This “Forever Kitchen” Has the Coolest, Most Organized Wall of Cabinets We’ve Ever Seen

Name: Holly Crumrine
Location: Lanse, Pennsylvania
How long have you cooked in this kitchen? Almost 5 years
How many people regularly eat together in your kitchen? 5

Holly Crumrine and her husband, Cody, had been living in an old farmhouse that her parents owned while they figured out where they wanted to start their family. After about three years of on-and-off looking, they found a perfect piece of property (a slice of old mining land in Lanse, Pennsylvania, the small town where Holly’s family lives) that they could build on. “Our closest neighbors are maybe a mile away,” Holly says of the land.

Holly was pregnant for the first time when they began the design phase and pregnant a second time when they finally moved in. One more son followed. (Say hi to Copper, 8, Simon, 6, and Whittaker, 4!) “Our family currently has five members, although last year we fostered two children and became seven,” she explains. “We wanted our house to be adaptable to stages of life, groups of people, and all sorts of different needs and uses. We also do home exchanges, so I like having our kitchen fully stocked for any number of guests.”  

Of all the rooms in the house, the kitchen is certainly one of the most adaptable. It’s also gorgeous, incredibly organized, and punctuated with sweet, personal touches. “I spent a lot of time designing my kitchen and the layout, deciding where to get cabinets, and how to make the counter,” Holly adds. (Spoiler: The cabinets are from IKEA!)

Holly says this is her forever kitchen, so we caught up with her to talk about it.

How do you know this is your forever kitchen?
We are as sure as anyone can be, mostly because of the time and money and effort put into the house. Ever since my husband and I got married, almost nine years ago, we planned on having a permanent home. My family has deep roots in this area, and we want to be a long-term part of our community. We designed our home and built it to grow with us. We did know that we wanted three children of our own and to maybe foster or adopt, so we planned for that.

Tell us more about how it will grow with you?
We planned for a large dining table [more on that later] so that we could grow as a family and host groups or families from our community (in a post-coronavirus world). In the last year, we fostered two children, making us a family of seven, and still had ample room to still have my parents over for dinner.

Neither our island nor dining table are spaces dedicated to a single task, but rather, are large, wide spaces that can be art or Play-Doh tables, science labs, cocktail bars, or anything else we may need as our family ages, changes, and grows. 

How did your previous kitchen influence your plans for this one?
I spend a lot of time in the kitchen. I homeschool the boys, which means I’m usually cooking two or three meals a day, and I knew I was going to want space. We were living in that old farmhouse before and I had a single two-foot counter. Now, we have a spacious center island, in addition to four feet or so of counter on either side of the sink.

Also, I don’t like working underneath cabinets, so there are no upper cabinets over my counters. I felt very strongly about that because the farmhouse had a lot of those and it was just too much.

What element of the kitchen are you most proud of?
My kitchen is very tidy and still highly functional, with a good flow to it. All of my appliances are hidden in full floor-to-ceiling cabinets, organized by type and surrounded by the food that goes along with them.

My stand mixer is on a sliding drawer behind doors so that I can close it when it’s mixing for a long time. My flour and sugar canisters, spices, and oils are just below. We keep our microwave behind doors, too, with our instant rice and dried beans next to it. It’s a clean look of white and wood, but a hidden arrangement of every chef’s needs. 

The microwave is on the bottom of three shelves inside — it’s at eye level and it’s plugged in. My 7-year-old can reach it on a stool.

Below that is our canned food with a canning organizer. It’s mostly canned beans and canned tomatoes. We are pretty plant-based and are ambitious with our garden, but it’s not very fruitful.

These cabinets are brilliant. Where’d you get them and how’d you plan them out?
I probably spent 20 hours with a kitchen designer trying to figure out which cabinets to buy. I did so much research and spent some serious time at IKEA before placing the order there. IKEA really did offer the look I wanted; they had clean, white cabinets, which were also half the price compared to other options.

What other unique features do you love about your kitchen?
The island is made of cherry trees that were cleared in order to build the house. On one side it has a waterfall effect, meaning the wood goes all the way down the side to the ground.

Let’s go back to that dining room table you mentioned.
My dad and I made it out of wood from cherry and oak trees that we cleared. He and I kind of figured it out together. We sanded it, sealed it, and filled in where there are cracks. It’s live edge, so the two large sides are not flat — they are the shape of the tree. All of the chairs around it are from yard sales or Goodwill.

It seems like you’re quite the baker?
I am more of a baker. I was making meringue cookies in high school. I make biscotti twice a week. We eat dinner at home every night, so I cook dinner also. But I had to do it in order to learn that I liked it. I cooked out of necessity before I really started to appreciate it.

If you look up on this top shelf, you’ll see the recipe book with my name on it that my granny made me. It has all of her recipes. She gave it to me at least 15 years ago.

What’s that box on the wall next to your cabinets?
It’s a desk that folds down. That’s my home office. It’s where I keep my laptop, write checks, and store schoolwork and stamps. We drilled a hole through the bottom for the laptop cord. I fold it up when I’m not using it. 

What can you tell us about the large cabinet behind the dining table?
There’s a funny story behind it, actually. It is a floor-to-ceiling cabinet that fits within just an inch of the ceiling. Friends of my parents used to own a store, and when it closed, they boarded it up with all of the furniture still inside. Then, about 20 years ago, kids were breaking in and vandalizing the store, so the owners asked friends to store or use whatever they could. My parents stored this piece, which held the cash register. When my parents were cleaning it out, they found $24,000 behind the register. My parents called our friends and said, “We have something to give you.”

What do you see when you look out your kitchen windows?
Our driveway. It’s about 1,000 feet long and I can see it through the woods. There’s a stream and a chicken coop to the right, and our garden is right below the windows. I should also add that our kitchen is super bright and usually gets great morning light.

Sounds like heaven. Thanks for sharing, Holly!