store, over the course of four weeks, to the tune of $3.75!  I've never since been so lucky in putting together a set of anything.

Another major focal point in my kitchen in the 1947 Frigidaire.  Again, found locally at a rummage sale, I saved this beauty from it's inevitable trip to someone's garage as the "beer fridge."  The thought of a tapper through the front panel makes me cringe!  Of course, it's smaller than its modern counterpart, but that has never been a problem (except on my big stock-up shopping trips).

The manual for the fridge is framed and hanging above it along with an extra wire rack that we don't use and an insert from an aluminum ice cube tray.  Accompanying this machine was four double-rowed ice cube trays!  I guess making your own ice at home was a pretty big deal in the late 1940s.

 

While we're talking appliances, I'll tell you about my 1940s Magic Chef gas stove.  The newest addition to my kitchen, I found this piece, you guessed it, about 20 miles north of me through craigslist.  Both the oven (on the right) and the broiler (on the left) work beautifully, no trouble with temperature control.  But I must admit that I really enjoy the match-lite feature!  Makes one feel so authentic.  lol  And again, I do use the two yellow enameled pans hanging above the stove.  Also the castiron "Krusty Korn Kob" molded pan is great fun for doing cornbread.  Got that little number for $3 at a car show swap meet, by the way.  

I do have a subtle cherry theme in my kitchen.  At one time I thought of stenciling cherries in a cross-hatched pattern on one large wall, ala vintage wallpaper.  But that wall has since been (more or less) covered with collectibles and it doesn't seem necessary anymore.  So I keep my eye out for cherry accessories instead. This is a piece of sheet music found in my dad's collection.

This souvenir plate is yet another find from my local thrift store.  Aren't you just dying to know where this place is?  I must be honest and admit that I'll never tell.  Let it suffice to say that while the generous aging farmwives of Pasturelands slowly clean out their cupboards, I slowly stock my house in wonderful antiques! 

 

Answering a classified ad in the town paper, my husband and I hauled home our gently used farmhouse sink.  It has a drainboard on the left, and a tub that was just the right size for bathing the babies.  Makes washing dishes almost enjoyable!

Above the sink is my collection of odds and ends.  A lone teapot with no matching cups stands next to the cowbell that I ring at dinner time.  A Jones soda bottle that I've kept for years simply because it has a car show photo on it towers over my little meemaw salt shaker. 

Years ago my mother gave me this elephant pitcher that she picked up in the peak of her rummaging years.  His trunk is a bit chipped, but he seems content a long as his trainer is nearby (the soldier happens to be an egg cup, by the way).

 

Flanking the sink on either side are the only two cupboards in the room.  Hence my attachment to the Hoosier cabinet!  Right now we're using a set of brown transferware dishes that . . . yes . . . I got at that thrift store.  It was a 50% off sale on a $4 box of dishes!  Honestly, how could I leave them there?!  The plain white ironstone serving pieces are from my mother and match the set of dishes in the opposite cupboard.  The Fiestaware tea set was a wedding gift, and the Clabber Girl can is an original.  

I hope you enjoyed the tour of my farmhouse kitchen.  It's just my collection of finds, nothing fancy, nothing expensive.  But each piece waiting to be used, helpful and ready.  And the door is always open to visitors!