The bottom line is this is a good idea. Olpea has some reality checks but I think as a community project it is good. I personally have been working with an antique orchard here in Seattle where the fruit is publicly picked both by passersby and by the ones who take care of the orchard and we use this fruit for our Harvest Festival. I have found that I can even enlist passersby to help sanitize the orchard (throwing away fallen apples) and to put on foot sox in the Spring. However, the fact is that when it comes to "divvying up the booty" at Harvest time it does become somewhat problematic....the "law of the commons" can work...but only to a point. www.pipersorchard.org My suggestion is to ask for volunteer donations from people who do not have to have a certain return in terms of the fruit they hope to get but are more interested in just giving their time and money away with the hopes of making the community better and getting an education. If they happen to get some fruit from it, so much the better. (Another organization I work with is also involved in this sort of thing and we would be interested in hearing your results: www.cityfruit.org)

I think it's a great idea when you have the space. Especially since it seems to be a regular kitchen activity for you. I have an upright freezer in my laundry room, steps away from my all-fridge in my kitchen. We, also, eat a lot of fresh produce and the average fridge couldn't accommodate it all well and we had the freezing problem, too. So glad that doesn't happen anymore! I want to put drawers or small fridge in an area that we'd use as our beverage center to keep the rest of the family out of my work area, so I think your plan is stellar!

katie- I am mostly responding to the concerns in your other thread here. First of all, I certainly emphasize with the strain of not being able to figure out how to make the layout work, or how to hire the people you need when budget is a concern. We have been *thinking of* doing our kitchen for seven years while we try to figure it out! In terms of your stress level, I would encourage you to think about whether it is the actual kitchen condition that is causing you stress, or it is the project that is causing you stress...in which case it might be best to sit back and try to make your kitchen workable so that you have a little breathing room. Trying to just get it done may end up costing more to get less of what you want. I assume you are waiting to replace your microwave because you want to buy a new one with the built in look...but we were able to pick up a used microwave for $25 on craigslist (which we have now used for 6 years...it is good we picked it up). A garbage disposal replacement is usual a DIY install...and the new disposal should be able to be installed in your new kitchen...my hubby (who is a chemistry professor but likes DIY) also has installed dishwashers if you know that appliances you want. That does not solve the open sofits and cealing, but it does make the kitchen more functional. I think pictures would help me visualize the spaces more, but I am going to be the odd man out and say that I think trying to recess your fridge into the dining room is going to eat up a lot of your budget, and I am not completely sure what you are going to gain. I think your concern is that your fridge is sticking too far into the highly trafficked space. Do you have any built in pieces that make the "living room" the living room, the dining room the dining room and the family room the family room? I think I would try to turn the dining room in the "living room" (or the family room kids hangout space with the door that closes!). Then you could put in a large island with sink running the long direction of the house (or leave your sink) , put your fridge between the french door and the low window with a pantry (or counterspace next to it) and leave the stove where it is. You could then put your dining table in the living room (but have bar seating on the island) and even set up a small seating area in your new dining room...our house is probably a very different style than yours, but our little couch at the end of our dining room is quite popular! (It's in an alcove, but you see our chandelier and built in china closet...it is very much part of the dining room...you might even be able to put in a built in bench under your low window). I have certainly found the staring over phenomenon quite difficult...especially because everyone does things differently. Our first quote came back "no structural engineer required," the second contractor wanted us to hire a structural engineer before he wrote the quote (although he did say he would most likely correctly guess what needed to be done), the architect we talked to would bring a structural engineer and start boring in the walls. The third contractor said he would open up the walls, and then have the engineer come make drawings if we wanted...he said that we could go either way but the permitting would be much easier with a stamped engineers drawing. Each contractor uses a different cabinet sales person that sells a different line of cabinets! Have you tried home depot or cliqstudios or something similar? I went to home depot and met with the designer...they gave me a ballpark figure but said I would have to pay $100 for a measure to get an actual design/quote, but the kitchen designer I met with was very helpful and gave me some good ideas. The $100 would be applied to the install...we need a gut to update knob and tube wire etc so we are not doing home depot install. I talked to cliqstudioes today and I am curious with what they come up with. I have also found it really helpful to look at real estate photos of similar houses to mine to see how they updated the kitchen...they are more consistent with the style, budget and layout constraints of my project than the Houzz photos are.

Hi thank you!!! A chandelier would look gorgeous, but I think the functionality of a fan wins out for us because with ceilings this high and a mountain climate, we need the fan to push the hot air down to the rest of the house in the winter. Is there such a thing as an attractive ceiling fan? (serious question!) I think we'll just put the little book case upstairs in the loft, which is desks and another book case anyway. So funny that y'all like the arches! We are so stuck on them. What do you think about squaring the one that goes to the staircase but keeping the others? It would sort of balance the visual impact of the other 4. Are you saying cover the beams with wood or just paint to match the room? or would you do another color? I have no design sense, but I see the potential too!