Okay...I'm just going to do a 'girly' kitchen with pink :) Jack and Michelle just bought this cute cottage, with quite the front garden. Michelle is planning to put lots of pink roses in the garden and would like to put some in the kitchen, too. From Pink kitchen The kitchen is not in bad shape...and they really can't afford a major remodel right now. Jack wants some kind of wood floors, but otherwise only asks that she not paint the cabinets pink. So, Michelle finds an inspiration kitchen (on Gardenweb) that she loves and knows it will look great with the wood floors. It's a bit fancy, but they don't have kids...and they have a separate family room, so Michelle wants this to be her 'girl space' for tea with friends. From Pink kitchen She finds a similar chandelier and decides to go with the antique brass hardware, like her inspiration picture. From Pink kitchen If they install the flooring themselves and paint the cabinets, the backsplash and marble should be affordable! So, Michelle's thinking of using roses on the backsplash. But not just any roses...finally she finds something she likes. From Pink kitchen They have a dining table from their previous house that they want to use in the kitchen and Michelle finds some chairs at an estate sale. They even came with the pillows. From Pink kitchen From Pink kitchen So, now for some more roses...maybe some wallpaper, not too different than those cute little pillows. From Pink kitchen And some pink crystal knobs for the cabinets...on sale, no less! From Pink kitchen Now, with her painted hutch, white table cloth and bouquet of roses...she's finally done :) From Pink kitchen

Hi, Runninginplace. No, "my" couple had a very popular, long-running HGTV show that appealed to probably young housewives with more scrap shutters and old unmatched furniture than money. You'd recognize their name. I just felt their eager audience deserved much better quality design suggestions. In their hands a $50 one-hour project never looked like anything more. I have to admit, I enjoy the Novogratzs' creations, if not all. Some of the stuff they pick up on their blitzes through secondhand shops is *incredibly* ugly, yet they manage to combine all this stuff into cohesive wholes that are far more than their parts. I couldn't possibly turn them loose on my own home, no matter how in need it is, but they are certainly very competent and talented designers. I have the same sort of different viewpoint regarding Newdawn's example of an awful room. I personally OD on bright pinks in approximately a single glance ("awful" color for me), but that's a nice room. And it obviously belongs to someone who can afford to redo any time she or he feels like picking up the phone. In any case, what we find "awful" because we don't like it (that peculiar portrait) and what's awful because it's bad design (fire hazard mess on sorority wall) are two totally different things.

mpagmom - So glad I can help you procrastinate! I always have something for you to think about, if you are in need with your own list of things to ponder. Thanks for including the link/pics to the garbage under the sink. I'm open to the idea of garbage or recycling under the sink - or both. I think I'm going to need to decide if I want a 30" with a single bowl or if I want to keep the double sink and go back up to 36". One thing I've been pondering is the location of the sink on the peninsula run and that cabinet being right next to it. Things can get splashy, but I also benefit from counter space on both sides of my sink. Hm... lisa0527 - That website is fascinating, though some parts of it are creeping me out. The botanicals are cool, though. leia_in_lalaland (Love your name!) - Wow, you went to town, and I really appreciate it. Those plants are so unique, I need to look into that more. For some reason, they reminded me of the plant shelves I posted a pic of below. I stuck that in one of my files several months back now, while researching Sochi's living wall. I really like the shelves, but I'm just not sure I can afford to have something that comes out into the aisle. Unless it was high up and didn't interfer with opening the upper cabinet. Floating shelves are one of my favorite things. The picture 6 up from the bottom is also fascinating. It seems they stuck a very narrow upper across the galley wall. I wonder how far that extends. I imagine there's no uppers on the left side, either. It looks very practical and seems not to interfer with the use of the peninsula. The shutters, though, are also intriguing - that pic that shows a set of grayed out shutter doors, especially. I could have a faux door after all. lol Hm..and the tin reminds me of a piece I have in the entry. It hangs coats right now, but could hang towels, I guess. It's a piece of architectural salvage with hooks on it. I'll have to go stare at that... lol Thanks so much, everyone.

My mom designed her kitchen in 1970. She has almost all drawers. The cabinet between cooktop and sink has doors--with pullout shelves for pots and pans. Perfect. There's a unit in the peninsula. On the kitchen side, they are drawers. On the breakfast room side, there are doors that open to the back side of the drawers, so you can grab the kitchen towel (for a spill) or a serving accessory (that was put away from the dishwasher on the other side, or forgotten in setting out the service). The corner of a peninsula is often wasted space (I know it is in my builder-kitchen). In Moms, the four drawers hold placemats, napkins, tablecloth, crossword, pens, batteries, and little binoculars (what IS that bird on the pond? Which kid is carving tracks in the lawn on the minibike?) Another cabinet door has the pullouts for the in-counter blender accessories' in the island. Gotta tell ya, I appreciated my mom's ingenuity ever since I've lived in builders' kitchens. Mom also has a pull-out cutting board. A shallow reach-in pantry, next to a deeper pantry for bigger items, and another shallow reach-in pantry in the hall for special occasion items. Bookshelves for cookbooks, notebooks (she kept careful notes of parties and dinners), an area for baking needs, a serving cart that is stored under the kitchen island (and matches it). Her cabinets have (HOUZZ-cringe here) wood-look Formica veneers with fingertip cutouts, no knobs/handles. Easy to clean. No worries of "will water dripping off my fingers make my cabinets dirty?" Do what you want to Formica, it holds up. In all, I'd say my favorite kitchen design is thought. THINK about how you live, cook, entertain, store, WHAT do you cook and store, WHO do you cook for, entertain for. THATs what drives your kitchen design. Is mom's kitchen "on trend" decor-wise? Nope. Was it ever? Well, maybe in the 70s. But boy, it works. (But, the dishwasher doesn't work. It can't be replaced. My mom was 5', so she designed her kitchen with lower-than-normal base cabinets. In those days there was no ADA or DishDrawers, so the dishwasher was installed below floor level and, for some reason, cemented in. After 47 years their miracle-worker repairman said he couldn't make the last repair. It had been living off of reclaimed parts for years anyway. Ah well, it's just mom and the caregiver now, not a lot of dishes, so the dishdrainer, 62 years old but with a new drainboard under it, is doing just fine.)