What I Wish I Had Known When I Became a Wife

Although we've only been married for a mere 15 months now, I feel like I have gained a new perspective than I did as a new bride. When we got back to Utah after the wedding/honeymoon, we had to make a lot of decisions on what to buy and what we really needed/wanted. Nearing 18 months, I look back on some of the things we bought and have regrets about some and can still smile about others.

Things Loved
1. Kitchen Aid. Okay we bought this with our own money a month before we got married. It's the classic white model but we love it....especially since it makes ice cream with our attachment!

2. Red decor- In our last apartment, we thought red was a pretty good look. It must be the cinder block or something but the red clock, place settings, towels, tea kettle and seat cushions (a Christmas present) look pretty awesome in our kitchen. Oh and a red fire extinguisher always adds a "cool" touch to the kitchen as well!

3. Corell dishware- Ceramic is kind of today's style. But it also chips pretty easily and is not always microwaveable. I wanted red dishware but not anything "red" that I saw. So we bought the same brand of dishware I grew up with. It has a thin red trim around the edge of the plates and bowls. So far, we have not lost a single dish yet!

Things Regretted
1. Silverware- Our first set of silverware (from Bed Bath and Beyond) was probably lower quality but we did not expect for it t start BENDING a week into owning it. After two weeks, we went back and spent more money on a much nicer set. Although it tends to scratch easily, it is MUCH higher quality. Who knew what an extra $15-$20 would do?

2. Bake ware- Let me just say almost all of which has been replaced or will be soon. I'm not sure what I was thinking with some of these items

• I bought a cooling rack that expands to be about 3 feet long--but it DOESN'T separate. I'm not sure if I believed it would when I bought it. But it is such a pain to clean, and so dang bulky that I hardly use it. And because it's impossible to dry, it already has rust on the hinges. Sure this will be great when I'm a mother and bake copious amounts of cookies for bake sales, lunches etc. But for just the two of us, Using 2 or 3 dinner plates works just fine to take the cookies off until I break and buy a more realistically sized one. 
• DARK cookie sheet- this one was probably my dumbest. It looked high quality so I didn't think it would affect the baking. 8 months later, I was going crazy and looking into better pans. I LOVE LOVE LOVE my air bake pans!
• Cake pans...well lets just say they weren't that high quality to begin with. They worked pretty well for a while. But too many soaks caused both to start rusting. We just purchased a Farberware one that is a tan color and so far, it's been great!

There have been a few other things that over time have lost their "fabulousness". My spice rack for example did not come with very many "helpful" spices. I've used more of the farmers market spices my sister Krystal bought for me than the ones that came in the spice rack. I mean if someone could tell me what coriander mustard seed and savory go on, that'd be helpful I guess. My canisters have also become useless. They worked great but the tabs to open and close them soon started to break. I think I just prefer to pull the 5 pound bag of flour/sugar from the cupboard each time. I've seen some red canisters that could replace what I have, but I always hesitate knowing I don't use what I have now....

Don't get me wrong, I am grateful we had thoughtful friends and family, and grateful that we've had the money to replace things as needed. But I have definitely learned that some "staple" kitchen gadgets and items are sometimes not all that necessary and eventually, just sit and collect dust.  (Yes dear, I admit the $25 tea kettle I said we "had to have" falls into this category...)