Brown's Country Kitchen dining room as they recently opened after a kitchen fire had it closed.

PORTERSVILLE — After five months and about $200,000 in work, Brown’s Country Kitchen is back serving customers.

It reopened Wednesday.

The restaurant on West Portersville Road had served breakfast lunch and dinner for about 35 years, but it closed following a fire on Dec. 7.

The fire started about 11 p.m. after it had closed for the night and was determined to be accidental.

The building was still structurally sound after the fire, but there was extensive damage to the kitchen.

The dining room and other areas had mainly smoke and water damage, said Harold Brown, who owns Country Kitchen with his wife Gretchen.

“Our kitchen and waitress area, we had to gut it down to the frame, new wiring, new heating, insulation the whole nine yards,” Brown said.

The dining room and banquet room were repainted and got new carpeting.

The damage from the fire was about $200,000. Contractors originally said the renovations would take six months, but they nearly wrapped up last week after five months, and the owners decided to reopen.

Country Kitchen employs 20 to 25 people most of whom are part time.

Its first day open was a busy one as many regular customers were eager to eat there again, Brown said.

“They’ve all returned. They are very loyal customers,” he said.