It's been years but... we contact contractors who bui8ld with Trex and ask if they have material they can't use, old boards, boards that would go to the dump. We've used them in many projects. Put them up on Facebook, on Nextdoor, in your neighborhood mailing list. I guarantee womoen will want them

Rhome, I don't think I've given it as much thought as needed. But, I've been thinking.... Have a lot of dishes, Christmas, china, my MIL used to have an antique store and she has given us a lot of dishes, flatware, platters, things I've kept boxed up mainly for a lack of storage for them. I have inspiration pictures of pantries that look nice for those type things. I think I've done just what you suggested, thought about THOSE things and neglected the other. Maybe I should do a layout on the planner, take all things into consideration and see what can be accomplished on that route? Bmore, I'm thinking about what your'e talking about. Just want to make sure the space is all utilized without too much aisle width. Dianalo, here is a picture of what my pantry looks like. It's not the actual pantry, but it is exactly like mine. I haven't measured the space, but could/should I think about putting it in the corridor where the oven is located? It measures 42x26 which would be built in next to counter depth cabinets.

My contractor and I met today on how to keep the paneling "as is" and brighten the room. He suggested a bay window on the southeast wall. There is an open doorway to the sunroom on one side of the fireplace. There's a window on the other side, also to the sunroom, so he's going to make that an open doorway to balance the wall and provide more light. We'll reuse the removed window in the new addition on the back of the house. I'm going to try Soy-Gel to remove the black paint from the bricks (last owner did this) on the fireplace and if it works, that should help. If I can't remove the black paint, we'll tile over it. We're both excited because it looks like the downstairs powder room and upstairs bath have oak flooring beneath the vinyl. We went into the basement and it looks like the sunroom floor, beneath the 70s parquet, is porch wood. My contractor is going to have wood grilles made to add to the already replaced windows in the sunroom so that they more closely resemble the original windows. He gave me the name of a man who can restore/refinish original tubs and sinks for me, too. I'll head back to the architectural salvage warehouse to see if I can find a kitchen sink and a clawfoot tub for my downstairs master addition. The upstairs tub will be restored. We're going to restore the old garage (10'x18') to be my garden shed and add a drive-through porte cochere off the side of the house, using a flat roof with balustrade on top, to match the era of the house. That should solve my need for covered parking. I'm very excited after the meeting.

Take a look here, this transformation is perfect for your son's kitchen. http://www.remodelaholic.com/update-builder-grade-cabinets/ Other suggestions- 1) find someone like Trebuchet to change out your double sink for a large single sink (perhaps the same manufacturer will have one that perfectly fits the existing cutout). 2) add pullouts to your base cabinets. Ideally change them to drawers with new drawer fronts that match. 3) change stove to slide in style with stainless hood. The counter is beautiful and likely cost at least $4k installed. Not worth changing if it is not his forever home. I love my sink on the peninsula, and do think it would work well for you if the space between the arms of your "U" is about between 5- 5 1/2 feet, but changing that is not within the possibility of your budget. I like the wood flooring but that decision can be deferred if you are not changing the cabinet layout. Also the upper cabinet opening from the center over the peninsula sometimes works in in these older kitchens because the hinges allow complete 180 degree swing. In my kitchen, I deliberately added inset pin hinges to my cabinets in that location to get the 180 degree swing, and tested my reach physically so that the contents could be easily accessed. I have hidden Euro hinges with soft close on the rest of my uppers, but they only open 135 degrees. I will bet that even here at GW, nobody has ever noticed that my hinges are different in that location (benjesbride kindly linked my reveal above, the pin hinges are on the mirrored upper cabinets over the peninsula). HTH