Kitchen

Why being a grown-up sucks, Lesson #47. Here's what happens when you buy a house.

We got a good deal on our house. The total amount of our mortgage frightens me, but it's a reasonable monthly payment to live in a nice neighborhood in a house that mostly works well for us. Except the kitchen.

The kitchen is difficult, to say the least. The sink is in a separate room. The plumbing is old. There's no room for a dishwasher and we don't think the plumbing could handle it anyway. Since the sink is so far away from the stove, every day we carry a pot of boiling water twelve feet while praying we won't trip over an errant toy or, the big fear, an errant toddler. There's a large chimney sticking out into the middle of the room, leaving only one possible location for the fridge, so that when the fridge is open it blocks the doorway. There is exactly one cabinet and no prep space. There's a huge radiator taking up a wall. There's a staircase in the corner and we had to block it with a portable kitchen island because X was climbing up the stairs and on to the stove. I could go on, but you get the picture.

We've been living in the house for two years now. We've made it work. It's not like we literally can't use the kitchen. We just don't like it and it's not the safest for the kids.

We're considering a renovation this summer. Unfortunately, it looks like it's going to be massively expensive and there's no way around that, since so much of the expense is due to plumbing and structural issues. JW is all for it and has been pushing for this for a while because it'll be safer and more functional, will increase the value of (and our enjoyment of) the house, and makes sense to do now while interest rates are so low. I was on board when I thought we could pay for it out of our savings, but I hate the idea of going into debt for home renovations. I hate debt in general. Also spending lots of money. I like the money sitting safely in our bank account and reassuring me that if the roof collapses or one of us needs emergency surgery, we don't have to worry about paying for it.

In other kitchen-related news, X made his own play kitchen. This kid loves to cook. He has also developed a passion for the salad spinner, which has been showing up in unexpected places in the house over the past few days.