Funny, I discovered Portlandia just this past weekend (thanks to Netflix streaming) -- so this visual gave me a giggle.

It's beautiful, Leela!

Love your attitude.

You had me at the bathrobe slipper ensemble. Cozy!

Thank you for posting this. My kitchen looks nothing like the sleek, glamorous, well-decorated, brand new kitchens AT frequently posts. It's so refreshing to see a kitchen that is well loved and looks a lot like mine.

Your place reminds me of mine . I use my electric hot water pot more than anything. I have the same red le creuset pan. I drink a lot of tea and even have that kusmi tea. We moved in to this house about 6 months ago and are little by little working on the kitchen. We don't have any cabinets, except for one small one above the sink crammed with mugs, glasses, and tea strainers. Our kitchen is small and has 4 doorways. It even looks like we eat similar things.

You have a huge, what appears to be a two-room relatively modern kitchen with a window (!), and a good deal of cabinet and drawer space. I guess we always want more than we have but this kitchen looks more than fine to me. I'd love to have your imperfect kitchen.

This reminds me of this first house I bought in 1987 in Somerville, NJ. The same problem with multiple doors, no counters. We completely remodeled with semi custom cabinets. Tried to sell two and a half years later and lost our shirts. The moral of the story: sometimes leaving things the way they are and doing the best you can with what you have is a good thing. But at least I got some DIY experience from it.

Love it! Nice to see a kitchen that isn't styled down to the studs, yet is still tidy & inviting.

This kitchen is just like mine and I FANTASIZE daily and nightly about having a dishwasher, ha! Actually this kitchen is a lot bigger than mine and the floor isn't covered in toys, a-hem. This makes me feel better...

Such cheats! You put a cute set of robe and slippies in a picture and its darlin no matter what :) The lyric "If you can't be with the one you love honey, love the one you're with" applies to this. Nice bits of color cheer up corners and I always think a pile of clean dishes, shapes and colors.. are cute. Memory of the past nice dinner maybe and if your dishes are pretty it's like "still life, dish edition" Nice photo set.

LOL was my comment deleted? Um did I gush too much how much I love this?

Thought maybe it was a glitch..but yes my original comment appears to be deleted, so maybe the editors here should read entire comments before hitting the delete button.

Excellent! Love the drawers. Real people have real drawers.

We have a drawer of no return where you may find anything you might be looking for. If it ever fell out, it would break my foot.

This kitchen is bright and cute and real and full of soul, just like Leela!

There's a photo of a mason jar with a liquid soap pump on top in the full set of photos- I would love to know where to find something like that!

Wow, how refreshing... and a bit daring. Funny, it's such a normal kitchen, yet it almost comes across shocking amidst an internet sea of beautifully designed, perfectly drawer-organized, expensive (to me at least) kitchens. I'm hoping to steal the wooden spoon corral.

Thank you for posting this! It's nice to see kitchens that feel more lived-in once in a while. (Encouraging to renters like me with tiny, tiny, kitchens and zero budget to be reminded to be content with the space I have--even kitchens that are not "picture" perfect can still be perfect in other ways!).

I agree with the previous comments. So nice to see a real kitchen--which means not-magazine-ready, not-perfect. But functional and happy and loved by those cooking and eating and living in it.

I think pbsteele's thoughts are especially striking--my cabinets are a yellowy maple, too small, and have outdated hardware. I think about them every day and fantasize about how I'd change them. I would love white, bright, sleek-fronted cabinets. But these have served us well and since this isn't our forever house, their replacement would not balance out sell price, so we leave them as is. And are happy for that.

This is great. I can see how that layout would be "unruly" (good word) when cooking, but my biggest complaint about my kitchen, also a rental, is that it's tucked way in the back of the house with only two entry points...a long dark hall and the door to the backyard. We're looking to buy a house soon, and having a kitchen in the center of everything is a non-negotiable for me.

I have the same Le Creuset, but I'd be really grumpy if I had to get it down off the stove every time I used it, which is a ton.

Lastly, I love how well you've used your wall space. Thanks for sharing!

Here are several links to make-your-own versions, though I'm sure they are also available for purchase ready-made: http://pinterest.com/search/pins/?q=mason+jar+soap+dispenser

I also liked that mason jar soap dispenser. Just typed that in & came up with various DIY hits. Pretty easy --- I think the main issue would be finding a decent looking pump.

Thank you for sharing. Yes I agree, its nice to see a kitchened thats loved and used. I got my first le cresant red pan a month ago, I have been married 37 years. I love it, trying to get a few quality pieces also. We don't need designer kitchens to have it look nice function & be cozy.

