Just don't expect us to pay child support. Or pay for those braces when she turns 15. And you can forget about that expensive pair of tennis shoes that she simply MUST have. ;)

Oh, I've already set her out to work to pay off all these renovation bills!

I'll archive this under Web moderate discuss how-to and aliris19 insight.

And no one had a camera in the delivery room?

Hah Beekeeperswife! My thought exactly. I want to see the piano shaped island!

alright... communal hug and now I want a divorce if you don't post pics!

Birthing, piano and camera do not not belong in the same sentence.

Aliris, what a sweet thing to say! But don't blame credit us for your kitchen. It's your glory. It's not just that you did the usual homeowner stuff, like making decisions, yelling at contractors and actually paying for the bloody thing. But you also used the forum well. You listened. You kept an open mind. You really engaged with every suggestion, rather than letting people spin their wheels before announcing you were going to stick with your 11" aisles/silk countertops/GC wearing an orange jumpsuit or whatever. You kept people in the loop. And most of all, you wrote like a real live human being.

I'm glad you're happy.

On the contrary, birthing a piano should most definitely be captured on camera!

It's not really ready for a formal reveal, but I'll use pictures to illustrate something that might help another. That's my thinking on this. Hope that's reasonable. But I don't want a divorce. What say the counselors? :-)

Marcolo is so true on the receiving as well as the giving of advice. It is just advice, pointers, things to think about. I still remember how hard it was to post my kitchen plan years ago. I'd been reading, and I knew some things were going to catch comments and criticism. Your home and your dreams are so personal, and to open them up for comment can be tough, but if you step back and listen to the comments and ideas you get back, especially the ones that tell you why they are saying what they are, it really helps test your thoughts and plans whether you change anything or not.

I hope you're in their soon and loving every minute. Create some new memories.

Oh c'mon now.....we all have those pictures of our little "pride and joy" right after the birth....doesn't mean we don't snap more later....

patiently waiting....

Use the cell phone camera for cryin' out loud!

I saw the sneak peaks. I love the arrangement around the soon to be hood. Lots of fun and functional. Look forward to the rest.

Pictures please... I'm dying to see the "new addition" to the family.

Aliris, what's your secret? I'm still waiting for help w/my backsplash to go w/my Typhoon Bordeaux granite and SW "Tea Chest" walls! Had one response...ONE! Not sure this is the place for me. But, obviously, it works for some people.

Hey peach -- "secret"? To getting help and responses? It's responding a lot. And thanking a lot. Not that it's not heart-felt, but people seem to respond well to overt expressions of what we're feeling inside. It think this is a function of the absence of non-verbal cues that comes with internet communication. You have to communicate in two dimensions, content-wise but also internal-emotion-wise which gets taken care of automatically in person, but is glaringly absent online.

Least that's my considered opinion after much experience. I know I'm gushing, but I do feel it truly inside; just wouldn't necessarily emote so much in person. But there's a disconnect without it. IMHO.

Also, I kind of explicitly weigh what I'm getting here for "free" and pretty carefully calibrate what I in fact owe. I have received massive amounts of free, freely and generously given advice. Much of it has turned out to be wrong or useless, etc; doesn't matter in the slightest. But recognizing this helps to make it easier to jump in trying to offer some of my own. I'm sure most of what I offer is wrong or useless. Just like much of what I received. But I see it as a sort of stochastic thing. I should try to give back a certain volume roughly commensurate with what I received. And a large fraction of it will be not-good just exactly commensurate with what I received. It gives me permission to wade in and post random suggestions even knowing it's mostly junk. That's part of the game. It's what I owe in exchange for all the "free" help.

And so - with that, I'm going to google your post, try to kick it up to the top, try to find something vaguely useful to say about whatever it is and try to take it from there. My first post was lame indeed. I had pictures but couldn't even figure out how to post them. Another so-kindly actually stuck them into the link-boxes down below, went to my photobucket, copied the plans, pasted them right into the thread, etc. It was such a huge gift. I can't tell you how much that little thing meant. In retrospect it sent me on my way. Such a little thing. Honestly, it's a huge privilege to be able to be of any use to anyone, ever. It's not easy to figure out how to be a useful person in this world. Again, IMHO.

