Our Canning Kitchen; Equipment; Tools; and 'Toys'

13 years ago

We have a separate building, about 30 feet from our kitchen door, that once housed a two-car garage and extra room. A major remodeling created a large sewing studio and bathroom (from the "garage") and a wonderful canning kitchen (from the extra room). Our canning kitchen and storage room are approximately 12' x 20' ... with the kitchen itself about 12' x 15'. In 2005 we had it created to our specifications: (Note that we were not legally allowed to create a full kitchen AND a full bathroom in this building, since we already had a second dwelling unit on our property -- a two-bedroom cottage -- and zoning only allows one additional dwelling unit other than our home. We settled for a full bathroom; finished the kitchen sans the gas cooktop; obtained our final inspection on the building permit; then installed the gas cooktop on the sly. Sshhh. Don't tell.)

Our Canning Kitchen consists of:

Bright room with large window over sink, and one half-glass door with screen/glass storm door; Overhead lights with fan; Linoleum flooring; Separate wall heater; "L" shape white kitchen upper and lower cabinets with tile counters and backsplash; Kohler porcelain sink (Lg and Sm sections) with sprayer faucets and Instant Hot Water; Built-in Dishwasher with Sanitizing setting; KitchenAid gas cooktop; Upright freezer; Upright refrigerator/freezer; Small worktable and chairs with seat cushions!; Cabinet to store jams, jellies, etc; and a TV and boombox. There's an open doorway to the sewing studio.

(There's an additional storage closet in the back of the kitchen -- 12' x 5' with shelves running the length. Dozens and dozens of clean, empty jars are stored there, all with Stretch-Tite plastic wrap over them, divided by size/mouth size. I also store my soapmaking and candlemaking supplies there, too.)

Equipment:

Two Mehu-Liisa steam juicers; Two Graniteware Boiling Water Bath kettles; Two Steam Canners; One Maslin (Preserving) pan; One Le Creuset Dutch oven; Set of Pyrex Clear Mixing Bowls plus more large bowls and two colanders ; Two Qt. Pyrex measuring cups; Two Norpro Cherry Pitters; Villaware Food Strainer; Vita-Mix blender; Excaliber Dehydrator (very soon); Oster Kitchen Center; Revere saucepans to heat lids and sugar water; Foodsaver and bags;

Supplies:

Lots of teatowels, potholders, and aprons; Drawers filled with extra lids, rings, pectin, pickling spices, mixes, etc; Cabinet with sugar, Splenda and Clear Jel; Drawers with spoons, tongs, ladles, thermometer, Sharpie pens, knives, plastic wrap, garbage and ziplock bags; Two large chopping boards; Binder with all manuals and instructions; Two Binders with favorite recipes in sheet protectors, categorized; Favorite canning cookbooks; Tubs and buckets for picking and sorting fruit; and, of course, all the cleaning supplies.

Some would say that a solid surface countertop and stainless steel sink would have been preferable -- but this kitchen is styled in an old fashioned way, so this is what I chose. The colors are pale olive green and white, with a black accent trim. The painted table (with drop leaf sides) and chairs once belonged to my grandparents and is definitely old. I have some reprints of 1909 paintings done of fruits introduced by Luther Burbank (I used to be a docent at his home/museum in Santa Rosa, California) and those are on the walls. And I have some old labels from fruit crates. It's just a very nice room that I enjoy spending time in, which is just as well, because you know how much time we spend taking care of food in the summer!

I should also mention that we have 150 fruit trees: 50+ cherries (Early Burlat, Montmorency, Lambert, Rainier, Hardy Giant, and Bing) Frost Peach (a Puget Sound regional variety); Plums (Methley, Italian Prune-Plum, Mirabelle, Beauty); Apricots (not doing well right now); Pears (Anjou, Bartlett, Comice, Bosc); Asian Pears (Shinko, Chojuro, Hosui); Apples (12 varieties); Walnuts; Blueberries (12 youngish plants - 4 varieties); Figs (2 young trees). We have the orchard area irrigated, and my husband enjoys mowing it weekly so it always appears well kept. Family and friends pick; we share; and we have plenty. Sometimes we allow u-pick of the extra cherries or plums, which are very plentiful. We don't spray; and we hire one fellow to do our pruning every year. Needless to say, we rarely leave town during the months of July through early October, though! We know we are very blessed, and we don't take anything for granted.

