Five Kitchen Improvements

This photo is from the Sonoma kitchen prior to the extensive renovation in 2006. With paint and some imagination, I made this old-fashioned kitchen into a colorful and friendly spot to cook.












Color adds zip to the kitchen. A bright container for my favorite tools. Repainting cabinet doors or the walls in colors I love. Repainting kitchen stools in a smashing color or getting a couple of new bright kitchen rugs.

Good lighting is essential. I replaced florescent tubes with track lighting which brightened everything, including my mood.

This is a photo of my Berkeley kitchen before we repainted the cabinets. Check out the next photo to mark the difference.













Floor mats save your body. I have an iffy back, hips, knees and feet situation. If I stand on any hard surface too long, they start speaking to me. Michelle, my daughter-in-law, pointed me to GelPro kitchen mats which have solved the problem. I put them in front of my chopping and prep space. You can find them at Sign of the Bear in Sonoma and on line.

A big wooden cutting board. Mine is made by Boos and is 15 x 20 inches. I also find thin plastic cutting sheets useful when I’m cutting up raw meat or for transferring chopped items from the board to a pan on the stove.

This is my Berkeley kitchen after we had the cabinets painted and the floors refinished in 2010. It made such a difference.

De-cluttering the counters. I like to keep my counters as clear as possible. It’s an aesthetic thing but it also means that I have more workspace however large or small it may be.