The kitchen is recently renovated, and there's not a thing for us to improve. It is just one of the many reasons why we put a no-contingency offer on the condo on the spot, and bled a million ulcers over a weekend while waiting for a response. We had also waived a house inspection, and while that is usually a dangerous practice, we JUST HAD TO HAVE IT and would have waged any kind of war to get it.

Our battle leader was the realtor who sold our house for us, and our partnership was a marriage made in heaven. In a shitty real estate market he sold our house in 4 days, and when helping us buy a place, he was practically at our beck and call. Not only did he find the listing to this property before it hit the main public wires - weekly real estate publications, Sunday papers and the like - he immediately set up a viewing, then drove over to our house to pick us up, checked the unit with an inspector's cool eye while we oo'd and ah'd over the aesthetics (he flips houses on the side, so that, plus being a realtor for 30 years, we knew that he knew what to look for), and KABAM! We had the offer in place within an hour.

The exposed brick is one of my favorite features in the kitchen. It was like a good-to-have-totally-not-expecting-to-get.

There were some more finagling of the terms to insure that the Open House scheduled for the following Sunday would not happen. It was like life or death to have the sellers accept our offer as soon as possible, before somebody else came in with the same visceral reaction as ours. We were foaming at the mouth. While the bidding war was loads of fun when selling our house, it sucks to be on the other side. To be avoided at all costs. And at the end of the day, we're pretty sure we were the only people who saw the property. THANK GOD.

Duck and I had this system that if we had an immediate, positive reaction to a property, we'd give the other's hand a little squeeze, We wanted to appear calm and unmoving in front of the selling realtor. When we stepped into the kitchen though, my pupils dilated with the sudden surge of adrenalin, and I might have crushed a few bones in Duck's hand.

The kitchen is large, spacious, full of light, both natural and artificial. There are like a dozen light switches on the walls - one that flips the track lighting, one that flips the right-side recessed lighting, one that flips the left-side, one that flips the light fixture directly over the dining table, one that flips the lighting underneath the cabinets, inside the cabinets, one that flips the lighting above the shelving, one that turns on that sexy aviator fan above. We're still trying to figure what switches what. There's a lot going on here, but it makes up for the living room which has no lighting whatsoever.

The kitchen is also full of brand-new appliances and fixtures that I never knew I wanted but now can't live without. HAI Viking gas stove!!! Everything that's affixed to the walls are barely a year old. I never would have gone for black cabinets, but with the white tiles it take on a bit of a Parisian bistro feel. I love that, plus the amber glass knobs are an interesting touch. The beige granite countertop is not quite as nice as the gleaming black granite we had in our old kitchen, but that's ok, it's still granite. The floors that I had at first (disdainful) glance mistaken as a laminate is actually cork. When I realized that the top of my head blew right off. It's something I never ever would have thought of if I were to redo a kitchen.

Nice shelving: shelves on the walls and in the roomy pantry where we store extra foodstuffs, recycling, and a year's worth of cat pooping and eating supplies.

There's the professional-grade shelving units to place all my pots and pans, built-in shelving for the cookbooks and sundries, and of course, the gas stove which I love more than rainbows. I cook a lot more now than ever. I put on my apron, get out my knives and saucepans, stuff my bra with socks and voila! Just like Giada!

The kitchen is everyon's favorite hangout spot.

We never thought we'd get to have so nice of a kitchen. I'm still in the process of trying to not feel like I'm living in someone else's house. Living here is a little like playing grown-up.

One more thing I want to share (all this sharing is so nice for a change!). Several weeks ago we received one of those local real estate postcards advertising a recent sale in the area and the agent responsible for it. My brain nearly ate itself trying to figure out how it was that my kitchen came in the mail!

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