I have a kitchen very similar to yours. After living without a dishwasher for nearly a year (family of 5) I broke down and bought a full size portable dishwasher off of CL. Bonus: it doubles as a kitchen island!

I love that you are enjoying your little kitchen. I have been married 40 years now and lived in a mobile home the first 5 years we were married. We had a tiny kitchen. It was actually a lot of fun to think up inexpensive little ways to make it homey. I used to do my dishes when my favorite tv show was on so it wasn't such a drudgery. Finally, we found one of those portable dishwashers that you roll around the floor. Those hanging wire baskets are always useful. I need to find mine again. Thank you for sharing.

Of course I love a kitchen that is just like mine! It's comforting to see it here; thanks for sharing.

cmerry sorry about that! None of us deleted it but it did indeed go away somehow. We've been doing some community upgrades and maybe it was casualty? Anyway, I restored it! :)

Thank you for having flowers on the counter such a pretty touch! I also love the hanging wooden utensils holder. Very funky.
Maybe AT can do more posts like this where those of us who have kitchens that are not Architectural Digest ready, but still work and are loved and given a personality with what we can are featured.

Leela - we are kitchen twins, I think. We rent in Portland, too - a 1941 house with NO improvements. Not even room for a fridge in the kitchen. Who cares?! 1/2 an acre to play with, kitchens in the back yard - and lots of organically grown produce year round! You learn to live with it. There are so many more important things than whether or not your kitchen looks like you dropped $50,000 on it this year. Bravo!

I love this tour so much. A Penelope Cruz/Cindy Crawford doppleganger keeping things real in her fuzzy robe and "imperfect" kitchen = charming, human, and inviting.

Any kitchen you cook in all the time is obviously perfect ;) very cute!

love all the answers! and i adore this kitchen--you can tell it is full of love and gets used all the time!

Love it! I think you can make any kitchen function as long as the tools are good (strong stove, fridge, sink,) and you know what to add to make it sing. I really enjoyed this - and her robe/slipper reminds me of my fav home wear style too ahaha!

I own my home, but this kitchen reminds me of ours. We can't afford to upgrade so put up with some similar inconveniences and find it charming nonetheless. I ALWAYS love seeing well-used pans. Thank you so much for not hiding those away. I see so many photos of kitchens with absolutely perfect pots and pans and wonder if they ever cook in there or whether they maybe have a housekeeper.

Ditto MissFifi. I love kitchens like this! They're inspiring because they speak to what kitchens are really about: food, people, love.

Your kitchen is a giant version of mine! Down to Le Creuset, the KitchenAid mixer, the defatted peanut butter in your cabinet, the jumbled plastic storage containers, the Trader Joe's items, etc.! And I, too, would love love love a dishwasher and all too often leave the dishes in the sink. Charming!

Love this kitchen! I have a small, dark, '70s era, galley kitchen, and try as I might to make it bright and cheery, I'd love having a kitchen like yours. All that light and extra room to move around makes me swoon!

This reminds me of kitchens in both my first rental apt. in Santa Monica, then a small home built in the 20's we owned in Altadena (CA). In the owned home we gradually but cheaply upgraded with paint--color can transform a room--new counter surfaces, etc. but never really renovated. Both kitchens had some nostalgic charm, but what I mostly loved was their sense of lived history.
We now live in a condo where we did a gut renovation--granite, custom cabinets--you know. It was a cheap 70's kitchen, so it had to be improved, but I sure miss my older places. You just don't need all that new designer flash. Even the cat thinks we made a mistake.

I was thinking the same thing! Is it hacked or something that can be bought? Also, it looks big enough to put some sort of island with some storage space, maybe from Ikea?

As someone who has seen you cook in that kitchen and has eaten in your kitchen, I will say this: You're so lucky to have so much space. I love your kitchen!
:)

Hallelujah! Thank you so much for posting this! This kitchen is lived in, beautiful and REAL. I live in a rental apartment with a teeny kitchen, one set of cabinets above the sink, no drawers, two tiny strips of countertop (an appropriated butcher block prep table/island sits right outside the kitchen door), and a grungy linoleum floor that never seems get quite as clean as i'd like it...and i love every ungainly inch of my space!

Hyperventilating, just a little bit .... How do you FIND anything?

Your kitchen looks familiar! My first rental, and the first two houses I owned! I finally have a "finished" kitchen-with _no_ storage! I agree with whomever posted about keeping the Le Crueset on top of the fridge-and the KitchenAid-that would make me cranky to have to get down all the time. Keep the Le Crueset on your stove top. That's what I do.

Like I always say, anything you touch, Leela, turns to gold! What a warm kitchen! Also love the colorful mat holding those flowers.

