Kitchen Downsizing

Faced with the prospect of moving to a smaller kitchen (gasp!), Khalil ponders thinning his kitchen collection.

By Khalil Hymore

Moving can be a very emotional task, especially so when you are purchasing your first home. After you have found the place, which can take months--or well over a year (as was the case for Scott and me), you then have to negotiate a price, secure a mortgage, and figure out the moving process. Once you navigate the stress of all of that, you must then contend with leaving behind a home where you have been happy for so many years, which can be quite sad. Or at least it is for me, because Scott and I are also moving away from my sister (and part-time WEtv.com blogger), Ashley.

So it has taken over a year of searching, but Scott and I have finally found an apartment we love and we are moving next week. This is super exciting and super scary! We have been very happy in our rental apartment in Astoria, Queens in New York City, and though we are excited to move into our first home together it feels a bit bittersweet. My biggest dilemma is the kitchen. Since Scott and I are downsizing to a one bedroom with a galley kitchen it means that I have to part with some of my beloved kitchen possessions.

But what to keep and what to toss?

If it were up to me I'd keep everything. The pack rat gene runs quite strongly in my family. Anyway, I have loads of kitchen tools. Most of them I only use occasionally--like the egg poacher (I usually poach my eggs in simmering water), many of my tart pans (you never know when you'll need a 13- by 4-inch tart pan), or my ice cream maker (why bother when Häagen-Dazs makes WAY better ice cream than I can?). I guess the problem with many of my kitchen gadgets is that I like the idea of owning them more than I actually enjoy using them. Plus, there is always the off chance that I might need them.

The truth is that it doesn't matter what you collect, chances are you collect it because it is deeply personal and speaks to who you are as a person, and giving them up is extremely difficult. It's ironic actually, because I think that all of this kitchen stuff is what makes me a good chef. It's not. Most restaurant chefs carry simple knife rolls (I have one of those too!) containing minimal amounts of tools--various knives, a vegetable peeler, a thermometer, and maybe a mandolin. That's it! Hard core chefs must improvise when they do not have a specific gadget or tool. So what to do? Well, I am not getting rid of my tart shells or ice cream maker (like I said, you never know?) but the egg poacher is toast.

As the packing around our apartment continues, and as more and more of my kitchen tools get packed into boxes, I find that dinnertime has become more of a chore. Now we're playing the game of "what can I make with what's left in the pantry?" Of course, making these dishes, as simple as they are, still require a bunch of my kitchen tools. So, I'll give it my best shot, but I think most of the downsizing is going to have to happen in other parts of the apartment!