Thursday 22 September 2011

My Vintage Kitchen


Part of my mandate in getting my house as off-the-grid as possible, is to find ways to do things that don't require electricity to begin with. I find myself fascinated by the lives of the settlers and how they managed when electricity wasn't available and with no stores nearby to buy the basics. I have been keeping my eye out for hand operated gadgets and collecting them as I go along. Here are just some of my finds this summer....

A hand operated pasta maker,worth considerably more than I paid for it!

 A large canning pot with rack ( not shown in the picture is a couple of cases of canning jars and lids as well as paraffin wax all courtesy of the thrift stores)
 A thingy to grind food into a pulp for things like tomato paste
 A grinder for flour and nut butters

A butter churn


Along with vintage kitchen utensils I have refinished and installed a 1950's steel kitchen sink unit


Added a bead board style kitchen island with a vintage plate stand



 Installed leaded glass doors ( love that sign, it came from a wonderful home decor store in Steveston BC ,called Pieces)

I had to get oven mitts


which thankfully I only had to pay $1.99 each for as opposed to the original price tag of $37.98!!!!


For my NEW WOOD STOVE!!


Isn't she a beauty?
My grandmother ,whom I lived with for a few years, had one just like this and I have missed it so much. I was thrilled when I found this one, it was the perfect finish to this room!


Here are some of the vintage cooking utensils I have collected for it. Old cast iron pans, an old metal trivet, the mesh rectangle is a toaster



The top warming shelf has some small oil lamps and another treasure from the store Pieces, this super- cute, whale weathervane
 


I have a bunch of other vintage objects  that I found after I had done this post so will save those for another day. Here is a sneak peak into the direction I am going with my dining room.
This beautiful antique Asian altar will be joining the Asian buffet in the dining room once I have some walls built


And to finish off today's post here are my flowers in the kitchen window box now in full bloom.



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8 comments:

  1. Love it! Can you use that beautiful stove? I was thrilled to see your toaster. You see I bought one of those strange wire things, but had no idea what it was. Thanks for solving the mystery. I really enjoy your posts, and love following you on your journey.

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  2. Absolutely love the woodburning oven and all your kitchen things. Wish I could get hold of things like that x

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  3. That item you have indicating it is for grinding flour is called a food mill. I don't know about flour, but it is great for mashing potatoes or using for apple sauce. I cut up my apples with peel and cook it up and then dump and use the mill to separate the peel out.

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  4. I have several boxes of things from my grandmother's kitchen. There is a meat grinder much like the one in your picture. I can remember my dad using it to make salami. I love the wood stove. I would love to have one, but my heating wood stove has served me well when I don't want to crank up the propane one. We just repainted the top that was getting pretty rusty after all the water we boil for washing and dishes. - Margy

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  5. It's been a while since I've stopped by! I love what you've done!!! Everything is lovely. I have several items of my grandmothers, as well as several of my great-grandmothers! Some I use, some I display, and some is stored away waiting for the right place to shine! Thanks for walking us though your wonderful renovation of your float home! Though, I must ask what has become of the lovely cottage where you used to live??? The lovely, though not quite as small cottage I used to live in has had many folks there since I left it. I miss it--sometimes I want to rent it back as a shop, as it is zoned mixed-use, but alas, I never do!

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  6. Hi Mikey, thanks for your comments. My little cottage as such was actually just a room under the porch of a heritage house. The picture I used on my blog Wyldestone Cottage was a random picture I took in England of a cute old farmhouse, so Wyldestone Cottage was more of a frame of mind than an actual place. Now that I have the floathome my "cottage" has become an "ark".

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  7. Just checking back in Rhianna. We just finished our kitchen renovation. It isn't a cut as yours, but with a new fridge and stove a lot handier for me. Hope all is going well on the ark. - Margy

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  8. You have alot of nice goodies there Rhianna. I love that old stove. I have never used one, but it would be kinda cool to try out sometime.

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Thank you so much for taking the time to leave me a comment, Rhianna

The Eclectic Ark