Thanks for your kind, encouraging words everyone. I agree with you Talley Sue on most of your points, although I don't have much room left! I have been talking myself blue in the face about needing drawer storage under the work bench to DH, who doesn't like the mechanic's drawers. He's perfectly fine with his tools being in separate little boxes, even if it drives me nuts. (I may just get something I call roll under the bench in the future anyway, if I can make room.) I suspect it's because for years he needed his tools to be portable since he would take them on the job. I agree with you about drawer storage, simply because it would make it easier for ME to access the tools! The best I can do at this point is to mount wire baskets (that slide) under the length of the door. The rest of the space under the door/bench is taken up with a big tool chest on wheels that doubles as an extra work surface (think L shaped work space), and things like the shop vac and air compressor. When he was installing shelving, he had his tool boxes open (back to back in a square) so he could see everything at once. Even if it isn't what I would do, it seems to be working for him. The bins at the potting table are full of heavy fertilizer, so I needed the head room for opening the lids and getting into the containers. I keep things low on the wall at the potting bench since I'm short and wanted to be able to reach everything there. There's a big drawer the length of the potting table under the top, so that's really convenient. Since I don't really need any more shallow drawer space in that particular place, it allowed me to purge more items, so that's working for me! We kept the Wall of Wonder shallow, without putting any heavy equipment on the floor, just so I could reach it all. There are things like my little red wagon (which I use for gardening) that are hung low, so all I have to do is grab the handle and let it roll off the wall. By parking all the big equipment in the middle of the space, we can maintain a path all the way around and keep a wide aisle around the workbench. I do need a little help to figure out a way to hang/store some chest waders (for working in the pond). I wonder if I could hang them by the shoulder straps on a hangar near the ceiling. We have a small cultivator on a long pole that might work for getting the hangar down. If you have any better suggestions for me Talley Sue, I'd appreciate it! Celticmoon made me Google...now I want a clothesline in the garage. I'd love to be able to hang bedspreads to dry. Why is it I can't find a single (narrow) retractable clothesline in metal housing? I need at least 25 feet of line. With the exception of the fertilizer bins and crates, I'm done buying plastic shelves or drawers, because it just doesn't last at my house. If any of you have any other ideas or tips, please feel free to help me tweak my space!

I should have mentioned that the $5,000 budget is ONLY for the kitchen and NOT for electrical. We have a separate budget for that. We've pretty much already planned and priced the unfinished cabinets...$1200. We've allowed $200 in the budget for a double sink that I saw somewhere and would like. We've allowed $130 for the faucet that we like. The $5,000 budget is very doable. The "holes" in the flooring are not termites...we had an inspection before buying the house and from the basement and crawl space we can see that there are no bugs. The holes are most likely just gaps in the flooring....we'll see. The subflooring in both rooms of the kitchen is older rough cut lumber (kind of like what you'd see on the floor of an older barn) and the joists were large...more like beams. So we are not concerned about the flooring. As for the wall removal... In plank construction, there are only 4 components: 2 posts, a beam held up by those posts, a beam below those posts, and planks that were nailed from the top beam to the lower beam on either side of those beams...I hope that all made sense. So, finding anything in the wall is extremely unlikely. In the town we live in, most homes were constructed in this manner and we know quite a few people who have removed walls to enlarge rooms. There is a trip to the borough hall planned so we can find out what needs to be done for that. Electric... DH and FIL are updating the electric. FIL built his house and an addition onto his house and is knowledgeable in this area. No concerns here....wiring already priced. We are planning on doing surface mount for the electric because there is no way whatsoever that I am opening up a plaster and lath wall!!! There is a bathroom above the kitchen and we will be looking at the plumbing when we take down the tiled wall of the kitchen. There are newer fixtures in that bathroom, so we will see what is there. We were told by the previous owner that the piping is cast iron, not lead....and we can see some of it for the vent. I will try to post pictures later. For now we are taking a break from the remodeling (just got finished building most of a fence in the backyard) and taking the kids to Knoebels for the first time. Ought to be a nice day. :) Thanks for the advice so far. Also, I will try to play around with Excel or something to draw the layout for the current kitchen and for our plans.

I jesh made theesh. S'veddy veddy gud. Ashually, I think I started theshe lash year. Shtill waiting for the oven to be done. How long do cookiesh take at 71 deg? 352 daysh not enough. Meanwhile, Jose Curvo is goo-oo-ood friend waiting for the chrismass cookies with me. Will get back when ... darn, my glass is leaking! Need miracle cloth to round it up - hold on. Merry Navidad to all. Tip for all trying to remodel their fridge. Wine fridge more useful than oven, hot fire-thingy or fast-heater radiation noissy rotating plate doo-hicky. can't cook without good alcohol. And with good coold alcohol, cooking not neckessary.

Maire Cate, I lied! It was The Kitchn, NOT the Test Kitchen recipe! I've used so many recipes for turkey from the Test Kitchen (am a subscriber to the site now and to Cooks Illustrated for years prior) that I automatically wrote test kitchen, sorry!! The recipe I used is linked below, it is both easier and tastier than the test kitchen methods I have used (brining, roasting on a bed of veggies, roasting for just a few hours, etc.) The Kitchn method is absolutely the easiest one I have ever used, and one of the best, if not the best. I had a fresh turkey of almost 15 pounds for ten meat eaters. It was rinsed inside and out, giblets and neck removed from cavity (the former in a bag, thankfully), and dried, then sprinkled all over with salt and coarse ground pepper. No stuffing was put in the turkey. The oven was preheated to 450. I poured two cups of Swanson's chicken broth in the bottom of a roasting pan with deep ridges on the bottom and set the turkey in breast up. I untied the legs per instructions. The bird went in the oven on the next to lowest rack setting and temp immediately turned down to 350 degrees. After an hour I basted it with the juices and tented the breast, which was already a beautiful golden brown. You are supposed to take the turkey out and close the oven door when basting, so I did that and basted it two more times about an hour apart. The turkey was ready after 16 min. per pound, I was timing it but there was also a pop up timer in the bird as well, and I used a meat thermometer to make sure it was done. I took the bird out and it rested for nearly an hour while the sides heated up and we had our first course. My SIL's husband (she is my brother's widow) carved and the meat--- every bit of it---- was moist and flavorful and delicious! Best of all, the pan drippings made fabulous gravy, which I made by combining unsalted butter and flour in a large, straight-sided skillet into a roux that I browned a bit instead of leaving white. I used it to thicken the pan juices (which already included broth) by adding the broth to the skillet. I had about three cups of broth/drippings, which contained rendered fat, so I made more roux than I would have for liquid without fats. After thickening the gravy I added about four ounces of half and half and two of those small containers of Knorr concentrated, home style chicken broth. They are about 2" x 1.5" and come in a four pack. This method has to be tweaked on site for the amount of fat in the drippings but makes absolutely delicious gravy. The meal WAS wildly successful, thank heavens, and we did not have a lot of turkey leftover as our young men (ages 13, 16, 22, and 25) ate like there was no tomorrow :-). But there will be enough leftovers for HK to make a turkey pie or two for the coming week, unless we eat it all in open faced sandwiches with that fabulous gravy before the day is out! Here is a link that might be useful: The Kitchn recipe for easy and delicious turkey