Old-Fashioned Wisdom for Home and Kitchen
What time-honored “proverbs” or axioms did you hear growing up? We at Diamond Kitchen and Bath love the wisdom in whatever form it takes, and there’s more than a little wisdom — and even a touch of kitchen lore — in many of these. See for yourself!
“SHUT THE DOOR. WERE YOU BORN IN A BARN?”
Most of us heard this if we came in from the cold and didn’t close the outside door after ourselves! In houses without central heat, very common in our grandparents’ day, keeping doors and windows as snug as you could was especially important when the winter came. Those months would find the family gathered in the kitchen for all but sleeping hours; a wood or coal stove kept the room tolerably warm, in contrast to bedrooms where frequently on winter mornings, you’d wake to see your breath as steam in the air!
Today, even though our houses are a lot warmer than those old homesteads used to be, we all know the phenomenon of everyone gathering in the kitchen! That sentiment has even found its way onto kitchen décor, on plaques that say things like, “No matter where I feed my guests, it seems they like my kitchen best.” Is that the kind of kitchen you love? We at Diamond do, too. That’s why we take such pleasure in designing kitchens that are bright, airy, and welcoming, with plenty of workspace for everyone to “chip in” and seating places for easy conversation with the cook.
CARRYING OVER TO THE CITY
Lots of old sayings came from the time when many more of us lived on farms than do now. But even those of us who didn’t grow up on farms any doubt have heard things like:
“Don’t count your chickens before they’ve hatched.”
“Not counting chickens” is a cautionary note against assuming you’ve got something “in hand” when it’s a possibility, but not necessarily a certainty. We at Diamond liken that to estimates that aren’t based on real expectations — or that are overly optimistic in some other way. No matter how well you plan, a kitchen or bath remodel can bring unexpected complications, so be careful what you’re “promised” or “guaranteed” to have happened; sometimes, it just won’t.
“Those chickens will come home to roost.”
The chickens “coming home to roost” talks about the sure consequences of one’s actions; in modern vernacular, people about “karma,” or “what goes around, comes around.” At Diamond, we believe that solid materials, quality workmanship, and careful attention to client service “come home to roost” in the form of happy customers, recommendations, and repeat business. In those cases, we think the “chickens” are good news, indeed!
“That’s shutting the barn door after the horse is out.”
In contrast, trying to “shut the barn door after the horse is already out” can be compared to trying to make a customer happy after you’ve cut corners: using less-than-stellar materials, less-qualified labor, or rushing through jobs in order to meet unrealistic timelines. Kitchen disasters come from methods like this, and we at Diamond want no part of disasters… which is why we know how to avoid being in situations where we need “damage control.” If we do things right in the first place, we don’t have to worry about trying to get that horse back in the barn!
As more and more of us moved from the farm to the city, however, we hung onto these axioms and passed them on. The same goes true for kitchen sayings.
OUR FAVORITE KITCHEN SAYING?
“Too many cooks spoil the broth.”
Of course, you want your guests to feel at home “helping out” in your kitchen — so that’s not what we’re talking about here. What we at Diamond see all too often, however, is other kitchen and bath firms that “farm out” so much of the work that the customer’s needs get lost in translation, sometimes literally. You can start with a salesperson, who transfers you to a designer, who transfers you to an architect or someone else… and pretty soon, your order starts to sound like an old game of “telephone.” By the time your installers get a hold of your plan, it may bear little resemblance to your original wish list.
At Diamond Kitchen and Bath, however, we don’t believe in messing with your chosen “recipe.” Our people are with you every step of the way… as we’ve been with our customers since 1986. Come see the difference decades’ worth of hands-on kitchen wisdom can make for you!