The Miracle of the Kitchen Cupboards, Part 1

It was 1980 and we were moving into our new house on Diamond Springs Drive, north of Lincoln Road. Even though it wasn’t finished, the house was an improvement over the 10 x 55 ft. Kit trailer we had lived in. But it didn’t have any kitchen cupboards, or any finished cupboards period. The floors were concrete which we had painted with a floor paint. The paint made it possible for us to be able to sweep the floors more easily and to prevent concrete dust from sweeping up every time we swept.

Over the next year, Wilbur did extra jobs after work and on Saturdays. This extra money allowed us scrape together enough to have carpets installed, but kitchen cupboards were far and away too costly. Having kitchen cupboards was about as possible for us as a second home in the Bahamas.

About a week after we moved into the house, lightening struck our well and fried the pump. A new pump was $1000. We had no money to pay for a new one, so Pacific Hide and Fur allowed us to purchase one on credit if we paid it off in a month. Paying off the new pump took all our money, so I had no money for groceries. We ate chicken pot pie almost every day for a month until we could shop again. Fortunately, Wilbur likes chicken pot pie.

Since I had no cupboards, I had shelves in my kitchen built with block and boards. I stacked food, pans, dishes and other cooking supplies on the block and board shelves. My kitchen sink was from my parents’ old house on Third Street. They had remodeled their kitchen in the early 1960’s and had removed the old cast iron sink. Being of the generation that survived the Great Depression, they didn't throw things away. My parents had stored the old sink in their basement. They allowed us to have it since we had no money to buy a new one.

I lived without kitchen cupboards for almost two years. It wasn’t easy for me, though. The kitchen always looked cluttered and messy. Once we had the missionaries for dinner. One elder didn’t make any secret of the fact that he was appalled by our house and didn’t want to be our guest. The worst part was when I found mouse droppings in the package of spaghetti I had sitting on my board shelf. To be continued.....