Posted in Homestead Kitchen

Connie's Beverage Center

When we moved to Ash Lane Farm, we found a square hole in the kitchen wall.  , It looked like this was where the old refrigerator might have been.  Everyone told us to put our fridge there so it wouldnÂ’t be in the way.  Our modern fridge is too tall and too wide to fit, so that was out.  Now what do we do?  Put a curtain on it, make shelves for storage?  I was all for that!  Sounded great; a shelf area for my canned goods.

But first, we were having an open house and ended up sleeping 19 (including us) and feeding 23!  I LOVE having a big, sprawling house!  It didnÂ’t feel crowded at all!  So, in preparation, I put a small table in the opening hole to put the coffee pot, cream, sugar and cups.  It fit nicely there; out of the way.  But Norm didnÂ’t like the table there, so he came in with some wood (he has 3 lifetimeÂ’s worth here), screws and screw gun and made a shelf for my coffee pot and accessories.

Now, THIS was cool!  So after the open house, we kept the table there.  Meggie,our Shetland sheepdog claimed the bottom for her cave.  Our creative wheels began to whirl.  The shelf was too deep, as it was as deep as a refrigerator and we ended up with junk in the back.  Now, I am a junk collector and proud of it, but I swore to myself that THIS house would NOT have junk lying around.  It was so big that there would be a place for everything and everything would BE in its place! 

Conversations took place over the space of a year; plans took shape.  The opening was to be narrowed in to half its depth and the back would eventually be opened in the pantry behind the kitchen and shelves put there for my gallon jars full of non-freezable goods. 

So, when brother-in-law was here this fall before NormÂ’s neck accident, they found a piece of wainscoating, put it in to make the back wall, trimmed a bit, and then put up the cup holders that friend and blacksmith, Wally had made for me.  TA DAH!  There are two iron rods attached by ‘bootÂ’ brackets to the wall.  Both brackets and rods are hand forged.  The holders are made by bending heavy copper wire to hold the cups.  I have seven holders, but Norm is going to make two more to fill the extra room and one more on each row would not be too crowded and would hold some of my mug collection.

A little paint and then someday, framed in to match the old-style window frames I want all over the place. 

My beverage center!!  And I love it!!  Holds the coffee pot, cups, tea bags, spoons, sugar, splenda, honey, and hot chocolate mix.  What more can a gal want?