Thursday, February 5, 2015

A New Kitchen . . . Appliance?

For a while now, my dear daughter has been bugging me to get some kind of a stereo unit for the kitchen so I can listen to music, an audio book or the radio when I'm working in the kitchen.

We have a small stereo unit in the living room that is coming up on 20-some years old.  It's so old that it even plays cassette tapes.  Well, it did until this past Christmas when that function went kaputz.  We still have the use of the CD player and radio (who knows how long they will last), but since it's too far away from the kitchen for me to hear it, I really needed something in the kitchen proper.

Our daughter, being the most electronically inclined one in the immediate family, did the "leg work" for us and researched out what she felt would be the best unit.  She was the one who first suggested an under-the-cabinet mounted unit, and that's what we got.

It arrived via UPS late Tuesday so she offered to install it last night after she finished her day job.  It was hinted that a glass of wine and dinner would be much appreciated to insure she did a good job, and we were more than happy to provide that.


We gathered together a few (?) tools before starting.  Note bottle of wine included for a smooth operation.


I emptied the bottom shelf of the cabinet and preliminary measurements were taken.


Taking drill in hand, she goes for it.  (Yes, we did raise a true Renaissance Woman.)


Sometimes four hands are better than two.  (Don't I look like a male cardinal in my outfit?)


Tucker was totally bored with the whole project and wished we would finish so he could just go home.


Sometimes you have to make like a contortionist to get at the right angle.


Papa Pea and Baby Pea checking the back-up battery for operation when the power goes off.  It was deader than a doornail.  A new one is on my shopping list. 


Here it is in all its installed glory.  My new Under Cabinet CD/MP3 Player!  I've had CDs and/or the radio going all day today, and I love it!

37 comments:

DFW said...

Love it! Plus it's nice & sleek. I walked into our garage the other night hearing music. I finally realized that I had stacked some boxes against our old (i.e. from our old kitchen cabinets that we had re-used in the garage & definitely not sleek) under cabinet station, accidentally turning it on. It's nice having music on in the background when you work. It's actually one of the times that I like classical (playing in the background). Yea for you!

Mama Pea said...

DFW - That incident in the garage could have been a little creepy if it was a voice coming over the radio rather than music! I had a "stress-buster" classical CD on tonight playing softly while we were eating dinner and my hubby commented on how pleasing it was. So, yes, some music does make really nice background music. I'm thinking I'm really going to enjoy this new unit!

Unknown said...

Good for you! And I love the antler and bells :) Your wall color is about the same as mine, nice and cheery! How's the snow???

Unknown said...

Curious, it's a Sony, what model? I'm thinking about something like that too...

Tami said...

Sweet!! I like that it's under the cabinet. BTW, you and I have the same counters or at least very close. (We have great taste, don't we? :)

Sue said...

I echo Nancy--I'd love some info on it.
I have a sort of "boom box" on my microwave. As long as all the appliances are revolting and dying in mass numbers, I'd love to actually replace something because I WANT to replace it.

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

Hubby installed one like that for me about 7 years ago. I love it, but the kids tend to turn it up very loud when they do dishes, ha ha! They can actually hook their ipods to it via a cord to play their own music. I love listening to jazz on a slow Sunday morning, while making breakfast. Looks great where you put yours.

Anonymous said...

I want one of those!-M

Carolyn said...

Now THAT is a great appliance! We've been going back & forth which kind of "new" stereo thinga-ma-bob to buy for like six years now. The one we originally thought we were going to get is now a dinosaur, so I guess procrastination is good (at least in electronics). Still undecided. Our "If we had a million bucks" stereo system would be one that had speakers throughout the house with that mp3 gizmo (although I do NOT want to be the one to have to transfer all those files from our CD's). Sooooo.....I'm thinking yours looks like a good idea for now, until our 20+ year old finally bites the dust.

Now get back in the kitchen and start cooking 'n jamming!

Mollie said...

Nice! Glad your time in the kitchen has been upgraded!! And what's the brand? I need a new under-the-counter one. Mine is just a radio and iffy at that. Enjoy!!

Mama Pea said...

Him, Nancy - The antler is actually a bottle cap opener, made by a friend of ours! I love the color yellow or gold for any place I want to be cheery and chirky. How's the snow, you ask? What snow? :o( We did get about 4-5" last week and we do have the forecast of more in the next couple of days. Still could use a lot more!

Mama Pea said...

It's called the Sony, FM/AM CD Kitchen Clock Radio, Model ICF-CDK50. Papa Pea, who is more aware of such than I says the sound is excellent considering it has just the speakers coming out of the bottom of the unit. We got ours from Amazon and it was under $100 including shipping.

Mama Pea said...

Tami, definitely great taste in counters but have you noticed how much you place on the counter blends in and disappears?? We had to move the under-the-cabinet light over after we installed the stereo and last night during the operation, we "lost" two screws on the counter and had to find them by feel 'cause they blended in to the colors of the counter so well they were all but invisible!

Mama Pea said...

Sue - That would be a novel idea . . . to get a new appliance when you didn't HAVE to in a panic situation, eh? I think I wrote all the pertinent info in reply to Nancy's comment above. You're welcome! ;o)

Mama Pea said...

Thanks, Kristina. We can hook our Droids (that's as high-tech as we are right now) into it for listening to audio books. I have always loved to tune in on our Minnesota public radio station's classical music on Sunday mornings while making Sunday brunch. Jazz music wouldn't be bad either!

Mama Pea said...

Well, m'dear, Valentine's Day is coming . . . :o)

Mama Pea said...

Carolyn - When you and Paul do decide on a new stereo unit, please let us know because I know ours in the living room can't last much longer. It was a "lemon" to start with . . . we had to send it back to the factory TWICE in its early years so I'm very, very surprised it hasn't konked out on us completely before this.

And I have been cooking and jamming with this new unit! Before breakfast this morning I was jivin' along with Lionel Hampton (does that make me sound really, really old?) while making Rice Pudding and Deviled Eggs!

Mama Pea said...

Mollie - DEFINITELY upgraded, that's for sure. The unit's been going nearly all waking hours since being installed. All the pertinent info about this unit is in my reply to Nancy's comment above.

Lisa B said...

I always have music on in the kitchen. LN and I fight over stations. I can live w/o TV but not so sure on music.

Sandy Livesay said...

Mama Pea,

I love working in the kitchen however, while cooking, cleaning, or piddling I love to listen to music.

Turn that baby on and up!!!!
Congratulations on your new kitchen appliance.

Mama Pea said...

Lisa - You're like my daughter. She can't live without her music either . . . and her tastes run the gamut from classical to rock and roll. (You and LN play nice now when the conflicting musical tastes occur!)

Mama Pea said...

Sandy - I've got a big batch of dishes waiting for me in the kitchen and a CD of music from "Northern Exposure" that I'm gonna turn on and up!

Mama Pea said...

Lisa, my reply somehow got reshuffled . . . you'll find it down in the column a ways.

Susan said...

You go, Baby Pea! I don't have music in my kitchen, but I have it near my kitchen. It always alarms the dogs when I sing along....

Mama Pea said...

Susan - I have such a bad singing voice that it alarms ME when I sing along . . .

Anonymous said...

I have to have music going when working in the kitchen or cleaning. Lucky for me, my livingroom and kitchen are pretty open, I use Pandora or IHeart radio on the Roku.


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Entertainment Internet Hot Topics said...

i think music should not be in kitchen because if you listen music in kitchen then you can't concentrate on your work. i know well about that because i am working in a Kitchen Appliance manufacturers company and they did not allow us to listen music during our work time.