One thing I certainly appreciated is that it is not open-concept. We sat in the living room before dinner with no view of the "mess", and ALL the prep had been done and cleaned up earlier, it's just the things waiting for last-minute assembly. After dinner, we lingered in the dining room before dessert, and after, with no view of the dishes :) (and no, we didn't wash up in between, too much clattering and I didn't want to leave my guests)

Appreciated lots of counterspace next to the sink, so the handwashing went to the drying rack, where a helper kept up with towel drying, then to the peninsula counter, whence a helper put them away from the OTHER side. Rued the minimal counterspace between sink and cooktop, where we do the majority of prep above a 12" drawer/cabinet and a blind corner cabinet.

Appreciated my new double oven, but regretted we weren't able to get the one with racks that allow different height pans on the same shelf, where the rack above can be a "half" rack.

Continued my dream for a not-side-by-side refrigerator with full-width meat and produce drawers.

Appreciated my deep-freeze in the basement, where I can freeze ice-cube trays of broth in just a couple of hours.

Appreciated my enclosed, unheated porch, where I can keep wine, beer, food chilled during a party, and set the broth to cool overnight without heating up the fridge.

The NEXT day for leftovers, appreciated my mom's thoughtful design of her kitchen in 1970, with warming drawers, counterspace, island, and lots of storage including drawer stacks, and a cart designed to fit under the island, making it easy to roll the serving dishes out to the table.

Great idea for those in the planning stages! They barely got the inside of our house done and we moved the basic kitchen items over Tuesday. So it was a jump right in Thanksgiving!!

My only "regret" in the new kitchen was not deciding on and ordering knobs and pulls sooner!! My sil and I laughed so much Thursday because our fingers were SO sore from prying open the drawers and paneled SubZero doors!! :) Everyone kept ripping the blue tape pulls. But now to the serious thing I would change.

I've got two islands, the center one is the main prep space so I put the trash can in it next to the prep sink. I really really wish I had added another one some where else. It seemed like every time something needed to go in the garbage someone was standing in front of it. I would have also been nice to have two warming drawers. One to keep food warm that was ready first and one for plates. But it would only be used a handful of times during the year so I'm sure I'll be glad I didn't take up drawer space.

My experiences were in my mother's kitchen...I appreciate my kitchen even more!

My kitchen - double ovens/My mom's kitchen - single oven in a range...We had to juggle the turkey and side dishes - b/c she only has one oven. (We cooked the sweet potatoes the night before and then warmed them up in the MW.) putting the turkey in the oven/taking it out was not as nice as in my kitchen b/c my ovens are higher off the floor.

My kitchen - no island or table in the middle/My mom's kitchen - table in the middle of the kitchen...We were jockeying around each other while we prepped/cooked b/c the table was constantly in the way. She has about a 36" aisle b/w the table and counters and even when I moved the chairs out of the way, there wasn't enough room to have 3 of us comfortably working in her kitchen. We also had to "run around the table" to get to the refrigerator - although it did help a bit when I pushed the table away from the sink/range area.

My kitchen - pots & pans in drawers/My mom's kitchen - pot & pans in cabinets with stationary shelves...All that stooping and getting on my hands and knees to find a pot or pan! I also had to stoop/get on my knees when accessing the other base cabinets as well (mixing bowls, etc.)

My kitchen - trash pullout/My mom's kitchen - standalone trash can outside the cabinets...It was a pain to have to constantly walk to the other side of the kitchen (10' maybe?) to get to the trash can! While I regret that mine is in my Cleanup Zone and not my Prep Zone, at least isn't as far away (6') and I can open it to bring it about 18" or so closer. There wasn't any room to bring my mother's trash can closer b/c of the tight aisles.

My kitchen - rangehood/My mom's kitchen - no rangehood...While cooking butter/onions/celery for stuffing, boiling water for the mashed potatoes, cooking the giblets, and cooking/making gravy I watched (and shuddered) as all that grease, steam, etc. dissipated throughout the kitchen and settled on us, cabinets, walls, and ceiling. [I discussed with her the need of a rangehood externally vented outside!]

My kitchen - 90-degree cutout at the corner/My mom's kitchen - diagonal corner...My mom's only sink is next to the corner and even though it is a 36" sink, there was really only room for one person working at the sink b/c the diagonal corner right next to it didn't allow anyone to work on the far right of the sink.

My kitchen - double-bowl sink with a large bowl (21")/My mom's kitchen - double-bowl sink w/same size bowls..It was a pain washing the roasting pan and other larger items b/c the sink bowls were too small! (I remember that issue from my old kitchen.) I casually suggested to her that she consider either a single-bowl sink (30" instead of 36" b/c of her need for more usable cabinet storage) or a double-bowl with a large/small bowl. She's thinking about it.

While I really missed my kitchen, it was nice to be around family and working with them in the kitchen as well as visiting!

This was the first Thanksgiving in our new kitchen. I have hosted in the past, so everyone was able to compare then and now. We all agreed the new kitchen made the prep/cleanup so much easier. There is an additional row of cabinets that added prep space for multiple people to be doing things, the huge silgranit super single with offset drain made cleanup of platters and big pots SO much easier. The range oven we have is a Kitchenaid that has a two ovens, one smaller on top. That was a big help for cooking things at different temps.