So OK, where's that thread of yours....

bee -- there are some peeps on Breezy's threads. She and I seem to be about neck and neck, passing and repassing one another in 'renovation-velocity'. She seems to be in cabinet-planning mode though this is a little confusing -- thought she'd already signed with someone. No matter. I thought I might be able to help with some of her questions by posting relevant pictures of my own. Plus someone posted about their hood -- I have a better picture of that now, though the range isn't under it. It works! And it definitely is neither too high or cumbersome or heavy or in the way, even given its 27" depth, something I worried excessively about. I also sent a photo to breezy about depth of drawers too I think. That issue about drawer front and functional depth is *so* confusing and thorny ... and dependent, I think, on your specific cabinets in the end too.

I completely agree Aliris! It's scary to think what my kitchen plan started at before GW. Can't wait to see your pictures.

Aliris, along with the great advice we get and give each other with respect to layout, design, product options, managing relationships (with contractors, designers, architects, family and others), etc., it's the warm, generous and thoughtful posts like the ones you have shared today which remind us that this place of online "strangers" is so very special, indeed. Thanks so much for sharing!

LOL

When I read the title of this thread, it sounded like a "kitchen intervention". Like maybe your DH, a lifelong friend, your pastor, your rabbi and contractor had to sit you down.

: )

Truly, though, Isn't it wonderful? The dissemination of knowledge is so powerful and so democratic thanks to the internet. Amazing. We get the best possible kitchen ... a continent gets Arab spring.

Aliris, clearly I wasn't around for the, uhh, conception or gestation, but I appreciate your note dearly. You summed up well the feeling I have gotten in my short time here. I will always be grateful for the immense help and warm welcome to my first posts. I look forward to this community's help in getting me to your stage, and I look forward to helping future generations of reno's.

Yes, I did sign with a cab maker. That was to save my spot with him. I've been tweaking a few areas of my layout I wasn't sure about while he was finishing another job. Now he's been working around those areas waiting for me to finalize the others. You are much farther ahead of me. My house still resembles this, except the subfloor is almost laid now.

Another one passes me by in my slow trek.....

Well, I haven't shown you the rest of the house!

This isn't a terribly linear process. I'd lay odds you'll skid into the finish line before I at the rate we move/decide around here. Plus, we may have been at this longer, believe it or not. Though our story is a little complicated. But it is also certainly extremely variable in pace.

What is that? Is it part of the chimney fiasco?

We'll have bet on completion dates. I'm thinking we'll be done by Christmas.

That's my new fireplace installed back in April by two very nice gentlemen who cared about customer service.

I would like to thank the OP for expressing my thoughts, even though we haven't started our demo yet. 3 years ago I found this wonderful place and planned on a new kitchen within a year but that wasn't meant to be. I have stayed here, mostly silent, absorbing the brilliant advice, as best as I could. We restarted the process, hired the GC, today was the day we bought our wonderful SS that made me cry when I finally found it. I've chosen custom creamy white cabinets, double ovens, bosche induction, and silgranit sink here. I hesitate to post plans because I am very sensitive, but thank you in advance for what you have given me!

"birthing a piano" - reminded me of a special on PBS where they went through the Steinway factory and traced the creation of a new 16' grand. I was fascinated watching the guy climb into the box to stretch the strings...

I saw the sneak peek on Breezy's thread, and did a double take. I thought it couldn't be your kitchen so far along so soon! Congratulations, and I'm so happy for you that you feel it's the best. It's your opinion that counts!!

aliris, you are so eloquent in expressing the gratitude that I and I'm sure many others feel for all the advice and support that is so freely given here.

I just want to tell you how much I've always enjoyed your threads. The spirit/humility/humor of your questions created the space for all the wonderful food for thought that came your (and all of our!) way. Your presence has added a great deal to this community and congratulations on being in the home stretch!

Well Geesh, guys. Shucks. Those are awfully sweet sentiments yourselves.... thanks.

I usually feel like what I post is massively dopey, too. Just never know I guess. I haven't got the wisdom of *anyone* on this forum -- rhome for instance. Boy does it mean a lot, oh mom of *ten* for goodness sake?! That you take the time amidst what has to be a massively busy day to actually think about a stranger's kitchen layout?! Wild. I so hung on your attention, Rhome, when I was at sea with the layout. I'd come home and wonder whether you'd abandoned me yet or whether you could be imposed upon just long enough more to help me get a workable layout! But it's funny that you thought this had shown up in *short* time. Wow. It's been 6 months since I walked into the KD's with a nearly-complete plan. I've been doing cartwheels of impatience inside at the ridiculous pace. I dunno. Everything's relative I guess.

