My least favorite room

I'm not really complaining today, but I'm going to tell you about my least favorite room in my house. This is my kitchen. I'm almost embarrassed to show it to you it is such a nothing kitchen. It's only redeeming feature is that it has a nice window that you can look out of onto the forest, but even that is a frosted window so when it is closed you can not see out. I keep it open as much as possible from spring on.

I love the house we live in and it fits me to a T. All except for the kitchen, or maybe the kitchen fits me to a T too and that's why I don't like it. The interior decorating is... vintage stainless steel. The sink is the only built in feature in the whole kitchen. It has no oven, no stove, no cupboards, no dishwasher, no ice makers, no disposal, NO COUNTERS!!! I have to chop vegetables on that little space to the right of the sink and the dish drainer goes on the left. You can imagine what the kitchen looks like when cooking is in process. Pots and dishes in the sink, on the floor, balanced on top of each other. The stove is a two burner gas unit that we bought at a local hardware shop. The oven is an electric one I've had for nearly 30 years and the only place I could find for it is under the sink. It bakes 9 cookies at a time. Across from the sink is a sideboard for dishes and a place for a rice cooker and microwave.

A few years ago, an American friend and her sister were visiting and I complained about my kitchen. At the time the microwave was set in front of the stove and I was literally edging between the two in order to reach over the garbage pail to do the cooking. It's a good thing I've never been pregnant while living in this house or we wouldn't have had dinner for the final six months! I was teaching English the evening my friends were visiting, and suddenly I hear all this scraping and bumping coming from the kitchen! What were they doing but moving the whole kitchen around, refrigerator and all! I've always been more pleased with this layout than the previous one but still....

Many Japanese homes do have fancier kitchens and nowadays you can build a house with a "system kitchen" which means it has all the modern features and the kitchen will surround you with conveniences. I tell people that the reason I'm such a lousy cook and hate cooking is because I'm stuck with this kitchen but I doubt that I'd be a better cook if I had a fancy kitchen. It's a good excuse though!