A Baker Without A Kitchen

After much thought and prevarication, we’ve finally decided to bring our kitchen into the modern world. We’re expanding the workspace, improving the layout, and soon I’ll be baking away to my heart’s content, posting even more photo’s than normal on social media. But in the meantime, we’re living in chaos.

The cupboards and drawers were emptied over the weekend. Items that hadn’t seen daylight in years were retrieved from the darkest recesses. Some to be binned, others a pleasant surprise and will be used in future. Kitchen implements we were oblivious to owning were found. In some cases, we couldn’t even work out what they’d be used for. Over all, I’m sure there was more than double the amount of stuff either of us thought we owned.

The plan was to keep some logic to the kitchen emptying process, things would be boxed, labelled and neatly stacked. Inevitably, the reality is somewhat different. I’m perched on a sofa as I type, sharing it with piles of baking tins and mixing bowls, sitting in a room which feels like a poorly organised warehouse. Putting everything back will be interesting.

Fresh food supplies have been run down, as there’ll be no fridge or freezer for a few days. We’re without a cooker as well, so convenience eating looks as if it will have to be the order of the day.

The fitter and electrician have been here since first thing this morning and after a good start, it isn’t going so well now. 

Dismantling took no time at all. Fifty-year-old units were soon prised out as the kitchen was turned into an echoey shell. The problems started as soon as the electrician arrived. Apparently, our wiring is so old, he had to Google it to understand how the wiring colours equate to their modern equivalent. There were a few worrying moments when it looked as if the installation would have to be postponed. But after much head-scratching a plan has been devised, he’s going to completely rewire the kitchen, then we should be good to get going again.

How long this will add to things is all a bit vague at the moment. Occasionally one of them puts their head around the door to update me and I suppose eventually I’ll have to pluck up the courage and go and have a look. Although the noises I’m hearing aren’t encouraging me to do that.

But for now, I’m staying where I am. A baker without a kitchen. A viewer as opposed to a participant when Bake Off reaches German Week tonight.