Kitchen Knob-ination

Wow! are we ever fast! Just a day ago I was setting our goals for 2014, and here we are with one completed already!

When SWMBO saw that I had posted up that list, she made a detour on her way to the zoo and picked up the needed knobs at Lee Valley so that I could put new hardware on our kitchen cabinets. When we bought our house, the new kitchen came with shiny aluminium pulls on all the drawers and cupboards. They look good, but feel cheap. And well, I don't think they really 'go' with the rest of the kitchen. Exhibit A - the island:

Original cupboards & pulls with lazy dog

So I made a stop at Lee Valley on my way home from a workshop one day and picked up 2 of every living thing. I mean pull. I think I came home with around 30 drawer pulls to test. I prevailed upon my loving wife to enter and leave the kitchen 50 times as I tried various combinations and permutations of the different pulls in order to establish through a double-blind test which of the various pulls best suited our kitchen.

After a long night which involved much wine and whining, I arrived at the preferred design. It was a similar profile with a darker finish and slightly larger circumference pull. It has a heft that speaks of quality, and a look that goes well with the dark counter tops. Exhibit B - Old and new pull on upper cabinet with back splash in background:

Old on the right, new on the left. Backsplash on wall.

And from a little further back. Exhibit B.1 - Same as above, but from further back.

Old on the right, new on the left. Backsplash on wall,
black granite countetop, ceramic breadbasket and Dark and Stormy to Drink.

We put the new knobs on one cupboard and test drove them for a month before deciding that in fact these were an improvement to us. Then we decided to get the needed 36 pulls from Lee Valley the next time we drove by. Only one problem... we never drove by during business hours. So our kitchen looked like we had lost a set of knobs and replaced them with something different. It looked like that for months.

Until I published our 14 for 2014, and SWMBO drove past Lee Valley, and the elements came together. I present to you Exhibit C: The new knobs!!

Dammit Bernie, get out of the way!

I repeat. Exhibit C: The new knobs!!

All new knobs. Oooh Perty!

Old knobs for reference

Our daughter came home from a week away and walked into the kitchen. The first thing she noticed was... Not This! I guess it didn't make much difference after all!

Now the important bit. How to make your very own Dark and Stormy.

1. Put Ice in a glass. 
2. Add Rum (Mount Gay or Appletons in our house)
3. Add a little more rum
4. Add Jamaican Ginger Beer.
5. Stir & sip.

Mmmmmm Good Stuff!