Thank you for sharing! This is one of those things that should just come standard with a trash pullout!

Thanks for all the nice responses everyone! Alisande, she is 6 hours from us... so a little far for a day visit, but quite doable for a weekend trip. Patti... we helped her move about a month ago.. had dinner at a buffet pizza place (expensive!) in CB and went to TJMaxx and a few other places. We were only in Omaha 2 nights so no extra time for a get together... but I did look around to see if any faces looked familiar. I remembered that you lived there. I'll let you know next time, okay? Glenda, if he's interested in working for the Parks department or something to do with a camp... Parks, Recreation and Sports Administration is probably the field he'd want to go in.

Wow, thank you, everyone, for your kind and encouraging words. Having spent countless hours, taking notes from this site (even when I knew some things were impossible to achieve in this kitchen) and quietly admiring all of your beautiful kitchens, from the big, jaw-dropping ones to the smaller, but oh so lovingly personalized ones, it means a lot to me and my SO that so many of you like what we've done so far. As newbies to all of this, we questioned every single small decision we made, and then questioned it some more, never quite sure if we made the right choice--especially going with practically the same color floor and cabinets--so it's great to get some positive feedback. Except the soffit. We never questioned that decision. We knew those had to vamoose! You should see the ones we took out of the bathrooms! EEEeeeeek! Anyways, thank you so much!

Your space is very similar to our current kitchen, except that we have a breakfast room instead of the backyard on the other side of the door, and one less doorway in the kitchen itself (it's just outside the kitchen instead). Is your circa 1970s, or older than that? (Layout looks *very* similar to the 1910s and 1920s bungalows where we live---I've been watching MLS listings for kitchen ideas ever since we decided to renovate!) We turned our layout inside out and upside down and ended up with something not too dissimilar from what we started out with. We do have our fridge on the wall where your pantry is now, and will in the new layout too---not my top choice but we ran out of places it would fit. Our bedroom's on the other side so we don't have the option of recessing it, unfortunately. Could you recess it into your bathroom and hide it with a built-in cabinet that looks deeper than it actually is, maybe? One house I saw with a very similar space to yours opened up the wall partially into the dining room to make a raised breakfast bar on the dining room side with a big pass-through window, and then a slightly lower counter on the kitchen side. They put their stove where your refrigerator is now, with cabinets on either side. I think the refrigerator was on the wall where your drop-leaf counter is. (A little hard to describe---I have a photo but not sure it's kosher to post since I have no clue whose house it is! If you send me a message I can email it to you, though---it's also cherry shaker cabinets with some sort of dark counter.) Alternatively, if you take that wall out all together---could you maybe do an island with your range there?