Sandi is blogging from the WhistleStop Cafe kitchen. It's all about good home cooking; food, family and fun. Thousands of posts . . .

~In the south and around the world.



Wednesday, January 03, 2007

The heart of our home

The kitchen is definitely the center of our home. It is where the mail gets dropped, where the dog flops on the floor, it is where we gather around the island and share our day. It is also where the cakes rise, the coffee perks, and a big pot of gumbo stews. No matter how big or small the party, this is the room that fills first and empties last. It is the heart of our home.
Although there is a test kitchen at our WhistleStop warehouse, most of the playing goes on at home. We have used this kitchen to test many a product, from chili to marinade. Some products (thankfully) you will never see. Recipes are tweeked, and cookbooks have been created on this very lap top, at this very table.

I posted in November about some home projects in the kitchen. Covering old/dated wall paper with a light venetian type plaster. The before and after pictures are amazing. I think HGTV may be calling me anyday for my own show.

I loved the idea when ILVA suggested we invite other bloggers into our kitchens. So, first let me clean it up a bit, and put on a pot of coffee...

Y'all come on in!
Sandi

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love, love, love your kitchen. I love the dark cabinets. That is the one thing I wanted to change about our kitchen when we moved in was the color of the cabinets... the darker tone just seems more rich and warm to me.

Thanks for the tour!

Ilva said...

Thanks a lot, I like your kitchen too, it looks really nice!

annulla said...

I love living where I do, but have to admit that I am suffering from a severe case of kitchen envy. Yours looks amazing. Mine is ... pitiful, big enough to hold only one person at a time (and, due to the low ceiling, not a very big person at that).

Anonymous said...

I guess we all understand that kitchens are so facinating to folks like us. Your kitchen is wonderful. It really is great to know where it all happens. Why do we call it a kitchen when it's where so much living goes on?
Thanks much for the coffee and the tour!

Anonymous said...

I loved the kitchen tour. Thanks for guiding me around.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for your lovely comments on our blog! your kitchen looks lovely. I will not be showing my mess of a kitchen. I think you will be a friend for life with the Marilyn Munroe comment! I love your blog and will be trying some of these lovely American recipies here in Australia.

Anonymous said...

You have a beautiful kitchen!!

Lisa Fain (Homesick Texan) said...

Beautiful! Seeing kitchens like yours makes me question why I live in a tiny Manhattan apartment.

Anonymous said...

Kitchens are endlessly fascinating to me, whether they're big, warm, inviting spaces like your lovely kitchen or much smaller, all business workhorses. The other night, we took an out-of-town guest up to the bar on the 96th floor of the Hancock Center in Chicago. While there, I got a quick peek into the tiny [we're talking probably 6x8 feet] kitchen that the bar uses to turn out a raft of lovely appetizers. Although I'll never run a restaurant [more power to you and your family for having had the wherewithal to do so], I'm especially intrigued by commercial kitchens.

Anonymous said...

Oh, and Homesick Texan, look for "The Itty Bitty Kitchen Handbook: Everything You Need to Know About Setting Up and Cooking in the Most Ridiculously Small Kitchen in the World--Your Own" by Justin Spring. This fabulous little book is written for people just like you [primarily New Yorkers, in fact] who like to cook and are saddled with tiny kitchens. Lots of practical advice and some decent recipes.

Michelle said...

Our kitchen is like that as well...though it flows seamlessly into the family room so people seem to gather around the fireplace in there as well (even when not burning -- which here in GA is 99% of the time!). I am considering attempting to darken up my cabinets and love yours. I will give it a shot in the laundry room 1st and see how it goes.

I love the quality of our cabinets and they are better quality than we could afford to replace them with when we redid the kitchn a couple of years ago but the stain isn't what I would have chosen...oh well!

(((hugs)))

Anonymous said...

Y'all thanks for popping in for a visit!
Kristen~ I have always had white shiny kitchens till this...and your are right, it is so warm.
Ilva~ You get the credit for starting this...fun idea.
Annulla & Homesick Texan~ bigger is not always better (except in Texas)
Tanna & Britt-Arnhild~ You are welcome for a tour and cup of coffee anytime... if I can do the same.
Rosie~ Friends for Life! Loved your blog : )
TerryB~ Great point, as with most of us I have a small section that is my 'favorite' work space. I have an old picture of Mom in the Cafe kitchen...I'll dig it up!

Anonymous said...

Belle~ I just saw you and didn't want to leave you out! Thanks for stopping in for a glass of sweet tea.

Anonymous said...

sandi,
I love the black. Your kitchen certainly does look inviting.

Thanks for the coffee.

thailandchani said...

With a kitchen like that, HGTV should be calling you! Man, that is beautiful!


Peace,

~chani

Kalyn Denny said...

What a lovely kitchen.

Anjali Koli said...

I'll be there for cuppa ....nice kitchen

Lis said...

Thanks for stoppin' by my lil kitchen, Sandi!

I really like yours.. ohhhh the space and those countertops! I'm drooling over here!

Very happy to have found your blog, I'll be back =)

Anonymous said...

I have enjoyed having y'all in my kitchen, you are welcome anytime~ I guarantee it is not always that clean.
And IF HGTV calls, it will be to tell me that I can move into my new dream home...I'll keep you posted!

Sally said...

What a warm and inviting kitchen you have. I love the counter tops. Thanks so much for sharing your kitchen with the world.

Anonymous said...

hi sandi. What a beautiful kitchen. I envy your dark cabinets! Oh I also used some venetian plaster in my kitchen. There was this space between the stainless stove backsplash of my range and the hood, I decided to put a layer of rust colored venetian plaster. I'm glad Ilva had this event,I like visiting other blogger's kitchens!

Anonymous said...

It is interesting that you can have such a warm home-kitchen also be the test kitchen for a restaurant! Wow! Maybe I should think about that bed-and-breakfast....nah..
Thanks for the tour, and yes, a cup of coffee sounds so good.

Zulmy García said...

Hi Sandi,
From Caracas, Venezuela I loved you kitchen. Even though I'm not a fan of dark colors, I found your kitchen so beautiful!
You asked about my Sevillian tiles. I bougth them years ago, so many I cannot remember the place. But I do remember I also bought letters for names for everyone here, my parents, uncle, myself. I think they are easy to find in Seville or in Granada, Spain.
I wish you luck with HGTV, but you do not need to change many things in your kitchen!

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