The kitchen in the red brick house was basic and serviceable. I would guess that it was about 10' by 10' - maybe a little bigger. The only counter space was in an "L" shape with the sink under the window. The cabinets were white wood with silver colored pulls. The counter top was a gray marbled formica trimmed with a metal trim...what would be called "retro" today. We've probably all seen this formica on table tops from the 50s.
The refrigerator and stove were freestanding and against the wall on the left as you entered the kitchen from the living room. The refrigerator was probably an upgrade from what had been in the previous home. But frost free refrigerators were not the norm back then. Frost would build up in the freezer section requiring defrosting of the freezer...a tedious task. The stove was gas. Occasionally, a burner would go out. Getting it started again required lighting a pilot light. The oven ALWAYS had to have the pilot light lit before you could use it. There was also enough room in the kitchen for a table and some chairs.
After we had lived in the red brick house for awhile, my mother decided that she wanted to give the kitchen a little redo. She didn't want to rip out the cabinets, replace the counter tops or get new appliances that would be involved in most updates in today's kitchen. Her update request was pretty basic. She wanted to change the color of the paint. And the color she wanted was pink.
I remember that there was great discussion about painting the kitchen pink. My father absolutely didn't want a pink kitchen. I'm not so sure why it matter that much to him because he didn't really spend any time in the kitchen. He had to walk through it on his way to the basement or the back yard. But he didn't spend any time in it preparing meals or cleaning up. The kitchen was my mother's domain.
Eventually, my mother wore him down and she got her pink kitchen. But I don't think that my father was very happy about having to put pink paint on the kitchen walls.
As I recall, John and David and Mom did the painting instead of Dad. Maybe he refused to have anything to do with the project.
ReplyDeleteI recognize this kitchen right down to the formica. I like to think of myself as retro.
ReplyDeleteFrom his seat at the head of the dining room table, Dad could see into the kitchen through the shadow boxes separating it from the dining room. Perhaps that's why he resisted pink.
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