Kitchen Clairvoyance

When I was in the infancy of my gardening infatuation, I was told that peonies were highly sensitive plants, requiring just the right conditions to grow and thrive. So when we purchased our home in 1995, I carefully tended to the VIP's (very important peonies) that were left by the previous homeowners, fertilizing, pruning etc.

Then we began to renovate. We added to the second storey 3 times, replaced the sun porch, adopted a couple of kids, added a front porch, tore that down and added an addition. With each reno, a backhoe came along and dug up the dirt around the house, leaving my peonies wherever luck would drop them. Like my tulips which are transplanted annually by the squirrels, my peonies continue to come up in surprise places all over the garden each year. However, I would like to reassure these tough as nails pseudo weeds, that our reno days are almost over....honest.

Last years reno was predicted to be the cure for my obsession as I continued to suffer from post reno stress disorder, flashing back to winter without a roof. We elected to skip the kitchen demolition at that time because it was the last intact room in the house and because I have drawn a minimum of 100 different unsatisfactory ways to make a 11X23 foot space work as a kitchen. I finally gave up and loaded all of my kitchen design magazines into my sisters car last year and now she is renovating her kitchen (sorry Scott).

To make a short story long, Tony recently decided he would try out his culinary expertise and cook a meal each weekend to give me a break. By his second attempt, he was so frustrated by my kitchen's lack of functionality that he stomped off, and suggested that we bulldoze the kitchen. In all honesty, we have improved the function of the kitchen over the years, but kids brought a new dynamic. Our gas stove is situated by the kitchen entrance, and it is a miracle that Grace has not caught her hair on fire whizzing past the burners each day. Lil thinks she's a cook and squeezes in the tiny space to be part of the action each meal. It just doesn't work and it makes me a kitchen witch on a daily basis.

One morning before we left for work, I suggested to Tony that we get rid of the kitchen table in favour of an large island. Grace wasn't going to be 2 feet tall forever (we hope) and an island may work better for us in the future. Two hours later Tony and I both claimed to have drawn the perfect kitchen for our house...and when we compared drawings...they were identical! No walls to tear down, (well just a little one) and the opportunity to build in the summer...something we have never done before.

And so in July, the demo begins. No walls to be knocked down, no backhoes in the yard. Just a calm and clever reworking of my favourite room that will allow Tony and Lil to explore their culinary creativity, Grace to maintain her beautiful head of hair, and allow that peony to put down roots.