I thought it might be interesting to start a series of blog entries on our house. I promised to show you pictures a while back, but it's taken a bit of time to get the place organized in a method that works for us. I think we are at a point that is the best we are going to do. Instead of just showing you pictures, however, I thought I'd focus on a room at a time, sharing some of the experiences I've had adjusting to the room itself and the objects inside. I'm planning on spreading out these posts, so don't worry - I'll still be sharing plenty of other experiences outside of our little abode.
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This first Inside Our Dutch House edition covers a room that both brings me a lot of satisfaction and also a lot of frustration: the kitchen.
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| Taken from the Living Room |
From the picture, you'll notice that our kitchen is slightly narrow, although a decent size for a small house/apartment. On one side of the room, cupboards cover the wall, and there is plenty of storage space for both our items and the ones that came with the house. There is even a difficult to reach cabinet, that we refer to as the "Dutch cabinet". It's the one that you can see in the upper right hand corner of the picture above. We use this space to store things that we will never need (like the coffee pot that doesn't work too well and has been replaced with a much smaller French press).
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| Our Garden |
The other side of the room features a large glass door leading to the garden. I love that during the day, plenty of natural light floods the kitchen, making it easy to cook or clean. This is enhanced by the bright white cabinets and wall color. Unfortunately, the sun sets around 4:30 p.m. during the winter, so by the time I start dinner, I have to rely on the somewhat-lacking artificial lighting, which is positioned under the cabinets. If we owned this house, I would definitely invest in an overhead light for the kitchen.
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| Our Counters |
The floor in the kitchen is made of a gray marble, which hides dirt fairly well and is not too hard to clean. Moving up to the counters, though, the situation reverses. Metal counter tops might initially seem appealing; however, I have found that they are difficult to clean (notice the nice pattern, which operates as a crumb and grease catcher), they easily scratch if you try too hard to clean them, and in the right light, they always look dirty. It's also impossible to use the counters to roll out anything (like a pie or pizza crust) because of the texture. The counters also have a lip on the outside, which I suppose prevents things from dripping onto the floor, but it also makes it quite difficult to use a cutting board, since both the board and knife have to be far enough back on the counter to make the cutting motion a little uncomfortable.
So, now on to the appliances. Since we moved in, we have purchased a coffee grinder (Mr. Traveler insisted that it was a necessity) and a toaster. Both of these items work as intended and get used daily. The other appliances in the kitchen include the oven/stove combination, the refrigerator, and the microwave. These also get used daily, but each of them has given me a separate challenge.
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| Oven/Stove |
The oven/stove combination is interesting because it consists of an electric oven and a gas stove. The stove has to be lit by starting the gas and then using a lighter, since there is no pilot light. This hasn't been a problem so far, especially since we now have a back up lighter and some matches if one runs out of fuel. The gas also has a strong odor (but different than in the States), so it's not hard to tell if you've accidentally turned on the gas on the wrong burner.
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| Oven Knobs |
The markings on the knobs for the unit are quite worn out, so it is difficult to tell the temperature at which the oven is set. Once I determine the Celsius temperature, I also have to convert it to Fahrenheit in order to cook the recipes that I brought from home. It's not a big deal; it's just one more step to consider.
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| Just Right Sized Fridge |
The size of the refrigerator and freezer is perfect. I know that a lot of European households have smaller fridges because people tend to shop more often and buy less at a time. When I lived in London during a semester abroad in 2001, my roommates and I had a small mini-fridge. It was a nightmare. Not only could you barely fit anything in it, but the freezer completely iced over. We asked the maintenance person for his advice. He told us to chip the ice out using a screwdriver. Unfortunately, this resulted in a puncture to the fridge and a leaking of an unknown gas into the air. Afterward, he swore that he never told us to do that, and instead that we should have taken the fridge and hung it out the window over the busy London sidewalk below. I definitely think our destruction of the non-working fridge was much less horrible than the possible unintentional manslaughter of an unsuspecting victim. Anyway, the only complaint about our current fridge is that the shelves are a bit unstable. So if you aren't careful, the entire contents of the fridge can end up in a heap at the bottom. After my London experience, however, this seems only like a minor inconvenience.
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| The Inconsistent Microwave |
The last appliance in the kitchen is an outdated and inconsistent microwave with a very stubborn latch. Maybe when microwave ovens first came out in the 1950s and 60s, the novelty led people to use them to cook entire meals. However, most of the people I know now use microwaves for things like reheating leftovers, melting cheese on tortilla chips, or heating up a cup of tea.
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| Microwave Dial |
The thing is, with our microwave, the dial only has minutes which is a bit frustrating if you want to heat something for 15 or 20 seconds. To make it worse, you can't set the microwave for less than 1 minute, which means you have to stand next to it and wait until the amount of time has elapsed for your food to finish. However, it's a little more complicated than that, because the cook times vary every single time that you warm something up in our microwave. The other day, I made hot chocolate. I set the cook time to between 1 and 2 minutes, and it was perfect - not too hot and not too cold. Then, Mr. Traveler wanted a cup. I set the microwave for the same amount of time with the same type of mug and the same amount of water, and guess what? When I pulled the mug out of the microwave, it was so hot that I couldn't even touch it. The water was scalding, and the drink had to cool for quite a bit of time before Mr. Traveler could enjoy it. My final complaint about the microwave is that once you take your food out of it and close the door, the microwave immediately starts up again. This just takes a bit of time to get used to, but can be annoying if you have multiple things going on in the kitchen.
I spend a lot of time in the kitchen. I've found it an interesting challenge to adapt to each of these appliances and to the kitchen in general. I'm definitely looking forward to having more counter space (with a little less texture) and some more reliable appliances when we return to the States and buy our own place. However, I also have a deep fondness for this kitchen. Since I'm not working and not in school, I have a lot of time to cook. I'm enjoying trying new recipes and inventing a few of my own. It is in the kitchen that I created our Thanksgiving feast and our Christmas cookies. Even though it gives me headaches at times, I really enjoy most of the time I spend in the kitchen.
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