Great question! Well, it's not what I set out to do but now that our refresh is done, I find I keep fewer kitchen tools in my kitchen drawers. I went through everything and anything I haven't used in the last year got put into the downstairs canning closet or discarded. Having only the tools I use makes it so much easier to find things, as does having enough space. Our kitchen really functions like a well-oiled machine now. It makes me so happy to have so little on the countertops, and that everything has it's place! It also makes it easier to keep the kitchen clean!

I've only had extremely small kitchens so I had ranges, in one replacing a wall oven.

This next kitchen is still going to be small 7 feet x 10 currently, and I can't go wider than 7. But I want a waist-high wall oven, perhaps side-opening.

In the last kitchen I had soapstone, including sink, but the house was built in 1839 or so and the kitchen was completely open to the living area. In this house I think I want stainless with a welded in sink and set in burners or cooktop.

I also want counter-high dish storage, no real lifting above or from below for stacks of dishes. We put clean dishes on the bottom of the stack so you have to take all the dishes out to put them away. So I want it to be as ergonomic as possible.

My remodel is still in progress, but dark hardwood floors started being installed today. The change for me will be that I'm gonna have to be cleaning my floors more often!

I only put in new counter tops, sinks, faucets etc. What I noticed is that I had so much black that disappeared into my old black counter tops - now that my counters are basically white (Zodiaq coarse carrara), I'm reassessing everything that is out on my counters. I've been thinking about ways to do things more ergonomically and making some changes for esthetic reasons too.

I've bought new cutting boards - white with silicon edges so it doesn't slip on the new quartz and tossing the old black ones. These new cutting boards are larger and I'm loving that I can chop lots of veggies without things spilling out onto the counter.

I'm going to get new turquoise or blue/green dish towels instead of - black. And I'm looking into the options to replace the black dish towels I used to air dry hand washed items. Definitely needs to be something I can toss in the washing machine on a regular basis and easy to fold and store since I like to have at least two or three to so I always have a clean one.

After many years of using boring round cork trivets, we bought a really cute new silicon trivet that is in the shape of a 4 leaf clover. It looks so cute out on the counter http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/00175269/

Something that I am really doing differently, that is, doing more of, is cleaning the interior of the hood and washing the wall and exteriors of the cabinets around the stove. Partly because the hood is new and shiny and I don't want it to develop the immovable coat of grease that the old one had; partly because I have more (and more beautiful) cabinets surrounding the stove to get dirty. I always did wipe down the old cabinets once a week, now I do it at least twice. Also, now that I have a rug in the kitchen, when I vacuum it I also run the attachment under the stove and fridge -- something I used to only do with my spring and fall cleanings.

Having a baking area!!! It's not in the best place, but there will be one! Also, having two ovens is going to be wonderful :)

I FINALLY have a clean kitchen!!! We are a family of 6 and I cook almost every single meal at home. In the old kitchen, it was impossible to catch up on dishes, I ALWAYS had dishes waiting to go into the dishwasher.

Now that I have 2 full size dishwashers, I do still have dirty dishes some days but that is only when I'm sick or lazy. ;) I ENJOY working in my kitchen now, because I'm not constantly thinking, "well, I COULD make some homemade tortillas for dinner but it is just going to add to the never caught up stack of dishes over there."

Also, I host basically all family gatherings, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, birthdays etc, trying to prepare a meal for a large crowd with only one oven is a nightmare.

I was constantly playing the math game. "Let's see, the oven is at 325 right now and I need it to stay at that temp for the roast. I normally bake this potato casserole at 450 for 20 minutes. What time do I need to put the casserole in the oven and how long should I bake it at the lower temp in order for all dishes to be ready at once?"

Gah!!!! Makes my brain hurt even thinking about it. I have 3 full size ovens now and I've so far never had to play the musical chairs math game and I am SOOO happy!

Due to our island's proximity to the wall oven, coupled with having limited counter space on the island, I routinely use my electric coil cooktop as a landing spot for anything and everything that comes straight out of the oven. Once the induction cooktop is installed, I must quickly break myself of THAT decades-old habit: fearing the specter of thermal shock!

LOL, Texas - whenever I even hinted it might be homemade tortilla night, my kids kicked into "how can I help?" mode fast! :)

Even though my kitchen is far from done, I am already cooking more extensive meals (rather than slapping something together) and experimenting with new recipes more often, including healthier eating and new to us ingredients. Because of the baking center, I bake more often (which kinda offsets that healthier eating, lol). I just plain enjoy being in my kitchen more so I spend more time there which results in it being cleaner while I create more interesting meals and desserts.

I resolve that I will not have to see the dog's stuff sitting on the counter anymore. All her stuff will be under an appliance garage.

I resolve I won't have to see DH's keurig cups all over the counter because he'll have a coffee station where I can close the doors so they're out of site.

