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While sorting through a pile of old photos, I recently discovered a couple of the kitchen in the government flat where Don and I lived when I first came to Australia (1983). We lived there about 4 years while saving money to build our own place. It was probably as comfortable as any place in Darwin, given the tropical climate, and the fact that almost no one had air conditioning at home. A romantic notion prevailed that louvers and breezes were enough to live comfortably. And they were, if all you did was lie in bed under a fan and drink iced tea all day.
We had four seasons… just not the traditional ones. The Dry Season was from June to August, the ‘build up’ was from September until whenever it started raining, usually about December or January. The Rainy Season, or Green Season as they now call it, was from whenever it started raining until it stopped, usually around March or April, after which the transition season was called the ‘Knock ‘em Downs’. Strong winds would blow, knocking down the grasses that had grown tall during the wet season. The flat was most comfortable in the ‘Dry’, but also quite pleasant if there was a proper ‘Wet’ and the humid breezes would blow through the louvers acting a bit like evaporative air conditioning… sort of.
The kitchen in the Smith Street flat was almost never cool, but I was young and in love. We had a toaster and when I arrived on the scene I bought a hand held mixer and eventually a food processor. And sometime early on, Don bought me a little rotating fan! That was it. We had no dishwasher or microwave or any other appliances. No place to put them anyway. The storage in the kitchen was not great and what was there was not efficient. But that kitchen was where I learned to cook.
The house we moved into after the flat was one we had built. It was a ‘high set’ house, built on poles, to catch the tropical breezes from the valley we overlooked. That is a romantic way of saying, again, we had no air conditioning, except for one small unit in our bedroom. We decided it would afford us a good night’s sleep when the overnight lows were hot and humid.
The kitchen in the house on Nudl Street was a big step up in the world. We had a dishwasher and a microwave! And soon, we had a baby! On the back of this photo I had written: “Barefoot. Pregnant. In the Kitchen. I have probably set the women’s movement back 20 years with this photo”!
There were a couple of other kitchens in between that one and the one we have now, but I somehow missed taking photos of them, too busy cooking, probably. One of them was nice, but small, the other, well, let’s just say you aren’t missing anything!
Three years ago, I finally got one of my dream kitchens (there are several). I spent over 100 hours planning and drawing. I measured each of the more important appliances and utensils, designing storage for what I had and how I wanted to use it. A place for every thing, and every thing in its place. This kitchen is a joy to use.
Is the food coming out of it any better than in that first little kitchen? I doubt it. It was all made with love. But the journey has been fun and rather tasty.
A wonderful record of progression. I love the bright kitchen you have now.Some bold colours really make things stand out rather than the muted shades I remember from the Fifties and Sixties..Ju’s last phase was also red hence me carrying on with the microwave ( I should probably rephrase that). But still the only dishwasher round here is me.
xxx Huge Hugs xxx
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I remember a couple of weeks ago when you bought your little red microwave and I thought ‘YES!’ I wondered if I would tire of the red when I first chose it, but three years on and I have not. X
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I think it’s the kitchens I remember most about the houses I’ve lived in. I love your before and after wife kitchen photos. I think to most of us a kitchen has to be not only functional but pleasing to the eye. Your 2010 red kitchen certainly is that, and I imagine after 100 hours of planning and drawing, it’s functional as well.
I can relate to your several dream kitchens. I love my old house and its old, mishmash kitchen but there are several other options I would aspire to should things ever change.
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You are right, a kitchen must be both functional and aesthetically pleasing, for me anyway. I would enjoy a Provencal style of kitchen if I had the right house for it, also an industrial style appeals to me. The current one was designed to suit the house as much as my aesthetic, but I do love it. For me the kitchen truly is the heart of the home.
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I Loved ‘barefoot, pregnant and in the kitchen’… how I remember that back-ache !!!!!
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Thank you Valerie. That photo was taken at 36 weeks, so yes, the backache was there!
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You may have learned to cook new and different things in that first kitchen but I know you were a fantastic cook before you arrived in Darwin. I love the photo of you 36 weeks pregnant.
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