The Worst Kitchen in America

I can’t tell you how many times I have fantasized about my ideal kitchen– and it turns out it could have been mine!  I’m kicking myself for not entering Rachael Ray’s "Worst Kitchen in America" contest.  Looking at the finalists, I am pretty confident that my kitchen could have been one of them.

As first-time homebuyers in an expensive and fast-moving real estate market, my husband and I were so thrilled to find a home we liked in our price range that we overlooked just how awful the kitchen was.  We liked everything else about the house, and we had to move fast– before we knew it we were officially homeowners. 

It was then that reality set in.  Take a look at the picture to the left.  At first glance it just looks a little bland — nothing a little paint can’t fix, right?  Wrong.  So very wrong.  Once we moved in, we started noticing the "warts."  The first thing that struck us as we were unpacking was that there was only one drawer in the entire kitchen.  This drawer broke a couple months later, and there’s no way to fix it short of replacing the whole thing.  If you push it in all the way, it comes off the track and empties its contents into the cabinet below.  So we always leave it partway open.  When we have friends or family over everyone always subconsciously wants to close it (Crash! Silverware everywhere).

Among our kitchen’s other flaws…

• The refrigerator opens to the wall — and it makes scary clunking noises in the night
• The counter to the left has nothing below it.  Why are there no cabinets under there?  How about some more drawers?
• Hardly any natural light — the only window (to the right, above the sink) is about 12" wide x 18" high
• The industrial lighting from above gives the room a Wal-Mart-ish ambiance
• The linoleum floor always looks dirty, no matter how thoroughly you clean it
• The dishwasher is so loud we have to turn the volume on the TV up to a frightning level just watch TV two rooms away when it’s running.
• The oven has no window, no timer, and no light to indicate whether range has been left on (it’s a wonder I haven’t burned the house down yet)

I could go on and on– but my guess is you have heard enough of my complaining.  Bottom line is, I’d love nothing more than to completely remodel the kitchen, but as our "starter home," we’re only planning on living here a few years, anyway.  I’d be afraid all that effort and money would leave us very little time to actually enjoy it.  On the other hand, kitchen remodels tend to recoup much of the cost, so we may decide to remodel after all.  Too bad we couldn’t have Rachael pick up the tab!