Oh good, Julie -- and you've got some good loot! So, how do people clean these seeds? What kind of equipment do you all have? Right now I am using 2 collanders and 2 strainers with different sized screens. To say my seed is chaffy is an understatement, but on a lot of them, I can't figure out what the seed even is (Filipendula for example). Others, like ageratum, I thought you were supposed to crumble the seed heads, but that would naturally include the browned petals. The heuchera is the same way, but in that case it's the short little stems of each individual flower that fall through the screens. On Victoria Salvia, I have to individually roll each seed pod between my fingers to get what appears to be a single seed out, and I have 1000s. On marigolds, not all the seeds are heavy and black -- some are light gray or white. I have 10,000s of those -- no way I am going to fish out the light gray ones and blowing on the plate was a disaster of the 1st magnitude, but thank goodness I did it outside! I can NOT be doing this right! It's hours and hours and hours just to clean & that's not including the packing & labeling. I heard some people are making their seed packs from scratch -- now how in the heck do you have time for that? All-in-all I would say I might get a bad reputation from my dirty seed. Lime P.S. Would a salad spinner do any good for anyof these seeds? I think I need to mechanize! LOL!

For us, undercabinet lights were only mildly necessary. We plan on a light colored backsplash and our recessed cans put out a ton of light on the counters. Plus, most of the work we do at the counter is on the island, under the pendant lights. The undercab lights are really there for two reasons: to add a splash of extra light in a few slightly darker areas and to use as occasional nightlight/mood lighting in the kitchen when we have guests. Given how we planned to use our undercabinet lighting, our electrician recommended that we use rope lights. They aren't at all what I pictured when he said that. I thought he meant those flexible plastic tubes with lights in them, but these are rigid fixtures that operate in much the same way as all the other undercab lights I've seen. They aren't as bright as some undercab lights, but that was a plus for us. We didn't want strong, bright lights, just a bit of extra task lighting. They are hardwired, don't use a lot of energy compared with other lights, and are very cool to the touch. We have been very happy with them. Oooh, I almost forgot to mention that they were VERY inexpensive!

Here are the elevations Here is a link that might be useful:

Drawing a floorplan of the entire space including adjacent rooms would definitely help us help you. Just because your friend created a long, narrow, dysfunctional kitchen with her wall removal doesn't mean you'd have to follow her plan. Some of the clever folks here might surprise you with a great layout. Could the sliding doors be moved to allow use of that corner for your work areas? This is messy and I do think the range would work better in an angled corner here but that's too tough for me to try to draw with my drawing program. And ignore uppers and window placements for now. Those can be settled once the main lowers are decided on. This plan would be a very functional layout with functional flow moving from fridge to sink to range with decent working counter space in-between each appliance. And it gives you some extra storage. However, you would need to move to a smaller bistro-sized table that could only really seat 2. For the next two plans, you'd need to be able to move your outside access over to the next room. Is that something that would work for you? Here's another version with a pantry wall and a bigger kitchen within the same kitchen space but you'd lose seating in there. Or you could shorten the pantry and do a bistro table like the previous plan. Or maybe a small table that is attached to the wall and folds down when not needed? Or a narrow counter-height work table with stools to pull up to it. There wouldn't be much room behind anyone seated to walk around them but it would be a do-able squeeze. Again, I really encourage you to consider slowing down, postpone the actual remodel for fall or next winter/spring after the holidays are over, and take this time to get your planning right. I'm not saying any of my ideas are great, fantastic ones, but there are a lot of folks here who have those kinds of ideas. The more you stick around and post questions, the more likely you are to get the talented and clever help you need to create the best space for you.