Kathy in Washington

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Comments (5)

pqtex
13 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Thank you for the description! I am renovating my old family homestead (1913), which had been unoccupied for over 20 years. I have a bright, airy kitchen, but it needs a lot of TLC, plus a wonderful pantry with a second double sink and an entire wall of floor-to-ceiling cabinets. I just started canning after I got married last year and my new husband planted a huge garden and is starting our own small orchard. We have a lot to do on the house before I can renovate the kitchen, but I'm keeping an eye towards gearing it for ease of canning. I wish I could see photos of your setup. It sounds so wonderful. I'm 56 years old and and this is all new to me. I've discovered that I really enjoy being in my kitchen. My husband added a small window A/C in the pantry and I have a ceiling fan in the kitchen, which has helped tremendously with the heat created by the canning. My central A/C just couldn't keep up. Of course, I'm in Texas, with summer averages in the mid to high 90's.

Jill
jonas302
13 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Thanks for the very nice decription I'm sure it will put ideas into other heads also(:
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User
13 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Pictures! We need some pictures! Sounds wonderful.
Emily Mathis
8 years ago
hi Kathy -- I posted a comment (not deleted) with interest in seeing photos, and then just clicked to your profile, only to learn that your husband has since passed away. I'm so very sorry.
thatcompostguy
8 years ago
That sounds a lot like what I did, only I lived in my little dwelling for 6 years and then "added on". I bought 8 acres of open land in 2003. Built a little 24x24 double car sized box with a 6x6 bathroom in one corner. Shower, no tub. Electric tankless water heater, because I knew I wouldn't be living there the rest of my life and didn't want to waste that electricity keeping water hot in the future. Along that wall, there is a full size washer and dryer, shop sink (deep plastic free standing), full size dishwasher with adjustable top shelf to fit quart jars, Jenn-Aire drop-in cooktop with down draft exhaust vent, and more counter space with a microwave sitting on it. I had a larger toaster oven that replaced the need for a full sized oven. I have a full size refrigerator and an upright freezer (that's in the big house now). The cabinetry is all raw unfinished oak and particle board stuff I got from Lowe's and hung or placed myself. Particle board/formica counter tops. Bought an old chemistry lab drawer cabinet and topped it with more counter top. That's my "island" sitting next to a couple of sets of 6 ft tall, 2'x4' metal frame shelves that separate the "living room" from the "kitchen". Separating the "living room" from the "bedroom" was a rack I built to hang clothes on. There's baseboard heat on 3 walls, and a through the wall AC/Heat combo unit mounted up high on the "living room" side. So half the structure is "wet" (bath/kitchen) and half is "dry" (living/bed). Had a little 13" TV sitting on top of a stereo. Two doors. 8 windows, ceiling fan, electric outlets mounted 4 feet high instead of 18" from the floor. I can actually see the outlets above the couch and not have to crawl around looking for them. Very nice! I hung all the insulation, the paneling (actually outdoor lapboard panels with a woodgrain finish that looks really nice, rustic, cabin type). I hung the cabinets, painted the concrete slab floor, the ceiling, trenched and buried 700 feet of water line, made the connections to the supply and the house, and hired everything else out. It had a 12x24 covered porch on the front, and a 12x24 pad on the back (in hopes of possibly adding a greenhouse type structure in the future (not yet)). Had a septic tank put in that was large enough to compensate for the little house and the future bigger house. Worked out very well!

In 2011, I added onto the front of the structure more carport, and a 3000 sqft house and use the original structure now for tool storage and canning. Bought lots of surplus office shelving cheap and use those for storing extra empty jars, full jars, tools, and other junk. Stereo is still there and I crank it up when I'm canning. So these are connected now by 36 feet of covered concrete pad (3 car carport). Metal roof covers everything. Vinyl siding, gutters. Quite happy with it all now. Quite happy I built the little house first. I couldn't afford the full house in 2005. So it all worked out.

Built a pole barn in 2010. Nice to park the tractors under. Want to channel the water to tanks to use for irrigation. Have two 40 ft storage containers on either side for dry storage of materials and tools that can stand the heat. Have another one out in the pasture with a bunch of my brother's stuff in it and another couple thousand canning jars. i struck it with someone on Craig's List one time and made an unbelievable deal, so I had to store them somewhere. :-) They keep getting more and more expensive, so maybe one day, I'll start selling some of them off. Lots of older jars that I'd never consider using. Lots I would. Still collecting... :-( :-)

Our Canning Kitchen; Equipment; Tools; and 'Toys'

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pqtex

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