This is my FAVORITE FAVORITE GW kitchen. It has soul and personality. I look at your pictures and just want to wander in there and linger, feeling the coziness and healing properties of that welcoming and nurturing space. It feels like a li'l ol' soft grandma with arms outstretched waiting to hug me. It does NOT remind me of so many cold, hard casket like fancy kitchens in the pictures. This one has a warm heartbeat throughout. Fantastic job, and I'm sure with the elbow grease/blood/sweat/tears you put into her you'll love her all the more over the years!!

oh.. okay a palette .. that makes sense! I was trying to just play it safe and pick some commonly used colors, but I like where your going. I had a friend come over with some chips (these were from H.Depot&Rest.Hardware)I like the tans she picked. M.Stewart Living - Pebble Stone MSL214 and R.Hard. Cappucino. Unfortunately my SW store is closed today so I can't check out their Latte. Luckily for me, BM store is open! Really I just need to get ceiling and myb. wall paint today, but as you say. I need to decide on wall before I decide on ceiling. I think I like a more grey tan. http://www.restorationhardware.com/rh/catalog/product/product.jsp?navAction=jump&id=prod1048003 I'm afraid if I take one of these chips my friend brought over for color matching it won't work well off a chip. Maybe I'll just take them in and see what BM chip matches closely. I was also considering a green and a rust color to accent with. Have you ever seen Behr SH320 Enchanting Ginger (rust)? I picked this one and everyone that sees it isn't too crazy about it but I really like it. I was just going to accent with it. Possible Greens: (Both Behr samps) UL190-21 Ginko Tree and UL190-2 Deserted Island. So other than the ceiling and trim is this starting to sound like a palette? This is an old 1926 Bungalow with an open floor plan but only about 900 sq ft. It has some fun archways too that I thought the idea is to just paint them white underneath and inside(?). For now we'll just keep priming, but I need to decide soon. My buddy says just pick one and lets paint. I guess I'm just kinda picky about colors for a guy :) Thanks for any help/input/advice and feedback! Steven

Thanks for the help and compliments. I had a pretty long thread going with some before/during/after pics but it seems to have vanished (from about a year ago)? It's been a long and grueling process but very rewarding now that we're seeing the light (ha!) at the end of the tunnel. Luckily I've had a lot of help along the way from family and friends and GW. I made a separate thread for the chairs in the decorating forum with a bunch of options/pics. Decided that's more of a priority (lighting is livable for now but we REALLY need a full set of chairs). Here's the link so if anyone has anymore input i'd appreciate it: http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/decor/msg0310190713898.html As far as the lights, here's a couple of options I've found we like. If we do the single pendants can we hang 3? I think odd numbers look better but I know it's kinda tight. Thanks again for any help and opinions.

Thanks again to everyone else who has posted their kind comments :) Rhome, I do not have plans. My old boss, drew up and informal before and after. Just enough to pass through our building department, who did not require an accurately scaled set. In fact, I was allowed to "sign and seal" the set on my own. We never actually lived in the house with the "old" kitchen - what you see was how it was when we looked at the house. The prior Owner wasn't living there, but left all his stuff in the kitchen while living elsewhere. I mean, there was even some things in the fridge! It was kind of weird if you ask me. We left the sink and oven in the same place for two reasons. One, I didn't want to move the plumbing and liked having the small window above the sink. Second, again, I didn't want to move the gas service, trying to keep costs down where I could. I couldn't get a 36" in due to a structural situation (that beam runs across the room right there and, the waste stack goes up inside the wall there also - would not have been cost effective to move that since we were not able to address the bathroom above yet). The refrigerator, we had to move and wanted to. It's old position made no sense on the back wall at all and since a sliding door was going in, it had to go. Putting it across from the sink and stove, was a much better solution, along with the microwave. The kitchen, flows well in that I don't have to walk very far to get to any of my appliances from each other at all. I designed the cabinets to hold what I need near each appliance. The two lower cabinets at the stove are all pull-outs and hold pots and pans (surprisingly a large amount of them fit into these). The large lower cabinet to the right of the sink on the corner is a double trash bin, easy to dump out leftovers before they go into the sink. Most dishes (and pots/pans) are stored right over the dishwasher and near stove. Glassware and serving pieces are over the counter where the toaster and coffee maker are 0 LOTS of space in these two. Pantry items are easily accessible (the one near the fridge is mostly dry goods; cereal, pasta, tea, coffee, cookies, etc.) and I included 3 drawers under the largest one to use for a bread drawer, a drawer for bags/foils/wraps and the last as my junk drawer. The cabinet under the microwave holds canned goods and the one next to it holds medications (I don't keep them in the bathroom) and some other miscellaneous things which I like having at hand in the kitchen. Under the sink is a pull-out, which houses the usual stuff. I have a cabinet specifically for herbs/spices and one specifically for oils/vinegars/smaller baking needs. I have 3 glass front cabinets for some of my Fiestaware and other decorative items and one other large pantry, as I mentioned, for larger cooking items, baking pans, and other things. The triangular end cabinet is a kind of catch-all for chopping boards, measuring cups, what have you and the lazy susan has colanders, plastic ware, casserole dishes and some other stuff. Oh, and the large cabinet over the fridge holds roasting pans, my huge lobster pot, and I'm not even sure what else right now lol. Eventually, the sort of empty space where the table now sits needs to be finished off somehow. I envision more cabinetry on the wall, probably with a TV inside it. Perhaps some more storage at the bottom with a counter coming off the wall. Or, a very small table, with cabinets. Just not sure yet. Ok I've blathered plenty. BTW anyone that has ideas for a backsplash feel free to toss them out for me. I just really haven't seen anything which has wowed me yet.