I will be the first to admit my kitchen is a total mess.

When I first moved in here, though, the kitchen was perhaps the worst feature of the house. Practically, it was eight feet long by ten feet wide. There were two useable cabinets in it. The countertop had been roughly cut with what seems to have been a chainsaw to change the location of the stove. One of the lower cabinets had been sacrificed to install the dishwasher. Of course, the original cabinet space was not the same as the dishwasher, so there was a bit of a gap at the side.

I have since then, over the period of years, changed some things. First, I tore apart an enormous pantry cabinet that had been hacked into a microwave stand with garbage storage underneath. The modifications were done by someone who was handy with the 2x4s and 4″ nails.

I made useful storage space in that location but have since changed it again. The laundry “room” had been located at that end of the kitchen and I wanted to make it its own space, so I isolated it by building a wall.

Having changed my plans a number of times, that wall is not complete. I can’t decide on whether it should have a door or just an opening.

Anyway, that made an additional wall for cabinets. But I could only put uppers, since I refuse to do anything with the lower cabinets until I get back to the outside of the house to change the window above the sink and redo the siding. The lower cabinets also require redoing some plumbing. I must admit, I just don’t like messing with pipes.

Anyway, I made a number of taller cabinets. One I mentioned before, I made too big to get out of my workshop (located in the basement) so i had to cut it in half. That still shows signs of that butchery.

I tore down a wall and made the kitchen extend into the dining room, which was actually too small to have a table of any size. The dining room was adjacent to an addition that had been built to house a hot tub. The hot tub is no more, and I opened the wall into that space as well. So, now the “kitchen” is effectively 24 feet long.

And that last step left me mystified as to what to do next. Going from too little space to suddenly big open space would seem to encourage the imagination and inspire one to great things. Well, funny enough, it didn’t.

So, the kitchen has been sitting idle for some time. It’s filled with things done halfway and things that are actually temporary. I’m getting so accustomed to it, though, its halfway design is becoming permanently etched in my mind. So, soon I must start changing things again before I start to see it as acceptable.

However, there will be no granite countertops. There will be no marble floors. There will be no fancy mechanical rotating pseudo torture device cabinet installations or mystifying transforming thingamajigs. There will be cabinet doors one day, I promise, but they will be utilitarian and painted white.

I will overcome the obstacle. I’m pretty sure I am the obstacle. Money is no obstacle, because I have no money to spend on it.

In the meantime, I can cook anything I want in there and currently have almost 20 times as much cabinet space as when I moved in. So, while it looks like it’s under construction, it is still fully functional.

Someday, though, I will start with an actual plan for something and follow through.