My grandmothers had very different kitchens -we made the big car trip to my mother's mother only twice a year but her home and flower garden's were a big influence for me. My grandparents bought their big old home when they got married (one hundred years ago) and never left it. She was born in the 1880's. The kitchen was a huge room in the back of the home. The floors were wood, and the stove sat by itself on the back wall -a monstrous unit -in which she baked the best pies. White painted cabinets with glass doors extended up to the ceiling and covered one entire wall except for the window. A large table with an oil cloth was on another wall next to the door to the big dining room and the rest of the house. The sink and refrigerator sat by the porch door, a big screened cool place covered in vines. She put up all her own preserves and still canned much of their food when I was little. My father's mother and father lived near us and had a quirky farm house built in the 1700's. (she was born in the early 1900's) The long-before added on kitchen was a dark long very narrow galley that I hardly can remember but in the 50's was decorated with fiesta ware and mexican motif. My mother was a fabulous cook and interested in decorating. She was ahead of her time in many ways in the mid 50's and had my father pull down walls in both the kitchen and between the LR and DR. She removed another door and wall to a little laundry room off the kitchen (putting the washer in the basement) and built in a desk and bunk - making the kitchen live much larger. She had a small tv mounted high up in the kitchen as part of a peninsula she added. To my later childhood home in the early 60's she gutted the pantry and had a built in stainless steel wall oven w/ss wall tiles added to expand the kitchen, built-in cutting boards and a desk on another wall that was a large shelf to match the counters and supported from the ceiling with chains. Later she designed an addition so the kitchen window became a pass-through over-looking the family room with a big bricked area for the woodstove and TV. (you could watch tv while washing dishes) There were wall mounted speakers for the sound system. The original pass-through door for the milkman remained, along with a built-in ironing board. She still seemed a little ahead of her time after I left home in the very early 70's; her next home she designed with a totally open kitchen-dining room (keeping room). Mom always planned everything in her homes to suit herself and to function best for her. I guess that is why I care so little about what is "in" but more what I like and what works for me!! I have so enjoyed reading about people's memories!!

Marthavila your kitchen is so lovely, I'm sure whatever lighting you have looks fabulous! Buehl the tracks which hold the lights can be easily cut to any length. Our electrician left our tracks a little bit long above and below each light just to hold the wires better and because I knew I wasn't planning on moving those shelves up and down a lot. If I ever wanted to move a shelf where there was track I could just cut off a piece closer to where the bulb is, the bulbs are also adjustable up and down the track. If I had really wanted him to I could have asked him to cut much smaller pieces of track to make it easier to adjust my shelves. Since these were glass fronted cabinets where I store my everyday dishes and glasses, plus a few other pretty items, there really isn't a need to adjust them up and down a lot. My solid door shelves are the place where I adjust shelves from time to time for taller items and would want total flexibility to move them wherever. Having said that, the way it is set up now I can easily fit a fairly tall pitcher on my upper shelves and all of my everyday dishes and bowls fit easily into the space allotted as well as some very tall goblets! Kat :)

"I'm a sucker for those wide brim straw hats with a lavender/floral ribbon." Somehow I'm not surprised. :D I think I just need to get over the kitchen being in the family room. It's the whole point of this addition--being able to put the kitchen in a CASUAL area (instead of overlooking my living and dining rooms as it does now) where it can just BE without messing up the "good" parts of the house. I think we do want something that goes with the bones of the house, so maybe wood. The image I posted above is what the house originally had, so obviously I'm not going to go that far! (But seriously, I'd consider it if anyone made those lipped plywood cabs these days...). I've seen some painted fifties cabinets that were pretty great. but I think we're going to do wood. I'm thinking a natural or mildly stained slab, cherry or walnut maybe. Sort of modern, maybe mid-century modernish but not quite. More mid-century mild? We're too sloppy to pull off a totally sleek modern kitchen. We've always had stainless steel counters and that would probably be weird behind the sofa so I don't know--maybe we need a "curb" on the back side of the peninsula so it doesn't matter. In this house I have learned that tile isn't that bad a surface (although this tile is ugly) and I don't even mind the cast iron sink (I used to break coffee carafes too often). Of course all of the tile I like is sort of feminine. So yes, we're clueless. The kitchen table is a '60s surfboard shape in orangey pecan with these chairs (the handmade needlepoint has been rehomed and they've been recovered and can be again): The other furniture (that we currently have) that will probably go in there is a stereo console that serves as a TV stand. The spouse could fight that but the spouse would lose--it's hard to find a record player in a drawer! It is nicer in person--has spectacular walnut veneers on the sides and top. We'll have to get a new couch and I plan to get my papasan chair out of the attic (ssshhh don't tell!). Also maybe a 4' wide hutch of the 1960s French provencal orange maple variety. So, while I am totally off topic here on Rosie's small cozy kitchen, I am putting enough junk in this room to turn it into a small cozy kitchen! aHA! So, medium wood tone cabinets tucked into a gloomy windowless corner of a great room. (There will be skylights if I can't somehow get clerestory windows in there.) We may do an exposed beam type of ceiling but I'm guessing we won't have enough light to wood panel it. Yeah that's right. I want wood paneling and I'm not ashamed to admit it! If we do go with a taller ceiling then we can have taller windows and maybe a little more light feeling back in the hole. Appliances, well, I am cheap so I'll be reusing my black dishwasher, but I am ready to retire my black fridge which wasn't supposed to survive the last remodel. I don't really care much what it is; it just has to go and it has to fit. We may end up with a builtin--it's just too soon to say since I don't have my kitchen walls nailed down yet. All I know is that it's goin' in the hole! I have no style.

I agree with something Snidely said. While my kitchen Delta drips unless it's in just the right place, I have Delta faucets in my bathroom sink and shower and I love them. The difference is that I bought the kitchen faucet at Home Depot and my nephew-in-law installed it. The bathroom faucets were bought at wholesale plumbing company. My plumber sent me there (it is open to the public) and I picked out what I wanted. I bought it there and they gave me the plumbers price on it. The price was comparable to Home Depot's prices but the grade was definitely higher than Home Depot. Something to look into. Also I checked yesterday, there is a video on how to replace the cartridge in my kitchen faucet though I don't have the tools necessary to do that so when I get sick of fooling with it I will have a plumber come out and fix it. :) Have fun shopping!!