The Beginning

When we purchased The Hirsch House in Tucson, AZ the kitchen was a sad little space in between the original house (built in 1949) and the addition (built in the 60s). The opening from the kitchen into the dining room had a sliding "pocket door" that would close the room off. The kitchen had its own little water heater placed under the kitchen counter, its own swamp cooler (not working), and a very unfortunate tile counter made from the same tile as the floor. There was also a washer and dryer hookup and a very cool metal cabinet housing a mini clothes-drying rack and ironing board (we moved this into the laundry room we made in one of the spare bathrooms). We could never figure out how to turn on the overhead flourescent lights (shop lights, yuck!) because the wiring in the kitchen was so poorly installed and was all mixed up with outlets in the addition. We put up with inadequate lighting for a long time as we pondered what to do with the ceiling and cabinets.