On Saturday, Lisa posted photos of the view out the window from her kitchen sink and I was entranced by her lovely gardens, her flowers, and the connections she made. Of course she was responding to yet other posts extoling the virtues of views from kitchen windows, but I have not yet visited those posts.
I've shown you the view from my kitchen window before, but here is this year's version. It is a little bit overgrown. I've been rather lax about weeding as my mind has already moved forward onto the preparing for what comes next; weeding isn't really on my horizon at the moment. Of course I am cognizant that once I am ready to put this house on the market a massive prepping of the garden will be required. Besides, I like to tell myself that the weeds meet a need, providing shade and shelter to more delicate plants in this summer of unwelcome heat.
Standing at my sink this morning I realized that I will only be gazing on this view a few more months and I shall miss it. I shall miss seeing the deer on the lawn in the evening despite the fact that there have many times when I have run out the front door shooing them away from from some flower or another. I shall miss the early morning parade of the turkeys with their brood of little chicks. The guard turkey always sits up high in the pine at the upper left corner of the photo, and if I wander out the door without having checked on their presence first, he lets out a frantic call and the turkeys scatter quickly, often before I even get the door completely closed behind me. I will miss watching the rabbits and the woodchucks and the cavorting of the chipmunks on the stone walls.
All of this thinking about kitchen windows reminds me that there will be no kitchen window in my new house. If there were I would only get a view of the neighbor's kitchen window a few feet away, and the thought of looking out the window into the eyes of another person standing at their own kitchen sink already makes me shiver just a bit. Perhaps no window is better. I don't quite know how I will adapt to that yet. I do know that when I am standing at that sink my back will be turned to the long open space consisting of the dining room, the sun room and the screened porch. Perhaps I will put a mirror up on the wall above the sink so that I can be simultaneously looking forward and backward. Or is it backward and forward?
Comments
15 responses to “The View from the Kitchen Sink”
This is a lovely, lovely view, and I can well imagine that it will be hard to give up. But if your new kitchen offers no enticing view, perhaps there are other rooms that do. We women are long past defining ourselves by our kitchens, right? (I also wonder if you could take some photos of this treasured view and have a painting made, for your new home)
Hi Mardel,
I am a relatively new reader of your blog…actually, your knitting blog(before you combined it here) was the first knitting blog I had discovered a couple of years ago…. One thing I was thinking was, in your new kitchen, is there a way to have an island with a cooktop facing toward the living space so your back isn’t to the rest of the room? I had that in my last house and I loved it, could cook and talk/watch tv all at the same time~ good luck!
Hi Lois, nice to see you here! Yes, the new home will have an island facing the living area and I am looking forward to it. I have an island now, but I cant see any part of the house from it, so the new kitchen will be an improvement, and the sink isnt such a big deal.
Mater, I am long past defining myself by the kitchen. I dont mind the view from the sink so much, especially since the new kitchen is open to the entire living area of the house, and I will have a working island where I can see into the living space. My current kitchen is somewhat open but is separate from the main living spaces, this will not be the case in the new kitchen, and I am looking forward to the change.
Great to hear from you for a long time! I totally agree with the others; being able to be in connection with the open space is a + . Time spent by the sink is marginal these days.
I understand you missing to see the outdoor life. And you are definitely right about the weeds giving shelter for the delicate plants underneath 🙂
I can see why you’ll miss that view, but it really does sound better to have the island facing open interior space. The new kitchen sounds wonderful.
In my former home, the view out of the kitchen was of the side of a neighbor’s house. Not inspiring.
In my current home of 6 years, a bungalow built in 1926, the window over the sink is set too high for me to see much of the back garden. I can see the Bougainvillea climbing on the arbor and the leaves of the tulip poplar, and that’s enough when I’m getting down to business at the sink washing pots.
Standing at the butcher block island, I can see through one doorway to the sun room and back garden beyond. Through another doorway I can see the dining room, and through yet another the pantry shelves in the stairwell going downstairs. Lastly, I can see through the front kitchen doorway into the front hall and stairs going upstairs.
All of these doorways and views please me as I chop, usually listening to opera. But not Nixon in China, not yet :-).
Thank you for your comment on my new post. It’s nice to know that there’s another woman who would also rather read than shop.
Your view is gorgeous. So very green. You have so much change about to happen, this is just one little moment. And I know you’re happy about where you’re going. I think we all need a place to gaze, just doesn’t per se have to be the kitchen:). That mine is from my sink is circumstantial really.
Oh, how green and peaceful! Yes, change means missing what one now has; the in-between time is especially poignant. Then the bustle of moving and settling in takes over. A mirror sounds like a good idea; you will know when you get there.
I hope the massive prepping you’re anticipating will be done with hired hands.
It’s hard enough to pack up a house without also getting the garden ready.
Susan, I dont think I could listen to Nixon in China while I was working in the kitchen. I am not yet that evolved, if that is the term for it. Likely, I never shall be.
Your various views sound lovely, as are the photos you have posted of your home. I could be very happy with a 1920s bungalow, and there was one in Knoxville I would love to have been able to buy and work on, but it was most unsuitable for my spouse as there was no way to avoid steps, which is precisely one of the reasons we are moving.
Duchesse, the process of anticipated change seems to make one particularly attentive to what is being left. The bustle of moving will settle the edges. I am looking forward to the move. When I am there I will know what to do.
I may have to consider that. Ive had some help from men in boots. I may need more.
Mette, Hello! I agree time at the sink is fairly marginal these days, and much better to be open to the home when working at the island, where I spend the majority of my kitchen time.
While I love the view from my sink, I spend so little time there that other views are more important, and perhaps that will be the case in your new house. The view you have now will always be in your memory stores and I believe that the view in our mind’s eye is the best anyway.
We’re planning to have a wider kitchen window to get a nicer view of our garden. We are already renovating our kitchen to make it look more spacious and cleaner. My wife is also starting her garden landscapes. Your garden is very beautiful! I’m sure it would look beautiful in the end. Good luck!