Reprise - The Heart of Linderhof

This was originally posted in October 2010.    At Linderhof, the kitchen is definitely the heart of the home.   Good smells are always wafting from the kitchen filling Linderhof with a promise of good things soon to eat.


It didn't always look like this -- it had 1980's oak cabinets, that awful kitchen cabinet on the floor, and white 4 inch tiles on the countertop and no island!!!!


But it was before blogging and I don't have a single picture of the "before"!


I have always hated to paint good wood and it took me several years before I got enough courage to do the kitchen cabinets . . . but once started I felt foolish for waiting!


I love Linderhof's kitchen and although there is not a bit of room to eat in there (unless you stand at island or stove), I think it's a homey, working kitchen!

The heart of any home should be the kitchen and Linderhof is no exception. The kitchen is the heart of Linderhof (but we also think that the dining room is the soul!)

Linderhof's kitchen is tiny -- a mere 10 x 10 feet of floor space -- and it is not a decorated kitchen but rather a functional one.

The view from the dining room -- I always wonder if guests who peek into the kitchen think there is a lot more to the right of the door -- if so, they receive a BIG surprise!

As you walk into the kitchen from the dining room, the stove is on your left, the fridge is on your right and there is an island smack dab in the middle of a 10 x 10 space. Are we crazy? Probably, but I wouldn't have it any other way. It's a great space and one that is used daily!

It was "no fun" painting the inside of the cabinets!!!!

The work space at Linderhof -- next to the stove with built in choppng block, marble counters, wooden spoons and other utensils, the Kitchen Aid and food processor and sugar and flour . . . and hanging from the upper cabinets -- measuring cups and spoons -- nice to be so near at hand.

Window over the stove looking over the back garden

For a little kitchen we are blessed with two windows -- this one over the stove where I keep my collection of French mustard pots, a couple of neat old molds and three bottles of my homemade tarragon vinegar.

The perfect wintering place for herbs

What's a kitchen without a window over the sink . . . a great view of a small garden and a great place in the winter for windowsill herbs. There will also be a rose geranium as well as a pot of parsley. They just haven't made it inside yet to join the chives and thyme.

Behind the doors is my shameful secret -- the microwave!

My English "Sweetie Jars" full of coffees and teas and sugars. As well as an English enamel bread box. Which is used for . . . . bread! The big tin of Walker's shortbread. My afternoon nosh with tea while I was recovering from surgery. Good for boughten shortbread but not as good as my homemade!

Once upon a time, I had the ceiling redone in the kitchen because of a leak. The handyman managed to get "mud" on the wallpaper of my soffit . . . and so, off I went in search for some new paper for that soffit.

I managed to buy the world's ugliest wallpaper . . . . at least that's what I figured when I put up two sheets (thank heaven they were soffit size sheets) and so . . . . I painted my soffits white, then painted grapes and grape leaves near the ceiling . . .

And searched through my box of design ideas until I came upon the one that I was looking for -- with writing . . . about wine . . . in a kitchen . . . . and so with stencils in hand, I stenciled away that saying -- one part on each of the three walls and then a fourth wine related saying on the fourth wall.

Burgundy makes you think of silly things

Bordeaux makes you talk of them

Champagne makes you do them

Chardonnay sil vous plait?

This is the WHOLE kitchen!    

The kitchen at Linderhof -- the heart of Linderhof -- where good food begins. A bowl of fruit and a pitcher of tea are always on the island. The crock pot is full of steel cut oats for breakfast oatmeal -- so easy to make a big batch in the crock pot and oatmeal is perfect for these cool fall mornings.

The island countertop is a 100+ year old piece of marble that came out of the kitchen in the 1885 building where I used to work. It's a great pastry marble. The countertops, too, are marble -- carrera marble and I love them. There is a built in butcher block next to the stove -- I love that feature. The cabinets are painted a 30's green for the lowers and a 30's cream for the uppers. Windows are left bare to let in more light to this little space. The floor, like the rest of the house, is oak.

I'm joining The DIY Show Off -- Roomspiration - Kitchen Edition.   It's always fun to see everyone's kitchens -- a kitchen, methinks, is the most individual room in a house -- the true "heart" of the home!