Country kitchen conversion gives heart to home

By Brenda Rader Mross
North Forty News

When she isn't working outside with critters or inside her at-home hair salon with clients, this woman is happy that her place is in the kitchen, especially since the kitchen in her place has been so tastefully remodeled.

Gina Linde and her 14-year-old daughter Jane live at the corner of North County Road 15 and West County Road 66E where they share 10 acres with nine goats, 30 chickens, three dogs, one cat and a pot-bellied pig that Linde jokes is as old as the house, built in 1985.

The exterior of the Lindes' house is styled to resemble a classic red barn. The interior has an eclectic, designer feel, but most of the decor consists of one-of-a-kind family heirlooms.

It's no cliché that the kitchen is the heart of the Linde home. In addition to being the first room guests see after entering, the kitchen is also where mom and daughter spend most of their time.

It used to be a lot of that time involved maneuvering around a refrigerator that inconveniently stuck out on a wall "all by itself."

"The remodeling was really Pete's idea," said Linde, noting the kitchen overhaul had nothing to do with the couple's divorce a couple of years ago. "My auntie died and left me some money which allowed us to think about what we really wanted to do."

Linde said they agreed that updating the kitchen was a "necessary luxury" which would greatly increase the value of the house. Interviewing kitchen consultants and "budget-minded idea shopping" took about six months - worthwhile time.

"We knew exactly what we wanted," Linde said of the process.

They chose High Craft Builders of Fort Collins to head up the project. The company hired individual contractors to work with its on-site representative four days a week over the next three months. Even - and maybe especially - with someone else doing the labor, Linde cautioned to always expect the unexpected.

The Lindes gutted the old kitchen themselves.

"Pete had it done like that," Gina snapped her fingers. "Then--wouldn't you know it--it sat empty for at least a week."

Linde recommended attending several home and garden shows, as well as playing with computer programs that allow homeowners to try out concepts "virtual style."

"Pete was the grounded one," Linde remembered. "He asked me, 'What don't you like about the kitchen?' Immediately, I thought about the fridge, about how the counter was too short, and that we don't have a dining room."

What was purported to be a dining room when the Lindes bought the house back in 1992 is now an efficient office space off the kitchen where mother-daughter computers sit side by side.

Even after the three-month, summer-long renovation, the Lindes remain without a separate dining room but by choice.

"We don't miss it," claimed Linde, as she gestured to the 9-foot marble slab built atop an old wooden gate and incorporated into the continuous countertop. In the gray granite, there are visible veins and specks of peach, white, salmon, yellow and burgundy. Linde picked up on the salmon color and added it to the walls. The color makes the cherry wood cabinetry "pop," as does the tin wainscoting.

"That I had seen at the old Uptown Rubber Stamp store when they were still open downtown," Linde explained.

The tin backsplash ties it all together and accents the deep corner sink with its pull-out hot water spigot. Behind the sink roost a couple of metal chickens, gifts from Linde's mother. To the left is a stainless steel dish rack upon which Linde has perched a fish trivet, making it appear all the more striking. The cabinet door on the right boasts a beautiful piece of "peek-a-boo" art glass. Underlights are affixed to the bottom of several cabinets.

The 3-by-5-foot center island was also a gift from Linde's mom and not part of the remodel, nor was the Pergo flooring.

Linde's favorite feature is the built-in stainless steel refrigerator, followed closely by the raised dishwasher and counter-height microwave. The gas stove is vented outside.

"To have all matching appliances all at the same time," Linde marveled, "I felt like a millionaire when we bought them."

Linde admitted the flipside was that it was hard to not want to keep spending money even after the project was completed and the inheritance "gone." While she declined to divulge actual costs, Linde said she had no regrets and wouldn't hesitate to recreate "Aunt Leigh's Memorial Kitchen" again in a moment.

"It was an important thing to do," Linde stated. "We spend a lot of time in the kitchen, and it needed updating."

All was not paradise during the actual work phase, of course.

"Living so far away from town," Linde recalled, "we still ate meals here. I prepared most of the food out on the deck or in the garage, and used the microwave and hot plate by the foot of the stairs a lot. I had three tubs and a hose set up outside for washing dishes."

A huge piece of plastic separated the 500-square feet kitchen area from the rest of the house, which Linde said helped with the dust and perhaps helped psychologically, but still she acknowledged the project was "more than challenging."

The renovation was more complicated than some because the Lindes also redid the front entryway and mudroom at the same time.

Come Thanksgiving--after the traditional Waverly walk Linde started more than a dozen years ago--as neighbors stand in Linde's kitchen sharing hot cider and pastries and swapping stories and memories, there will no doubt be an abundance of gratitude.

"I can't think of a better way to honor Auntie Leigh," Linde said as she glanced around her beautiful kitchen, "or of any place I'd rather be."

Isn't that the whole idea: that women--and men--find their right place?