The New Coffee Bar

My Mom & Dad aren't real big coffee drinkers.  They enjoy hot tea.  We keep an assortment of teas when they come to visit.  Mom likes Raspberry Zinger.  Growing up, my Grandparents drank coffee.  I can remember spending the night at their house and waking up to the delicious smell of coffee percolating.  At my maternal grandparents, they drank Seaport Coffee Between Medium and Dark Roast.  At my paternal grandparents, it was Community Coffee Dark Roast.  Each had a distinctive aroma.  We would make what we'd call "coffee milk."  That's where you pour half a cup of coffee and half a cup of milk along with a couple of tablespoons of sugar.  It was so good!  At the end of the cup you'd hold the cup up to allow the not dissolved sugar to drip into your mouth.

My wife and I enjoy a cup (or three) of coffee.  I am in charge of making the coffee.  The coffee machine is near the stove and when I make it at night to set for the morning coffee, I find myself quite often incurring the wrath of my bride because I get in her way in the kitchen.  There's an old saying that says, "If you can't stand the heat, get outta the kitchen."  That became my goal in life, so I began on a project.

If you've read the blog for any time, you know I like re-purposing old things.  In fact, there's no joy like the joy of finding a use for something that you've set aside (for years) thinking that you might need it in the future.  Well, when we installed a ceiling fan in my office, we removed the old fixture and I set it aside for "later use."

Here's where things start coming together.  In our den we have an armoire where our TV and stereo sits.  We don't watch much TV and the armoire is a big bulky piece of furniture.  Perhaps we could move it to the kitchen and turn it into a coffee bar!  That's just what we did:

I hung the old fixture to the top of the armoire and screwed some plywood to the back.  Tricia picked out some rustic/vintage looking tile and we had it affixed to the plywood on the back.

And here is a shot of our new (old) coffee bar!:

It sits in our kitchen, welcoming coffee drinkers and has enabled me to abide on the outskirts of the kitchen away from the triangle work stations of the refrigerator, sink and stove.  Coffee is set to begin brewing at about 6 AM sharp tomorrow morning.  After morning milking, we'll sit and drink coffee and read the Bible.  It is a perfect way to start the day!