THANK YOU...for sharing this totally inviting, engaging and REAL, lived in kitchen! Isnt the warmth and genuine-ness of it exactly the FEELING we're all so seeking & spending a bazillion bucks TRYING to achieve?? Just...KEEP IT REAL folks...and KEEP ON AT...LOVE this kind of REALITY CHECK :)

Just love that a "real" kitchen is being featured. My own kitchen is similar and well-loved...but not granite-ized or stainless-steel-ized. Those things are fine, of course, but just having a kitchen where delightful, healthy food is created is always wonderful.
Thanks for this posting!

I've never actually been drawn to a kitchen that is larger than my entire apartment or is equipped w/shiny new expensive appliances I can't afford & possibly would avoid purchasing if I could. I love an imperfect kitchen! My eye is naturally drawn to them and how cozy and warm and filled w/love and great stories of wonderful meals for close friends/family. I love my kitchen and it's much smaller than yours but has just as much charm and warmth! Thank you so much for sharing!

A real kitchen with a real person that can cook accessible food....What a pleasure to see such un-manicured joy. I'll take this kitchen any day.

This must be the most universally loved Kitchn kitchen ever :) Let me add my praise to all of the above... and add that I ADORE that sink!! I am about to embark on a 1930s kitchen restoration (*not renovation*) and would love to include something similar, if I could find the space. The original cabinets... which I'm keeping... look a lot like yours.

This is actually my dream kitchen. I hate modern, sterile kitchens with seas of granite and stainless. Something like this would make me smile every time I walked into it, wonky doors and all! Congratulations on having a real, homey kitchen that looks like something our grandmothers used with pride.

Remember, those built in cabinets were a huge luxury back then. It wasn't until after WWII that kitchens moved that direction. Before that cabinets were built like furniture and made to be modular. What would our grandmother's mothers say if they saw the shiny, industrial kitchens of today? Haha

Edit: WWI

I LOVE seeing real, imperfectly perfect kitchens. Thank you for sharing!

I swear, that robe photo thumbnail was the best I've seen yet! Bold and totally hilarious.

--Annette in PDX
TwoWheelsAndALady.com

Add a dishwasher, and this is my ideal kitchen. Lovely!

I can see your kitchen is well used and when it is, it is very hard to keep it sparkling clean like a "new" kitchen would be. I learned a trick of how to clean the bottoms of those pots and pans and also the sides of them. I use oven cleaner along with a brillo pad and Comet or Ajax. You have to take them outside to do it though and I used to have a stove just like this one that was a booger to keep clean. I used Comet or Ajax and a brillo pad to get the burners cleaned. I used to have a floor like that one too and again, I'd use Comet or Ajax on the floor and a broom to scrub it as it was hard to come clean. If you can stand it, open your doors and window and use bleach on that floor. God knows you aren't gonna make it any worse. Your kitchen is efficent enough, but keeping it clean is a real chore....that's the down side of renting and not being able to upgrade or even replace things and we already know landlords rarely do much to rentals. Just thought I'd pass along those tricks I learned to see if it might help you.

Saw the thumbnail of you in your robe and had to check out the tour, not sure why I missed it the other day...

Love how you kept it real for the photo shoot. A great space with potential and am actually glad it remains largely original. The house looks to like it might be from the 30's, or 40's. This is the antitheses to the tiny NY kitchens we sometimes see size wise, but still imperfect in its vintage charm.

Though a bit larger spots of color will worm this room up even more, it's charming as it is.

However, I find those drawers a bit too jumbly, even for me but glad you didn't try to hide that in the photos.

There are many inspirations here, but I'm smitten with the wall-mounted cups to hold utensils. Brilliant!

Is that real old red linoleum with metal banding on that countertop? Or Formica? Either way, I like it a lot.

Thanks for this. I love it when KT shares real kitchens that are homey and hardworking. This is a lot like every kitchen I've ever had - all rentals. You find a way to make the space yours, mainly by using it.

I liked snooping on your pantry too. What's in the fridge?

This reminds me of the kitchen I had in my past studio apartment (except mine was super-duper small!). The cupboard doors look the same (mine were made out of metal, which I learned was a great place to post recipes out of the way while cooking/baking). We had literally 1 1/2' x 1 1/2' counter top space, so there was no way a person could cook/bake anything until the dishes were done! Sometimes we actually miss that little place! ;)

...Oh, and the countertops were exactly the same too...our kitchens were probbaly built around the same time! :)

Where did you get the wall-mounted white holders for your wooden utensils? Those would be super useful for my tiny kitchen, but I can't find them online. Thanks for the help!

What a breath of fresh air. No stainless steel, no granite, no Ikea cabinets. Finally a kitchen full of real inspiration for real apartment dwellers. That's what AT should be - all the time.