The kitchen before the revamp

One of the major projects we tackled and completed in 2016 at Over the Mountain Guest Farm, was the revamp of our main kitchen.  We started in the beginning of July and completed it at the end of September. Except for the electrical work and the granite installation, Johnathan and I did all the work.

The old fireplace and cooking station

The major challenge of the revamp was the central fireplace or cooking station. It created a lot of dead space and was basically an eyesore in the middle of the kitchen. We contemplated removing it but it turned out to be the main chimney and roof support structure. That meant that we had to incorporate the structure into the new kitchen.

120+ year old Oregon Pine floorboards

We removed the rotten section of the Oregon Pine floor and replaced it with concrete. All the old tiles were removed from the rest of the floor and new Terracotta tiles with small blue inlays were used to replace them.

New Terracotta floor tile with blue inlays

The tongue and groove edges on the Oregon pine boards were removed and the planks cut and planed to a standard size. We used the planks to build the counter frames and shelves. The uprights we made from new SA pine.

Oregon Pine Framework

We used a plain white tile on the walls and added a cottage pane panel as a partition between the kitchen and the scullery.  A new gas stove with an electrical oven plus two additional ovens were also installed.

Cottage Pane divider

Rustenburg granite was used for all the counter tops and stone finish tiles were used to complete the new cooking station structure.  All the shelves we left open for ease of use.

The new kitchen after the Revamp

With this revamp we have managed to create much better workflow, dedicated food preparation, cooking and plating stations that allows a chef to do cooking demonstrations and guests to participate in the preparation of meals, when we do cooking experiences.