"At the cabinet maker's, I thought it was too boring." When you look at elements in isolation, you can start thinkint this way. If you pick the most fabulous or most striking elements, together, you can wind up with the "too many clowns" problem. Keep in mind that it is how they come together that will mater most in the end and you typically need some quieter elements to pull it together. Our process was some keeping the visoin and some changes, but we also started with a bit of a conflict because I've always like white kitchens and have bought 3 of my 4 houses with them. The 4th had natural maple cabinets. DH and I both loved cherry and talked about using cherry cabinets -- until we started pulling it together and I was afraid of it being too dark and too much brown with out adjoining breakfast and family rooms. And I wanted something different -- never liked the "Tuscan" kitchen that was everywhere and was really sick of the builder same olds. We would up with white perimeter, knotty cherry island and breakfast room hitch and a backdrop wall of tall blue storage cabinets surrounding the fridge. Take your time planning, looking at online and magazine photos and even taking colored pencils to your elevation drawings to look at options if you need to. It is time well spent.

I agree, Houzz has LOTS of great ideas. Unfortunately when I redo a house I look for deals and the materials I find dictate what materials and what look I'll be getting. :0)

The "save to your ideabook" toolbar button that Wendy and I both mention is super quick and easy to use. Easier than Pinterest, imho, and it's then so easy to share those photos in posts here.

I don't see any ideabooks deleted from this account. Is it possible you have another account using a different email address?