My Country Kitchen

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Home to roost. Connie Hoffa’s kitchen recalls her farm upbringing.

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The breakfast area, which leads to the outdoor kitchen, includes a grandfather clock and library cabinet displaying her depression glass and chicken collection.

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Dining in the outdoor kitchen often comes with its own entertainment, thanks to a lagoon and strategically placed bird feeders.

Coastal Charm

By Connie Hoffa, Okatie, South Carolina

Though it’s new, this kitchen pays homage to deep rural roots.

The Ohio beef and grain farm where I grew up is a long way from my kitchen today in South Carolina’s coastal Low Country—but only if you measure the distance in miles.

Unlike me, my husband was never a farm kid. I sometimes joke that Luke thinks milk comes from the corner store! But he must have liked the feel of that old farm, because when we retired and moved to Callawassie Island—it’s about 25 miles from Hilton Head Island—we built what’s known as a Low Country farmhouse. I thought our kitchen would be the perfect place to bring a little more rural feel back into my life.

As in my grandmothers’ time, the kitchen is the heart of our home. That’s true for us, too, because the kitchen opens both to the great room and also the screened porch, where we have an outdoor kitchen.

Living here, we get a lot of drop-in visitors and are always offering spur-of-the-moment dinner invites. This layout lets me keep up with the conversation in the great room even when I’m cooking.

Going Green

I chose soft green walls and antique heart pine flooring to further that cozy feeling. I like knowing that recycling 150-year-old wood saved some of today’s trees! Our warm, inviting natural cherry cabinets are set off with rustic hardware that looks aged, and granite countertops.

My dinnerware isn’t stored in the upper cabinets. Instead, deep drawers in the bottom cabinets hold my dishes, silverware, place mats and napkins, just steps away from the dinner table. Pots and pans are stored in similar drawers, mechanized to open or close automatically at the touch of a finger. I call them “sucker drawers,” and it’s wonderful never bumping into a half-open drawer.

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Connie stores dinnerware in deep drawers with rustic hardware.

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Chickens perch on a backsplash by the pot filler.

Connie and husband Luke enjoy entertaining. The kitchen, overlooking their great room and porch, is perfect for gatherings. The center island is equipped with a prep sink, disposal, ice maker, storage shelves and a lighted rack overhead.

Treasured Island

We wanted the island to stand out among the cabinets, so it’s maple, painted black with a distressed finish. Equipped with a prep sink, disposal and ice maker, it features a lighted pot rack overhead. I use the island for all my food prep and baking, and it’s handy for serving buffet-style meals to guests.

So are our six-burner cooktop stove and double ovens (one is a convection oven). The pot-filler faucet makes filling those big pasta pots with water a breeze.

I admit, I’ve been surprised by how often we’ve used the warming drawer! Luke had lobbied for it when we built the kitchen in 2006, and now I wouldn’t be without it. I wish I’d had one all those years when waiting for kids to come home from sport practices and events!

Our kids and six grandchildren all still live in Ohio, and we make the most of their visits. They really love our outdoor kitchen, which looks out over a golf course and a parklike setting with lagoon. Sometimes we see an alligator or two, but we almost always see birds flying and squirrels chasing each other.

Great Grilling

We use the outdoor kitchen year-round. We love to grill, since it’s such a healthy way to cook meat. The two burners alongside the grill are great for steaming fresh, locally caught shrimp. Best of all, a roof overhead means we never have a cookout spoiled by summer storms or too-strong sun!

Back inside, between the two kitchens, you’ll find the breakfast area with a plank-bottom chair from my dad’s mother’s kitchen, a grandfather clock and a library cabinet.

It holds my grandmothers’ china, my collection of depression glass and my glass chickens on baskets.

My parents started me on the chicken collection, and now these little cluckers add country whimsy throughout my kitchen. They peep over the top of my cabinets, too, amid the greenery and pots.

It’s wonderful to come home to our kitchen and our yellow Labrador, “Maggie,” after volunteering or golfing. And while I know this is a long way from the kitchens my grandmothers cooked in, it’s not at all hard for me to imagine them bustling about this comfy kitchen, making noodles, baking pies and nurturing the ones they loved.

 

Indoor Kitchen Floor Plan	Outdoor Kitchen Floor Plan
Click to see larger image of kitchen plan.	Click to see larger image of kitchen plan.