Kitchen love.
One of the things that BK and I did during our blogging hiatus was move into a new apartment. Can I just say, I’m in love? I am! I really adore our new home. And while it’s actually smaller overall (two less rooms) the kitchen is ever-so-slightly larger. And ever-so-slightly is enough to make a very large difference indeed. I’m also ecstatic we’ll never again have to deal with the old kitchen’s water-damaged cupboards or aging and peeling off-white linoleum that never, ever, ever looked clean no matter how often we scrubbed. With bleach. But I have to admit, my favorite part of our new kitchen didn’t come with the place. It was a wishlist gift we hunted down: the IKEA Groland kitchen island.
While the new kitchen is a big improvement from the one prior, it still needed a little more counter space, and on our dream list was a butcher block surface for prep. I first saw the Groland mentioned at Apartment Therapy and after extensive research on what was out there at various price points, BK and I decided this was the table for us.
It’s been a dream. After trying a few placements, we settled on having it jut out into the middle of the kitchen, like a peninsula. It’s easily reachable from the stove area and keeping both long sides open allows two people (one on each long side) ample room to prep.
BK and Joe making meatballs.
Now, wood comes with a bit of responsibility. It’s absolutely necessary to care for wood surfaces, especially when the weather cools and heat has been turned on. Even boards need maintenance, but often people don’t take the time or energy, or just aren’t aware. Next time we’ll talk about caring for wood, and why it makes me sad when people throw out old wooden cutting boards because they have dried and cracked, or even worse: because they look ‘dirty’ or ‘gross’ from knife marks or food stains accumulated over time.