This is the time of year I wish we could import all you frozen-ground gardeners to come out here and help. December-March is one of the busiest times of year in coastal California. Wet leaves to rake, bushes to prune, weeds to pull, citrus fruit to pick, new plants to put in, etc. etc. etc. New growth is already appearing on the roses which were pruned back just recently, near the end of January. The freesias are a month ahead of themselves - we had an early hard rain in October that woke things up - so those flower stalks have just begun to raise their heads. It'll be another couple of weeks before they start to open, though. Freesias are my favorite spring flower - fragrant and return reliably! Last year I grew a bunch of freesias in a pot and didn't realize the colors would cross. They were supposed to be neat waves of red, white and purple. But some of the purple became streaked with white, sort of odd but pretty: Goodness knows what the freesias will look like this year, LOL. If I get anything interesting in the color mixing, I'll post a 2010 photo in a month or so.

Had 2 shots at it. First was from Zillow when someone called about our Make Me Move price. Then another one inquired, so we decided to go for it. Before showing, we completely filled a 5x10 storage to the roof with our clutter. CLEANED EVERYTHING (you MUST do the windows inside and out) and had the place looking great (space your clothes evenly in closets). Kids and dogs were gone, toilets were gleeming. One Zillow couple bought before we were ready to show, but the other came and offered that day... Inspection comes and we broke the golden rule - ALWAYS MAKE YOUR HOUSE LOOK BETTER AT INSPECTION. We were cocky - we had the kids playing, boxes stacked, clutter about, dogs yappin'. Our buyers backed out. Buyers notice the good when they offer, but alway see the bad at inspection. It must be Karma as we had backed out of at least 3 offers after inspection over the last few years (usually from just a 'bad vibe')... So we moved out, painted neutral, cleaned carpets, fixed every cosmetic fault, and listed flat fee. Of course we had updated a bit over the past few years, but we also priced very well (I had watched the neighborhood MLS DAILY for the past 2 years, and knew better than any agent what was selling). I truly believe houses show better vacant; we listed as "go" and never had to deal with the quick clean nightmare. We had 3 offers in 2 days. Sold over asking. Very nice since we avoided having to make a double mortgage payment by few days...

Wow: your kitchen brings back memory. My previous kitchen was identical layout, except mine didn't have a hood. (I don't know how the previous owners lived here for 30years w/out a hood! The old cabinets were so GREASY!!) Do you have a layout of the 1st floor? What's past the peninsula? -- "Almost 4 years ago I gave up on the addition, double the size of the kitchen thought." Really? I was there, 4 years ago. --- Question: are your kids toddlers now, or are your kids older and you'll have toddler grandkids coming to visit? "I can survive a couple toddlers not burning themselves on the range " "I would love more than the 20" to the left of the range for prep" --- I ask this because these were 3 of the main reasons why I renovated my kitchen: - lack of hood - lack of prep/countertop - unsafe/not optimal use of the peninsula I am so happy that I DID change my layout, instead of just living with the same footprint/layout. -- Now I have a fantastic hood (sucks up toddlers w/ 1100CFM along with fried fish smell and all the steam from the induction cooktop when DH forgets how quickly his water boils when he walks away to get the tea bag). I also have tons of countertop space (23feet) to spread out: - DH gets his sandwich making area/baking area - I have my prep/cooking area, with no one walking through it - kids have the peninsula to hang out/do homework, without the risk of Mommy splashing hot oil or hot water or stir fry all over them/their craft paper, etc. Amanda's original layout Amanda's improved layout in 1st screenshot --- Now to be helpful: - hoods: My friend has a powerful Zepher. It worked great, but I'm not sure how easy it was to clean: spraying soapy water into the fans to clean??? I love my Kobe baffles that I can remove to soak/wash in the dishwasher. It sucks up so well; it's astounding just how much grease it catches. (Think about how much would be in my house if I didn't have this hood: ugh). --- countertop: - conflict: I like solid surface, but I had Corian in my previous kitchen and the integrated sink was great BUT it had tiny little dark cracks right around the drain, and it was constantly difficult to keep white. So while I love the integrated sink, I wouldn't want to deal with an unsightly sink. Formica: can you have an undermount sink? I can't stand an overmount sink for crud to catch at the rim. So of the 2 options, I would get solid surface, maybe with an undermount stainless steel or Silgranit (GW people love it) sink, instead of an integrated one. Good luck, Amanda

A few thoughts: - A 13" drawer stack is not very useful. I would much prefer the cookie sheet/utensil pullout you have in mind. I have a U-shaped kitchen, and looked at every corner contraption I could find, to maximize use of those spaces (my kitchen isn't very large). I had two pie-cut lazy susans - the kind where the door is attached to the turntables, and the whole thing rotates together. I hated those things with a passion - not sturdy enough for heavy things (like a crockpot); not convenient for light things (like Tupperware). In my new kitchen, I have a super susan, on a diagonal, so the turntables are full circles. I have a drawer above (again, small kitchen - I needed to maximize drawer space). Some folks don't like diagonal cabinets, but it works for me. I have a small MW in the same corner - the angled cabinet provides more counter space in front of the MW. My cabinets were custom built, so I had the cabinet maker space the shelves in the SS to my specifications - ensuring that I had enough height for the small appliances I put there (rice cooker, crock pot, blender, etc). The other corner was a challenge. It's between the sink and range, and there isn't a ton of space. Since this is my primary prep space, I wanted a lot of things to be located in that space: pots and pans, cooking utensils, canisters of sugar/flour/rice/pasta. Another Susan - or other contraption to access the corner space - would limit what I could store there, and I already had plenty of storage space in other parts of the kitchen for storing large, seldom-used items. I ended up closing off the corner completely, and putting drawer stack on each side. It has been the perfect solution for us! Anything else would have reduced my kitchen to 1 drawer stack - now I have 3 (and if you've spent any time here at all, you know how important drawers are). The corner solutions that will work best for you depend on what you will be doing in those corners. I inventoried essentially everything in the old kitchen, and assigned it a place in the new kitchen. Great consideration was given to "point of use" - potholders and cooking utensils near the stove, dishes near the DW, etc. Once I knew what was needed where, it became much easier to plan the cabinets to accomodate those needs. Good luck!