I love that stove! we have a cast iron wood stove with to spots on the top for cooking. But, like you said, it'll get really hot in the summer. I never even considered an outdoor kitchen. I like that idea, though. I'm no grill master, but I could learn. An outside stove, though, I bet I whip up some pretty good meals on it.
I am getting lost in this thread. This looks like a time travel thread particularly with that appliance which looks more like an antiquated washing machine. Don't laugh, I am serious, just saying what I perceive. And I read Amish. Can anyone explain what it is? With gazeebo and swing, gee, that's one great garden you have there. How I wish I could drop by your place so I can see for myself if what you are posting here are all true or not. Hahahaaa, just joking.
@Corie Henson, My kitchen is not to most people's taste, but it does fit in with the log cabin style. It is very simple, and without the appliances, I think it is more like the old fashion kitchens of days gone by. My pantry is the candy apple red stand alone closet. I found it in a ditch, it had been in a fire, so I hauled it home, replaced the burned side and back, and put in two shelves, and I painted it to go with my kitchen. It holds tuns of food. There are no cabinets in the kitchen, just shelves, and everything else hangs from the ceiling. It's not for everyone but my boys built my kitchen with a little help from a old Mexican man that spoke no English, and all for only $5,000.
@Ina I. Wonder I love your place, you get it that sometimes more is not better, but in all seriousness thats quite a few plates on one shelf! Yikes! I like the side staking shelves for the plates, such a smart idea. It looks like you cook a whole lot, do you also can? I just cracked open the concord grape jelly I canned last year and it was so good. This year I have not decided what I want to can yet. I can imagine you making cookies and all sorts of yummy things on that stove. I love to cook so I am actually pretty envious of your kitchen area, right now I have a long galley style kitchen and it is not the best for cooking huge amounts of food. You may have told me in another thread and I forget, do you have a pot belly or a fireplace in the other room?
I love your kitchen. Do you think it's going to be difficult to say goodbye to your cabin, or are you read to move on to the next phase of your life? I think it would be hard for me to let go of something that was built with the hands of my family members, but I always have difficulty with letting go of anything I'm emotionally attached to.
@Jenn Windey, I have scaled down on the dishes I now need, but those shelves were built by my techie husband, and so he over built them to carry a ton of weight. I used to grow, harvest, can or freeze much of the food we ate. When my family was large, I raised rabbits, cows, pigs, and chickens for the freezer. Cooking was like art to me, so all my recipes can from my imagination. The problem came from when someone wanted me to repeat something I fixed weeks before. @Jennifer Graves, when we first started to revive this old cabin, we were told we should tear it down, because it was so unhealthy and dangerous. We had always tried to get the kids to bank there money, and use their brawn where they could, instead of paying others to do what they were capable of doing themselves. So grab whomever you can, and find out what their talents are. Most are secretly hopeing that someone will see their talents. Try bartering your skills for their's. Big companies just give you cookycutter applications for the highest dollor they can get. You and your friends can give you some nice custom pieces, for a fraction of the general cost. @Diane Lane, I do love this place. So much love has dwelled within these walls. I have a lifetime of memories here of my growing family, but most of them are gone now, and it seems I can't move forward as I reside in all my memories. I don't seem to be able find a future for myself while I am living in the past. Then there is the fact that this old cabin will begin to fall back into disrepair without the talents my family acquired while restoring it. The city of Houston is moving it's way out here, and I don't want to live in the city. I sign the papers for the sale of my other home by the end of this month, and I'll put this cabin up for sale in the early spring. This will allow me to buy an acre up in the Sam Houston National Forest, and build myself a 1300 sq.ft., with a half loft cabin for about $50,000. As long as I am frugal, I'll be able to do well. And nothing can take my memories away.
@Ina I. Wonder I have a feeling the new place will also have a lot of character. No doubt you'll be making new memories up there. I think you said you'd be living near your brother, which sounds as if it would be good for you. I'm sure y'all will be exploring the wilderness soon after you're settled in there.
@Ina I. Wonder Thats wonderful advice! I'm taking an electrician course. If I get really grasp it, I want to do it myself. And my husband is a jack of many trades, but plumbing isn't one of the many. Doing it this way could save us A LOT of money. I'm gong to have to seriously start thinking about who I should talk to. Thank you!
@Jennifer Graves, look and see if you have a local community blog that you can list the services you can provide, and you can also list services you need. Some communities still have free local newspapers. Trading services is becoming a good way to get things done that you might not be able to afford any other way. You can even trade sewing torn work clothes for yard work. The possibilities are endless.
I have a couple of places I can check with. We have a local monthly publication here. It'll pay to put an ad in there, (thats how they support a free paper), but it'll be worth it if I can just find one person who'll trade with us. The plumbing is our biggest issue, currently. I'm sure there will be more by the time we're done. lol
Economically, it just made the most sense. I'm making payments on the building for 3 yrs, instead of 30 years like a we would on a house. We can set it up exactly the way we like it. And in the end it's smaller, but it's ours, and cheaper than a house. Its actually cheaper than the average 1 bdr apartment rent, around here.