Hell’s Kitchen

When we moved in, the kitchen was filthy. Of course, the refrigerator was a disaster, as already posted in the article “The Brotherhood of the Traveling Refrigerator.” Sides of cabinets were unsightly, with warping and peeling. The “pantry” doors were missing a knob, and they did not close without falling off the track. Every wire shelf was so caked with grimy dirt that they had to be violently scrubbed or replaced, along with replacing all of the broken wall fasteners.

Moving on to the kitchen sink, the faucet handle was just placed on top, not fastened. The owner had attempted all kinds of “plumbing” in the house, which caused leaks everywhere — under the kitchen sink, behind the refrigerator, along the dishwasher. As can be seen, there was so much leaking over the years that the fiberboard countertops were warped and flaking. Two of the cabinets in the kitchen could not be used — the warping was so bad that my bowls would just slide from the left or right down to the middle of the cabinet, and the smell of mold and mildew was onerous.

The bottom of the cabinets had make-shift boards that were crudely cut, and thus they were uneven. It can be seen that merely a squirt of glue was drawn across in a failed attempt to cover an unfinished and unsightly cabinet base; they were constantly falling off as seen here.

And don’t go under the kitchen sink!