I've been making a concerted effort to begin to start trying to "give back", but I find I don't know hardly anymore than I started. I know about drawer size now! That's nearly it. A little about ventilation maybe. But the designer stuff and the color stuff -- just not my forte.

Today, I started unpacking spices. Let me look for a sneak-peak photo ...

And here's the start of the unearthing of the pantry's glass jars. The picture also shows the contraption I did wind up putting on the peninsula wall even though the wisdom here seemed pretty much to be 'Don't Do It'! I think the prevailing feeling was along the lines of 'too complicated' and 'why'. But I really like it. I like the space up top for displaying kids' art stuff and I like the special place on the side with space for my post-its and calendars atop the *large* dedicated recycling bin. And I like the special teas-cabinet. It's probably not big enough, but I think I need to stop buying tea; seems to be an obsession akin to buying yarn which I almost need a new house for all by itself. I did hear y-all about its heaviness and responded by narrowing it down. It's just 10.5" depth to the wall I think, making for narrow cabinets inside. But I think it works; I really like it:

And here you can kind of see the piano-shape of the island/peninsula. It's really hard to get a picture that 'comprehends' the shape. For some reason it's clear-enough in person but static photos somehow don't "get" it -- I don't get why that should be? Still photography is very strange. I try moving the camera high. oblique, flash and not ... it's hard to convey.

Mtnredux: I'm still rolling all over the place envisioning this "intervention". I've never liked the term in the best of circumstances but this is just pain a hilarious image. Only among the TKO could this even be contemplated. And if I ever wondered whether I'd entered the hallowed realm yet of the TKO, I think this might be a clue. (as in: Duh!)

Breezy -- I'm up for a bet?! What have you left to do? Actually, I should probably post a thread on that maybe? Tell Us What You Have Left. It could be thought of as a public service in terms of helping people to organize their thoughts and tasks. But also, misery loves company so surely it will be useful to know how you stack up in overload against the rest!

But when you say "done by Xmas", I think I am jealous. There was a time I actually thought we'd be done "in three weeks". Really. I can barely comprehend how stupid a thought that was. And I have a hard time imagining being done in less than twice that unit in months worth. Oh dear. When I start to think about it I start to panic .... fiddle dee dee.

I can't wait to finish loading up the pantry and posting back onto the thread where I asked for help with this. There was another, memorable comment there. I had been worrying again I was asking a stupid question, too subjective without any real answer and someone so kindly said something like 'I was wondering the same thing. Do post back when you figure it out so I can get some hints from you' ... something like that. I love what we wound up with. The flours started going in the dedicated massive drawer for them today and it will be a happy day when I get shelf-heights figured out and can post it for real back onto that thread!

What can I say...I'm just TKO. :-) My passion about a great-working kitchen makes me want to help those who want the same, and doing layouts is like my favorite form of brain puzzles. I think that's what everyone is about here...sharing kitchen passion. And the process this forum provides only works when people are truly willing to listen and consider. You are an example who shows you can stick to the things that really matter to you and incorporate advice, too, to get the best of both.

Believe me, 6 months is short for a lot of kitchens we all see. It's not unusual for plans to be discussed back and forth for a year or more. I have been in my kitchen 3 years and it's still not finished!

BTW, GREAT counters!

What a beautiful post. I was touched reading it. Thank you for putting so eloquently what so many of us feel. Just lovely.

And your kitchen's pretty great, too!

your kitchen is different in many ways.
here are some.
the layout
the open space for a buddha between the two small wall cabinets
the varying counter heights and the overhang.
the varying depth of field of the fridge, the cabinet overhead, the cabinet next to it and the wall (where the blue box is).

Wow! Aliris -love the kitchen pics, and can't wait to see it when it is done. What's more remarkable, is that you didn't just put up a bunch of mirrors to reflect that wonderful view and call it done! Man, you are really going to enjoy cooking in that beautiful kitchen, looking out that window! Wow again!