I resolve to yell at my family less :-)

Our last kitchen was a corridor kitchen with the sink and range on opposite sides and the fridge near the back door. Any time any one went outside or went to the fridge they had to walk through my workspace. Whenever I opened the oven or moved from range to sink I had to yell the all clear.

The new kitchen is a small dead-end galley and I made sure that the fridge, a trash/recycle pull-out, the glasses/dishes/flatware and the microwave are all accessible to my people without getting into my zone.

raee made me think of something I had not. My stove is in the middle of my kitchen against a cabinet "wall" divider. There is no hood, no BS per se, though I guess you could count the cabinet wall as one. But it's only behind the stove, does not go up above the back of stove. So I will have to start cleaning more as the hood and BS will need cleaned when the stove gets moved against an actual wall.

And I won't be able to kick shut a cabinet door anymore. These things get abused as they can pretty much take it, plus now I know they are history. Will have to put on my kitchen kid gloves when the new cabs are here. Also hoping to find storage for things that sit on counter/top of DW (next to stove). I imagine there will be a pretty good purge as I will actually lose storage in this reno, unless I install some custom cabs, but that is yet to be determined.

And this reno will be an emotional adjustment of sorts. I have lived here going on 29 years, and have looked out a window while cooking that entire time. Now I will be looking at a wall, that will be, interesting...

More working space (so friends can cook with me). More UPPER CABINETS that are actually useful -- none of those practically-useless 12-inch wide (on their outsides) cabinets. I have three of the things here. And only one decent-sized upper. Seriously, tall with a sometimes floppy back, I need real upper cabinets. Roll out lowers. Under cabinet lighting. Bookshelves for cookbooks. Places to house outsized cooking pans other than in the guest bedroom dresser drawer. No doors opening up into each other (the back door, the half bath door and the basement door currently open into each other at the edge of the kitchen). Electrical outlets beyond the one the fridge is on and the one the microwave is on. (Tired of having to unplug/plug/unplug/plug.) Countertop not an ugly white formica from 1970. 5 or 6 element induction range. Fridge with freezer on the bottom.

Beth: all the more reason to get a BS you love, love, love! :D

My current kitchen is only 3 years old. I already have just as much clutter as before, and haven't sealed the counter as much as I was supposed to. We're building a new house, so I'm getting another new kitchen. I am not deluding myself into thinking I'm going to baby it any more than I do my "old" kitchen.

Thanks javi, you are right! Truly, glad you said that. :)

(what's the most ever spent on a BS? lol)

Ha! You DO realize that if you settle on that perfect BS too soon, you jeopardize entry into the ABB club. ;)

Never again will I have a kitchen with a "barrier island."

lol I can't remember what the words are (what are they?), but I do know what it means!

All But Backsplash

I resolve to yell at my family more :-P

That is, we need to get in the habit again of putting dishes directly in the dishwasher instead of letting them pile up on the counter/sink and then loading all at once. This largely involves kid-training (you kwim). I have decided the kids are old enough now for an after-dinner chore - little one will wipe the table, big one will sweep the floor. (Mental note - buy cute wiping cloths for little one. Big one already gets a brand new broom....)

All of my "new kitchen resolutions" have to do with less clutter - the pre-kitchen purge definitely helped, I think I will be putting half the stuff back in and half the stuff in storage. But I know it will creep in again. I agree with those who said more wiping/sweeping/cleaning in general. Now that I have a very dark floor, it shows every speck of dust, and my habits will have to change, but sooo worth it.

And with my new recycling pull-out, I should be able to put things directly in, instead of being in counter-limbo, but this will also require a resolution for DH and I to be on-top of taking out trash/compost/recycling mid-week, instead of the weekly avalanche we were putting up with before. That recycling station alone will save my marriage!

I keep a lot less stuff on the counter. Knives are in a drawer next to the pullout cutting board and cooking utensils are in a drawer under the cooktop. Partly for that reason, and partly because they look so good, I find I am keeping my counters a LOT cleaner, too!

One of the goals of my kitchen remodel was to get crap off the counters. To that end, I planned a charging station in a cabinet; a knife insert in a drawer; enough convenient storage for small appliances; a drawer for canisters.

After 2 years, we have done a good job keeping the counters clutter-free. Things that get left out are usually there for a reason, and I have a whole section of counter I can use as a staging area (in preparation for a trip or activity of some kind).

I find it's a lot easier to keep the kitchen clean when I have expanses of open counter. With lots of stuff sitting out, dirt/crumbs/yuck was more camouflaged, And it's just more fun to clean a quartz counter than laminate!

funkycamper pretty much sums it up for me... "I just plain enjoy being in my kitchen more so I spend more time there which results in it being cleaner while I create more interesting meals and desserts."