A funny thing happened on the way to the kitchen

My husband and I remodeled our kitchen early spring. When we bought the house more than four years ago, the first thing we wanted to renovate was the kitchen. At the time, the house was 23 years old, and I imagine the kitchen hadn't been updated during those two decades. But after plopping down all of our available cash for the down payment and closing costs, little was left for a kitchen remodel.

So, we painted the dark oak-colored cabinets cream to brighten the space, painted the cream walls khaki and my lovely father came from Memphis to rip out the vinyl floor and lay ceramic tile. Back then, that's all we could afford - a can of paint and some free labor!

But four years later, after painting nearly every room in our three-bedroom house, installing decorative baseboard and transforming a half bath/laundry room to a spa-like full bath, we were ready to tackle the kitchen.

Everyone says when company's over they congregate in the kitchen, and it's true. We love to entertain, and even in the ugliest kitchens, people still gather there. We couldn't wait to have a designer space to showcase. And we also love to cook. I record shows on the Food Network. And my husband likes to experiment with recipes. He'll just go to grocery store, buy a bunch of random ingredients and create a meal. Before the remodel, we were alternating weeks cooking with the understanding that if it's your week to cook, the other would do the dishes, which was big, considering we didn't have a dishwasher.

But since the new kitchen, which has contemporary cherry-wood cabinets stained mahogany, (some with glass fronts) staggered throughout the space for effect, and stainless steel appliances, including a dishwasher (yea!), there's been no interest in using our kitchen.

The kitchen was completed the second week of May and since then, we've probably turned on the stove five times and the oven even less than that. The new cafe table's been used once. For two people who love to cook and were dreaming about a new kitchen for four years, we don't know how to act now that we have one.