Space, the final frontier

This is going to be a big year – we are taking steps to extend our home and with it comes a bigger kitchen for me.  I say me because the kitchen is really my room in the house, not that I’m some crazy cook that isn’t prepared to share it.  Of course I am.  That’s not how it works though.  When I’m cooking I generally have the kitchen to myself.  My son is usually off in his bedroom engrossed in some computer game and as I cook I can hear my husband tick, tick typing upstairs on his beloved computer.  This suits me fine.  I love to cook, it’s my destresser.  Why is it though that at the point when I really need the kitchen to myself (i.e when I’m trying to put out the food I’ve prepared) do both my husband and son suddenly have a need to be in the kitchen?  Every time – what’s that about.

How the Waltons managed I'll never know

Now this wouldn’t be a problem, but to explain when my husband bought the house he was a batchelor and the kitchen was, well the size a batchelor needs.  Now there are four of us and two cats and, well, need I explain.

Hurry up will you, they're ALL going to be in the kitchen in a minute!

So extending our home will also mean a bigger kitchen.  I’m so excited I can’t tell you.  Now I’m not into big fancy stuff.  I’m a basic kind of gal, but having the space so that we can ALL be in the kitchen at the same time will be wonderful.

Space is a bit of an issue in our house you see.  My husband is an avid collector at auctions, then I moved in (with my stuff), then my mother in law moved in.  Lets just say it’s been interesting.  We struggle to decide what should stay and what should go.  Now that we are also going to be building I come out in a cold sweat thinking about how it’s all going to fit together.

Oh it’s not the dust and the mess that bothers me much.  It’s where we are going to put everything when all of this is going on.  It dawned on me today that perhaps I’ve been looking at this all wrong.  In my head I’ve been trying to think of a way of doing all of this whilst still making things kind of manageable in the house.  What was I thinking?  For example when I’m writing an essay that needs to be in for my Open University course you only have to look at my desk to know what stage I’m at.  It begins all organised and then the closer I get to finishing it to more paper and mess I’ve created that to any innocent bystander it would look as though I’m really floundering.  Not so, this is how I work.  Despite the chaos; things on the wall, books stewn about the desk and the floor I know exactly where everything is and what I’m doing.  So, maybe this is how it is just going to be when we build.

OK I know it doesn't look it but I know EXACTLY what I'm doing - honest!

So yes we have far too much furniture, and yes I will be cooking dinner tonight and everyone will descend on the kitchen as usual but one day hopefully, like they used to do in the Starship Enterprise we will be embarking on ‘space, the final frontier’ – at least it will be for my bunch of happy campers

Captain I think we should wait until the kitchen has calmed down before we make a cup of tea - she looks as though she might attack.

So, if anyone out there has any tips on creating a harmonious working kitchen all suggestions will be gratefully received.