Thanks everyone! I'm glad to hear that others agree about worrying less about some of the symmetry and getting wider (more functional) cabinets/drawers instead. :) wannaknow- My kitchen is about 13'x18'. It opens to a dinnette that's about 9'x15'. I will also have a wetbar and dropzone nearby- that's why neither of those zones are shown above in the cabinet layout. I'll attach my kitchen area floor plan from the builder below. Just in case you're interested. :) prariemom- I actually have a pull-out trash/recycle in the island across from where you suggested it by the sink. That way I can easily access it for my prep trash and clean up trash. That was rhome's brilliant suggestion. :) herbflavor- I was already writing WAY TOO MUCH in my original post. LOL. My mother makes stained glass, and she has offered to make me a panel for the top transom. I just need to sketch something out and figure out colors, and I'm sure it will be beautiful. That window faces due south, so I'm sure the colors from the stained glass will be beautiful in the kitchen. This is why I requested a transom for the kitchen. :) I haven't met with the finish carpenter, but my builder assures me he will do something nice with the hood. I'm a bit nervous about it too. My builder's description sounded much nicer than the rendering looks. Eeek. :-/ taggie- thanks so much! I hope we spend a lot of time in our kitchen. After talking more this morning, DH and I have already figured out several places where we want to switch from 3 to 4 drawers. I had worried about it at the design meeting and then forgotten until you mentioned it again. Unfortunately all the cabinet options our builder gave us are framed. Oh well. lavender_lass- I'm so glad to hear you like it! The KD pointed out the issues with the glass too. The house windows will have grids so we are going to use solid panels in the cabinets. I'm still hoping to paint some beadboard for the background of the glass cabinets, but I'm going to wait a while for that. We're getting "glass-ready" cabinets and then heading to a stained glass store to pick out the glass. I have no idea what I might fall in love with there. As I mentioned above, I am a bit nervous about the range hood as well. My builder promised it would look nice. Taking a deep breath about that one. wiemom- I'll have to search for some pics of your kitchen! I'm really hoping the layout works for us. Glad to hear you like the way yours is set up. :)

Shades of Idaho, your cabin sounded perfect. We have a silo and it is on the older side of style. I love the roof and have always dreamed of building a room by raising the roof and wrapping an exterior stairway to the top. We are fairly near a river valley and I am sure the top of that silo would bring it into view. I thought about having windows surrounding the top for 360 viewing. Just a dream though. Nancy, I like the idea of a wood stove. It would be something I'd do down the road, if the warm weather cabin use extended into fall and winter. DH and I were, once again, looking at site location and there is a spot really close to the house that could be used for this shed. Like the idea of having place for water pitcher. Moccasinlanding, love the idea of french doors. keeping the back without windows is a nice option, providing a spot for privacy. I was hoping on french doors so much. We would have to find them used and functional. I do need to do a Craigslist search. There is a lumber yard that sells windows that are returns or miss ordered. I will need to see if they have anything that could be useful for this project. I am thinking that narrow windows would work, the studs are 24" on center instead of the conventional 16". If I got something narrow, I wouldn't have to have structural headers, I don't think, because there would not be any cutting of the studs, only the cladding. I think a row of clerestory windows would be fantastic over the door, especially if I had to use a conventional door instead of french. Several of our sites would allow access to our wifi, and close to the bathroom/shower facilities. The one remote site, way north of the barn, is a good location for real retreat, and a composting toilet would be very handy. The sites close to the house, DH said we could run power to it. Like was done years ago to brooder house. I am not sure about that, as it might be bumping up against code. I want to keep this simple with regards to getting others involved in my business. Thanks you guys for the input it is very helpful in helping keeping me inspired. This isn't going to happen over night thats for sure. So I will be posting on this project now and again over the summer. This next week I will be going on my own week retreat up in Minnesota. I do it yearly. I think of it as my adult "camp" time. I loved camp as a kid. This is a Buddhist retreat, and for most of the 8 days it is in silence. Up at St Johns University in Collegeville, near St Cloud. Magnificent campus!

Every so often, Costco gets a bunch of 2' x 6' washable, non-skid backed rugs in various colors and patterns (geometric or fairly plain, not fancy designs). I have four in my kitchen: in front of the fridge (drips), the double sink (splashing water), the cooktop (grease--especially when cooking sausages), and the single peninsula sink/DW (no matter how careful I am, there's always a little water that splashes when I load the DW). My husband is in the kitchen several times a day, and is messy, so we need these! When we have company, I temporarily replace the one by the peninsula (which is visible from the entry hall) with one with a more colorful and intricate oriental look that I got from a catalog. It goes well with the low key design and monochromatic look of the the other three rugs. BTW, we don't have any animals. Anne

Toronto Vetenerian, Thanks. I was thinking exactly the same thing that the bottles would have all toppled the first time I pulled out the drawer quickly. Editing: we are thinking of selling our current house and moving into one of our rental houses (for tax reasons.) We would probably live there 3 to 5 years before figuring out where we want to retire. I would be giving up my beautiful kitchen. I told my husband the only way I would do this is if I got to redo the kitchens and baths in the old house. I would do it on a very tight budget. It has to be consistent with the neighborhood and the house. That would mean a huge EDITING for me. I still have some time. I am just perusing through ideas so that I can do it on a budget and still get the big bang I want.