During visits to various Ontario country kitchens this summer, I've often been enthralled by the stories of how they came to be, how their disparate parts came together. My latest discovery tells the tale of how pieces of a city mansion came to reside beside a tranquil lake miles away.
The kitchen in question consumes one corner of a lovely little cottage that literally hugs the shore of Rice Lake. While it's tiny and built for one cook (or two who like to be cozy), it exudes major country charm.
A sun-lit window above the sink overlooks a rock garden bursting with violet, yellow and white blooms. A second larger window - which the owner jokingly calls the "take-out window" because it easily accommodates the passing of platters of food - offers a more shaded view of light-dappled trees, the lake shimmering to one side. The views are so calming and beautiful you'd be forgiven for not noticing right off what the kitchen itself has to offer.
The layout is efficient and original to the 85-year-old cottage except for the room's overall length, which was increased by the owners during a renovation 20 years ago when they completely gutted, rewired and replumbed the cottage.
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It's now a fairly long and narrow space with a compact U-shaped counter area at the window and sink end. A fridge and range dominate one long side between the "take-out window" and a side door, while the opposite side features spectacular reclaimed cabinetry.
This is where the pieces of that mansion come in. It was the late 1980s and a large, former single-family residence in Oshawa was being converted into a group home. Its kitchen cabinetry was offered for sale and, when spotted by the couple who had only recently purchased this Rice Lake cottage, quickly found a new home. Now a century old, the stately solid oak cabinets glow with the soft patina of age, their original hardware in perfect working order.
The owners had to cut the cabinetry down to fit its new, smaller-scale home, and installed it in sections, one of which includes a huge pantry with sliding-glass doors on the upper portion and enclosed cupboard space below.
The reclaimed cabinet installation is a perfect blend of practicality and easy-living aesthetics. For example, by keeping the sliding-glass doors in place on the largest pantry piece, which is the first section you see when you enter the kitchen, there's ample dust-free shelving for dishes and, because the doors are glass, it's easy for guests to find what they need to help with setting the table.
In the next section of cabinets, the one that forms the right-hand side of the U-shaped prep and cleanup area, the sliding doors were removed from the upper cabinets for easier access to the most frequently used kitchen supplies. Two rows of old brass sliding-door runners line the outer edges of the lowest cabinet shelf, adding texture and interest to that classic country kitchen feature - open, wall-hung shelving.
A second focal point sits opposite the glass-doored pantry and came with the cottage when the owners purchased it from a pair of elderly ladies. It's a solid-wood cupboard with companion wall-mounted shelf that dates to 1867, judging by the inscription carved into the side of one dove-tailed drawer. Formerly painted yellow, it was lovingly stripped and restored by a friend and frequent cottage visitor.
And I suspect this cottage gets many visitors grateful for a chance to unwind in such a peaceful and welcoming setting. Its kitchen alone exemplifies the axiom "form follows function" in the best of ways. It's designed to make kitchen chores uncomplicated and enjoyable.
To whit, no space is wasted. Narrow shelves line the walls above windows so that essential tools and supplies are within easy reach. The floor is a no-nonsense linoleum appropriately the colour of sun-kissed beach sand. The laminate countertop and painted walls form a continuous swath of unobtrusive creamy white, punctuated by the rich chocolate brown of multipaned windows and trim.
Newer lower cabinets forming the other two sides of the prep and cleanup U are also an unassuming white so as not to compete visually with the kitchen's treasured oak pieces. And pretty touches such as geranium-filled window boxes bring the outdoors in while cherished artwork, some hand-made by life-long friends and others collected on trips abroad, imbue the space with far-flung memories. This isn't a kitchen that's been "designed" within an inch of its life. It's a space that has grown organically over decades into what it is today, and that's both unrepeatable and irreplaceable.
