Thanks, everyone! The secret to setting a pretty table for a lot of people is being willing to store settings for a lot of people :) I spent a lot of money on the cabinets to store them in, but I didn't spend much on the the stemware, flatware, dishes, or chargers. The trick is to go for decent rather than fab quality, have a unifying look, choose over time, and shop closeouts of house brands. Plus, fill in with "heirlooms" (see below), and the real heirlooms, the candlesticks my grandfather gave my mother, his d-i-l. Steph, thanks for the extra credit grade! Cat_mom, Morgne, Donnakay come on down! Thanks, Alabamanicole! Malhgold, I only have matching for 24. I have plenty to fill in for double that (i.e., the whole family minus the out of town dwellers). I'm sorry you missed the service, but at least you made it before Elijah! :) We have a "tradition" of people coming in just when we open the door, but I think that only happens at my parents' house. I have stairs. :) Darbuka, I hope you'll be able to have your Seder next year. In the "pulled togetherness" of the table are the gold color rimmed personal ashtrays for the horseraddish from my mother's young married days, the white glass nut dishes with the faded gold paint rim for the charoset from the same source, and the pyrex custard cups for the salt water. Over the years we've given my mother enough Lennox oddments for her not to need these, so now Seder is at my house? You put lots of colorful vegetables, some pretty flowers, and use whatever you have that fits! We've been using the same Haggadah all my life (it's excellent!). I think there were 20 of them. Though they were hardbound, they did finally start needing repair. The typeface is also hard for the old folks to read. So a number of years ago I typed it up, and added in a couple of side things to fill in the gaps. Plus, I gender neutraled it as much as I could, and updated other language that was way dated. We had xeroxed copies for a couple of years. Then, after I edited a published Haggadah, I got adventurous, found some interesting art to dress the text with and laid it out. I used my art printer and laminator for the cover and bound them myself. But my printer didn't like the cover paper and stopped printing it after 10 copies (apparently normal behavior according to the company), and the 8.5"x11" size was awkward, so while I was restricted in activity this year, I reformatted to the half size pages and had it professionally printed with a different cover. And did the song book too, which has the silly songs as well as the traditional ones. Owls, thanks! Chag Sameach! John, the trick is that while it feels like a separate room because of the beams and lighting, the dining room is wholy open to the living room. The table extends 8-10 feet beyond to within a few feet of the hearth on one side, and the TV and computer cabinets on the other. My actual table (minus the folding) seats 8 in the large chairs. A few more squeezing in on folding chairs. Country, the photos were all with no guests, except the bird. The camera was right there, and the family were reading the service. I just had to have a picture. :) I found the posts about how a kitchen actually worked, with dishes and towels and stuff all over were a big help to me, so I'm trying to pay it forward. I'm glad you're enjoyed it too! The girls are hired help. With all those dishes coming in and out, and needing to be washed, it's worth my sanity to have help. The family also carried soup and cleared, and all the other food was passed family style. I can't believe yours just schmoozed! Maybe they were overwhelmed by your competence? Or scared of your new kitchen? Maybe you just need to tell them what to do? Even with the Twilight Zoneness of it all, I hope it was a lovely meal and a happy holiday!! Thanks, Squigs and Fori! The bird has traditional stuffing: We freeze the leftover matzah and mandelin from the previous year, and supplement as needed with new. There's plain, egg and whole wheat in there. Sauteed veg (onions, mushrooms, colored bell peppers, and celery), a little seasoning and some eggs. Chag Sameach, Tomuch2chus! Thank-you for all the kind words! And I'm so glad you're rockin' the baby beets. :)

My grandmothers kitchen always seemed so tiny to me, it was a galley style and you literally could not pass through to the utility room if she was in there cooking. Imagine my surprise when I learned that she ACTUALLY remodeled the space to be that way on purpose!! We are talking about people born in the late teens, early 20s so of course, the woman did all the cooking and cleaning and for her, it was an efficient use of space. We couldn't help in the kitchen, even when we wanted to because there was simply no room. The best we could do was to be her runners, taking food from the kitchen to the dining room. My kitchen, by Houzz standards is probably small to medium-ish. In real world standards, I have a massive kitchen! It is difficult to quantify my kitchen in terms of size, space etc because I have two definite zones that are VERY clear. I have the work zone, which contains my main clean up sink, double ovens, range and fridge in a 12x12 area. Then I have what I refer to as my auxillary zone, where I have my microwave, coffee makers, wet bar, island for breakfast/casual dining, China hutch and access to my large walk in pantry and that area is 12x15. So all together, not counting the adjacent dining room, my "kitchen" is 324 sq ft. 378 if I include the pantry. I remember when we started planning our remodel almost 2 years ago that my husband couldn't believe I wanted to go through all the effort, hassle, and expense of adding on to the back of the house "just" to put a 12x12 kitchen on an already 3000 sq ft home. He initially was convinced that if we were going to go through the trouble, we should make it larger and grander. I had to explain (several times) that that WAS the size I wanted and that it would work perfectly for my needs and cooking style. At 12x12, I have ample prep space on 3 countertops. I am no more than 2-4 steps from my fridge, sink, stove, trash and ovens. Perhaps most importantly for me though was that I made my work area of the kitchen a strict work area. There is NO traffic through there, no one getting in the way while I'm cooking, no one coming in to get a drink, wash hands, etc. All of that is done through the auxillary zone, which is part of the original kitchen on the house.

thanks everyone. I'm glad you agree with the 12 x 24 because I really like the look. And I will skip the border tile which was iffy in my mind. For the person who told me to fix the layout size, I wish I could. Only eliminating my bedroom closet or an extension on the house could fix the problem. So I'm making the best of it. It works as a 1 person bathroom, and is off the master bedroom so it's not such a problem.

When I did my kitchen, I used a broadly acceptable finish for my cabinets and used my very taste-specific color preference (chartreuse) on the walls. When I eventually sell (or rent out), I can repaint the walls some inoffensive and broadly popular color and no one will ever know how delightfully cheery my kitchen was. I'm not saying you shouldn't do green cabinets, just pointing out another option.