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Welcome to the 1st "Worst Before Kitchen" Contest! Do you have frogs, elves or moose decorating your kitchen walls? A mish-mash of styles from the 50's straight on through? Perhaps you found the source of "the smell" after you moved in...
However horrendous you think your kitchen was "before", there's bound to be someone out there with one worse! Take a deep breath, take the plunge, and you'll be feeling better about your own kitchen in no time! Have fun!
Submissions: This is the place to post pictures and a description for entry to the"Worst Before Kitchen" Contest! (Please, only post photos of your OWN kitchen!)
A few guidelines: Please reply to THIS THREAD, rather than starting a new thread for your kitchen (one stop shopping, and all). First person to submit, please title your kitchen "Kitchen #1", the next person titles theirs"Kitchen #2", etc to identify the kitchens for the poll. Post your pictures, preferably inline (instructions at bottom of this post).
Also, please include a descriptive paragraph or two of the state of the kitchen, it's contents/residents, condition of the surfaces/appliances and other elements and any other extra special things you can think of that might boost your kitchen in the ratings! (If you are a member of THS and have a different screenname, you might think about identifying yourself with both names so that you can be publicly humiliated in both forums. )
Voting: This poll will run for10 days beginning Monday, July18, 2005, during which time you can place your votes for the "Worst Before Kitchen". Kitchen "Before" pictures, labeled Kitchen #1 - Kitchen #10 will be posted as replies to this threadwith descriptions (and disclaimers)from their owners! If we get more submissions than that, we can start a new one. This should be fun!!
Susan
To Post Photos:
First, make sure your photos are hosted in a publicly accessible folder hosted either on a website, server or a photo hosting site, like Photobucket or Webshots. Once you've opened your "Post a New Topic" window by clicking on "Reply", click the button that looks like this: ,and type in (or copy/paste) the web address of your photograph. If you have any trouble with this process, email me--I'd be glad to help guide you through.
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OK, mine is Kitchen #2. I can't find photos of it before I painted it and replaced the fridge/range when we moved in 4 years ago. So here it is freshened up, but still sadly lacking in storage or common sense re: layout.
This is looking from the new breakfast room through the new doorway, just before we demoed the kitchen. These are the original 1941 cabinets, with the original 1941 layout. The sink base had no floor, so no storage in there!
Here's a closeup of the lovely tile countertop, with gross grout and tiles falling off. Wouldn't you like for this to be your major food prep surface?
Below is the other side of the kitchen. Yep, that's it folks. Apparently storage and counterspace were not issues worthy of consideration in 1941, nor for the next 60 years while the POs' owned the place. Notice the hole for the refrig? Well, no modern-day refrig of respectable size fits in that hole. I kept a portable dishwasher there. And the pantry was constantly infested with those pantry moths, despite frequent scrubbings. When we removed the cabs, we discovered why. They were breeding in the space between cabs and walls. Makes you want to caulk the s**t out of that space in your own house, doesn't it?
Below isthe view from the other side. Notice that there is absolutely no cabinet, nor, more importantly, countertop on either side of the range. Also, where my dad is standing, where the new doorway is, used to be the site of the refrigerator that wouldn't fit in the old fridge space. So, yes, when you walked in the back door, you were faced square-on by the side of a giant appliance, which you then had to squeeze past to gain access. (And no, my dad is not beating my ds, they were only playing around!)
Disregard all the spackle. That was due to blocking in what used to be a doorway, next to the range,and openingthe new one, right before kitchen demo began in March.
That's it for mine. I'm sure there are worse. Now, if I had managed to find the "true" before pics, with dreadful black/greasy/nicotine stained yellow checkerboard wallpaper, that might have been another story!
Here's my entry for Worst Before Kitchen. Smallest, worst layout, bad appliances...
This building was built in the early 60's and I don't think any of the previous owners did anything to this kitchen other than slap another coat of glossy cream paint on (and it's everywhere--the ceiling, the walls, the cabinets are ALL glossy cream). Hard to take take photos of a 7'x7' box, but I tried:
Here you can see the ultra fabulous pink oven (no room for a cookie sheet in that thing) and my poor Kitchenaid mixer that has to sit just outside the kichen because there's no room for him.
And here we have the other side of the kitchen with the hulking refrigerator (and my husband's love of magnets on full display). I feel like it's taking up half the kitchen--we'll be trading that in for a 24"wide x 24"deep model and there will be NO MAGNETS. The microwave is on top of it because that's the only place it would fit and only then with the cabinet doors open. It's adds a certain air of elegance....
View of the sink and only usable counter space (hidden by the fridge in above photo). When I need counter space to cook the dish drainer usually ends up on the living room floor--or in the bathtub in the case of our Christmas party:
And it's all crowned by the ugliest light fixture I've ever had the privilege of living with:
The electricity isn't up to code. There's some odd outlet on the back wall that's just been painted over. The linoleum is torn and faded. The oven is rusty. BUT it made this little apartment affordable and it's a heck of a lot better than the sixth floor walk up we used to rent!
LilithNS is officially the 1st place winner of the "Worst Before Kitchen" Contest!!! The prize is a 2005 Kitchen Catalog.
nycjenny and PaigeCT, thanks so much for playing, but you obviously have it better than you think! (Paige, I think we've already discussed your loser status!). Better luck with your worst kitchen next time!
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What a beautiful kitchen! You've come a long way from "Manilla".
I saw on your post that your cabinets are Adel. Are they Birch? Are the cabinet boxes wood too, or a melamine or thermofoil finish? Your countertops are beautiful, too. You note that they are Ikea. Are they the standard Ikea numerar or a formica or wilsonart laminate gotten through Ikea?
We are trying to decide on countertops, ahhhh too many choices always throws me off.
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,and type in (or copy/paste) the web address of your photograph. If you have any trouble with this process, email me--I'd be glad to help guide you through. 
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