In the Pantry ~ Literally!

Today I had a much-needed kitchen purge. Several cupboards and closets were reorganized: most stuff was packed for Kentucky after I consolidated what I had and divided the spoils (mmm, 8 bread pans, I guess I can pack half up). Other things, like odd bits of plastic storage stuff, were tossed. It always feels good to pare down and it was good to realize I had enough to stock another kitchen, more or less, without having to buy more. I also removed things from the fridge and kept things to the side of it so the white span at the front looks clean and barren, but less cluttered.

Meanwhile, the bottom cupboard of the Welsh dresser, which was full of muffin tins, and too much unused plastic junk, was completely emptied. Eli and Henry helped and then vacuumed and wiped it out for me. Then they hid inside and surprised me. It is empty for the moment as I contemplate what to put in it!

This old cupboard base used to be in another part of the kitchen. My husband wanted to take it to the dump but I insisted we keep it. Years ago, he had picked it up at a farm auction as a stop-gap counter and storage for a kitchen that didn't have any built-ins. So at first he couldn't see the charm of the primitive well-worn patina.

For a wedding present to each other eleven years ago we had an upper portion made for it by a local cabinet maker, Donald Dunlap. For several years it has housed our extensive Country Fare pottery collection (from Zanesville Pottery in Ohio: c. 1940s-1960s) but it has also had several incarnations over the years. Eventually, when we build our farmhouse, I will have to make sure there is a wall in the new kitchen devoted to it as it is six feet wide and about ten feet high. I can't imagine a kitchen without it.