I'll chime in as a fan of contemporary myself, and a not-so-much fan of country. Your kitchen definitely has a country look to it for reasons already posted. The natural color oak cabs unfortunately don't fall into any description of contemporary, but I would expect touching the cabs to be off the table. If you need canisters for practical reasons (e.g. storage), then consider stainless steel. I got a nice set from Costco for not much money, and Crate & Barrel also have nice ones. Your family room has a contemporary look to it (with the exception of the table lamp). If you look at the elements there in comparison to your kitchen, what you see are solid colors, clean lines, and a lack of nicknacks. Look at the window treatments in particular. Solid color valence, and solid color drapes. Also look at the artwork over the fireplace. Dramatic dark frame that matches the color of the fireplace below, complementary colors in the matting, and a repeating dark brown mat towards the inside. So ask yourself, "how do I bring these design themes to my kitchen?" Well, replace the window treatment with a solid color. I would recommend a dramatic color that matches some other elements in the room such as your counters. Vertical pleating such as you have now is more country. No pleating (like your window valence in the family room) or horizontal pleating (like in roman shades) are more contemporary. Although roman shades always have a summer beach house feel for me, but that's probably just me. For the stuff on top of the cabinets, you should replace them with repeating items in solid or repeating colors. For example you could use a dozen clear/colored art glass plates that again match the counters. The key here is to use multiples of the same item in the same or similar colors, whereas currently you have a mix of disparate items (plate, jug, basket, bottle, etc). Anyway you get the idea - repeating elements, repeating colors, simple lines, no clutter. Those things say "contemporary" to me. Good luck and I hope that helps a little.

I love my Never MT. We built a new house and put one in each bathroom, where I use hand soap(softsoap) and in the kitchen where I use dish soap. The only problem I've had is that in one bathroom, I had to replace the Never MT...it leaked at the valve. This has happened twice. But it's still worth it. Actually the first one was replaced by the manufacturer after 6 months use.

I'm so glad both you and your DH like the idea. I really love it. That room would be so dark and little used without the slider. Of course, if we still had both kids living at home, one would have that as their bedroom and then the slider would probably never be open. The door material is solid and heavy enough to block sounds well from the living room if it was being used as a bedroom. What kind of walls are you doing in your living room? I think I'd be inclined to doing the same quarter-round non-molding type edges I have and then simply paint the door the same color as the walls in the living room. Then paint the bed/play/office room side to match those walls. Personally, I would rather have the door almost disappear instead of being framed with molding. However, a lot of what would look best aesthetically will really depend on your style of home. If you will have interesting moldings in your house, then moldings around the door might work quite well. I'll throw out a couple other door ideas for you. I have a friend who had display-case swinging doors built to hide her W/D in her combo kitchen/sitting room. They are on very heavy-duty piano hinges. There are small rails built into the bottom of each shelf to help hold things on the shelf. The upper-shelves hold things like decorative plates and books. I think she also uses museum gel (or whatever it's called) which is tacky and keeps the plates from sliding around but doesn't damage the items or the wood shelves. The bottom shelves are slanted back with a rail in front and she puts current reading material like magazines and books there, with the front of the facing forwards. I have been there when she has opened/closed them to do laundry and I don't recall that she has to be especially careful when doing that to keep things from falling or sliding. And they don't seem to be particularly heavy to move. I think it would depend on super-heavy-duty hinges to make them easy to swing. It looks great. However, she obviously doesn't have them open any longer than it takes to do laundry. If you want the doors to be able to stay open, you'll have to have enough room in the room the doors swing into to keep them open without being in the way. And, of course, if you want to monitor small children playing, the open doors could block your view. Just thought I would mention it just in case it appealed to you. Another option might be using barn-door hardware instead of sliding pocket door hardware. Something like this but, of course, open to a room instead of a bar. Again, you would need a bit more space in the room the doors are installed to make this work. You couldn't have furniture up against those walls. Just throwing out more ideas so you have options to consider. Personally, I like the pocket slider because I tend to be more of a minimalist in my style. YMMV I just measured and I barely have 1/8" clearance for anything to hang on my door and still slide into its pocket. So even a tapestry wouldn't work. I would even be leery of a piece of paper simply taped on it. I'm afraid it would catch and tear and somehow get into the mechanism and mess it up. But thanks for the suggestion anyway. Well, I've rambled on long enough. I really hope these ideas help you create a space that works for all your visitors and for your lifestyle when you don't have a lot of guests staying with you.

I mix the dough in the FP, but hand roll and cut. The recipe I use is from a friend's mom. Link to Pictorial Homemade Pasta I watched a friends Italian Momma make her pasta one day. (She did it all by hand) I make it following her directions but I use the Food Processor to mix and knead. 1 egg for each cup of flour( plus an extra egg for every 3 cups of flour, ie. 3 cups flour = 4 eggs, 6 cups flour = 8 eggs. Salt 1 tablespoon of olive oil, per three cups of flour. TIP: I often find myself with egg yolks to use up. I sub 5 to 6 egg yolks for whole eggs in three cups of flour. Put the flour on a large board and make a well in the centre. Crack the eggs into the well and sprinkle with salt and oil . Use your fingertips to mix up the eggs and then start to incorporate the flour into the eggs. Eventually it will all come together. (add 1 to 2 tablespoons of water if necessary) Knead dough until smooth. Let sit covered for 15 or 20 minutes. Divide dough into smaller portions and run through a pasta rolling machine or roll out by hand. Let dry slightly and then cut into desire widths. Leave out to dry or use fresh. When dried she always stored it in a wax paper lined box, in a cool place. (note: I don't use a pasta machine, I roll the dough out by hand on a large floured board) You can also mix and knead this in the Cuisinart, which is what I do when I make it. My friends mom would make 12 and 15 egg pasta at a time and give it to all of her family members (and me, a would-be family member). After she cut the pasta she would lay the strands flat. She would have it spread out everywhere there was a flat surface and also hang it from a broomstick strung between two drawers. Once it was dry she would gather up the stiff pieces and put them in boxes. Because I don't make that much at a time, I just lay it all over my table and counter. NOTE: Depending on the flour and the eggs, sometimes you will need more eggs.