I was planning to bump this today and move it down! :) Yes, I shared with one person, and got the rest planted today!

Wish I were close by.

Great progress! I love to see that other people have "tool drawers" during the remodel. Our corner cabinet is still the tool drawer! Can't wait to reclaim it. Since you said you are going to be shopping for the countertop I thought I'd pass along something I saw on TV once. The homeowner had granite for his desk, but he had a heat mat (probably like the radiant floor heat mats) placed under it so it wasn't so cold on his arms, etc. I thought that was kind of clever. Can't wait to see more progress! Looks great so far.

Thanks everyone. @aktillery & @grandmaof3, you hit the nail on the head - it's all too cluttered. Most of the money for our kitchen reno basically went to buy an extra 12" of width for that room, now I realize just how big an improvement it is to have more space and less stuff. We don't do shoes in the house mostly, and we've experimented with various schemes over the years to corral them. Stuffing the shoes in bins has worked okay until recently but my kids are crazy tall - the 10yo now wears men's sized shoes - and they're getting harder to jam in the bins. I don't love the look of the Ikea shoe cabinets but I'd be tempted to get one simply for the function, except it just doesn't work with the descending staircase wall. The step chests that @Annie posted are an interesting option to explore, hmm... I've been hunting for some shallow sideboard/console/buffet/hutch for that space between the door and the banquette. Then I'd probably dump the bench/shelves at the entry entirely. But I feel like it might look a little weird to have nothing there at all. @Annie, I don't need desk space - both kids have desks in their rooms that still go unused (early elementary, homework tends to be done at the kitchen table.) But I would like some kind of screen; sometimes it's the best way to lure them out of the living room where most of the TV watching goes on. And when we have friends over we tend to put the kids at the banquette and have adults in the dining room. Rationalization, but we have not managed screen-free parenting unfortunately! @Tibbrix, I've been stalking CL but I'm also sort of gunshy about the whole thing. And I can't decide whether I want something painted (and if so, what color) or stained. And of course I've been hunting around all the usual suspect stores/sites from PB onward. @daisychain, I've seen a few old chests used as sideboards, I need to explore this option more. Thanks for all your help. I'm going to keep hunting and maybe post some possibilities here...