We haven’t turned on the air conditioning yet. As bull-headed as I am about not cranking the heat during the winter, it’s the same with not cranking the air in the summer. I’m not sure how long I can hold out, though. Today was 94 degrees and tomorrow is forecast to be the same, but it is supposed to get cooler toward the weekend.
Anyway, once I do turn on the air, it seems senseless to have a hot stove or oven going. The kitchen heats up so quickly, and that means the dining room does, too. Deborah’s old house had the most genius thing in the entire world: an oven in the garage. She could cook a pizza and have all the heat stay out of the house. I have envied that for a long time, and thought several times about putting an apartment-sized oven in the basement. The trouble with that is getting an electrician to install the right outlet, so that dreams dies right there.
But….. we do have an entryway…..
Hmmmmm……
Yep. This is happening. I prototyped by putting the roaster out there and using it to cook the pretzel layer for the Sunday’s strawberry pretzel salad. I also put the crockpot out there for the meatballs. I cracked the windows and all was well!
Now that this seemed to be a do-able project, I cleaned out the entryway, brought up some of the random lumber from the basement to cobble together a work surface, and even bought a burner to cook noodles!
Let the easily-dismantled-in-the-fall-who-are-we-kidding-this-will-be-up-until-Christmas summer kitchen begin!
Brad says
Maybe at Christmas time, when that is all still there, you can delay turning on your heat even longer and that can be your warm room.
Karla says
When we moved into this house, the basement was ready for both a gas and electric dryer. Because we had a gas dryer, we had my dad put in an outlet for an electric oven on the 220 line and put my electric stove down there as the house had a gas stove in the kitchen. Anything that needs to be done on the stovetop is done in the kitchen. Anything that needs oven time is done in the basement. I haven’t used the kitchen for baking since 1999.
Deborah says
This is a great idea. My only difficulty when I had this arrangement was “out of sight; out of mind”. I would put something in the oven, walk back into the house, get distracted, forget to turn on the timer, and bad things would happen.
Lauren's dad says
Overloading circuits is a real danger, not only for the wiring (fire) but burning up the elements in the appliances. Ladies have burned up several roasters at the church when having two plugged into the same circuit.
Lloyd says
Not to worry. She only has one outlet :^)
Kristi says
It’s like a short-order cafe. Do we come in through the back door and sit at the counter while you whip up a tasty soup and sandwich?
Elaine Royuk says
Lloyd, you can come sleep at our house, we have the air on! 🙂
Jill says
HA!! That’s where I would be! Too hot for me! 🙂
Lloyd says
I thought you’d never ask…
Peggy says
Oh my…..I could not live without air-conditioning. No heat, no problem. But I do so HATE being hot. Blast that air right on me!
(And I assumed your pretzel salad was made with lettuce, but now seeing this picture…..what it more of a dessert type salad. Please share the other ingredients)
Rachel says
I will be coming to your door and ringing the bell to place my supper order. It will be a short ring for visit entry, and it will be a long ring for “I am here to place my order.” 🙂
Mom says
Trying to be a pioneer. To late, summer kitchens were invented years ago.