i copied this information from http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/bulbs/qa.html Why didnt my bulbs bloom this spring? There are only a few reasons that bulbs do not flower. If the bulbs were planted last fall, dig down to see if they rotted in the soil. If they did, the planting site is poorly drained. If you donÂt find the bulbs at all or see only withered green leaves on the ground, perhaps a rodent ate them. If leaves appeared with no flowers, question the source and the storage technique. Bulbs purchased at an end of year sale may not have been stored properly and the flower bud may have been dead at the time of purchase. Before buying many bulbs on sale, buy one or two and cut them in half longitudinally to make sure the flower bud is alive. If it is brown or dried up, the bulbs will not flower next spring. This is a fair test of the quality of the remaining bulbs. If you stored the bulbs near apples or in a garage, ethylene gas may have caused the flowers to abort. If the bulbs were planted in a previous fall, they may have received insufficient light or the leaves may have been cut back prematurely last year, resulting in insufficient food reserves to support flowering this year. With some bulbs, including tulips and hyacinths, decline is expected after two to three years or even sooner. These bulbs are best treated as annuals in a display garden. ========================================================== this is from http://daffodilusa.org/daffodils/blooming.html Unfortunately, there are numerous reasons why daffodils might not bloom! Here's a check list for you to look at. See if anything fits you: 1. Bulbs have not been 'fed' in a couple of years (a broadcast of 5-10-10 granules at planting, when leaves emerge, and again at bloom is a reasonable feeding schedule.) 2. Feeding has been with a high-nitrogen fertilizer. (This encourages production of leaves, but seems to quell the plant's need for flowers.) 3. Bulbs are planted in a shady area. (Daffodils need an half-day of sun at least to produce flowers. If planted in partial sun, longer.) 4. Bulbs are in competition for food with other plants. (Planting under evergreen trees or with other fast-growing plants limits the food they can get. Result: weak plants and no flowers.) 5. Bulbs are planted in an area with poor drainage. (Daffodils love water but must have good drainage. They do not do well where the water puddles. There, they are weakened by "basal rot" fungus or other evils and die out. Plants infected with basal rot have green color loss on the leaves, malformed leaves, stems, and flowers - or all. Basal rot is incurable - dig and discard the bulbs.) 6. Plant leaves were cut too soon or tied off the previous year. (Daffodils replenish their bulb for about six weeks after they bloom. The bulbs should be watered for about this long after blooming. The leaves should not be cut off or blocked from sun until they start to lose their green and turn yellow. This signifies the completion of the bulb rebuilding process.) 7. Bulbs may be stressed from transplanting. (Some varieties seem to skip a year of blooming if dug and replanted in a different environment. Some varieties bought from a grower in one climate may have a difficult period of adjustment to a vastly different climate. They may bloom the first year off the previous year's bulb, but then be unable to adequately build a flower for the following year.) 8. Some naturalized varieties growing well in one region do not grow well in regions with different climate. (The wild jonquils proliferating and blooming in the Southeastern USA do not flower if moved to the north.) 9. The bulbs may be virused. (Many plant viruses attack daffodils. Over time, an infected plant loses its vigor, puts up smaller, weakened leaves and stems, stops blooming, and finally dies. The most common viruses are "yellow stripe" and "mosaic". Yellow stripe shows as fine streaks of yellow the length of the leaves. It appears as the leaves emerge. The plant is weakened by the second year. Mosaic only appears as white blotches on the yellow flowers where the petals lose their color. Plant vigor seems unaffected. Both these diseases are contagious to other daffodils and incurable. Dig and throw away the bulbs.) 10. Growing conditions the previous Spring may have been inhospitable - the reformation of the bulb was affected. (An early heat wave may have shut down bulb rebuilding before it was complete. The bulbs may have be grown in a smallish pot without adequate feeding or protection from heat and cold.) 11. Bulbs may be diseased or stressed from shipping the Summer before. (retail bulbs typically remain in closed crates for a lengthy period of time during shipping. These humid conditions are near-perfect for the proliferation of fungus diseases such as "basal rot" (fusarium). Some bulbs are infected at the time you receive them. Never buy or plant a "soft" bulb. Cut any observed rotting spots on a solid bulb back to clean tissue and soak the bulb in a systemic fungicide such as Clearys 3336 before planting. Look at the ADS bulb sources for reputable retailers.) 12. Bulbs may have been growing in the same spot for many years and need dividing. (Daffodil bulbs normally divide every year or two. This can result in clumps of bulbs that are competing for food and space. Commonly bulbs in compacted clumps cease blooming. Dig the bulbs when the foliage has yellowed. Separate them into individual bulbs and replant them about 6" apart and about 6" deep. You may replant immediately after lifting, or you may dry the bulbs in the shade, store them in mesh bags, and replant the bulbs in the Fall. If you replant immediately - do not water them until the Fall.) 13. Bulbs may be out to get you! (The case when you give them away in frustration and they bloom wildly for the new recipients.

I bargain with myself a lot. I give myself permission to take the dogs for a half length walk, ride the exercise bike slowly, empty one single box. I can't get started if I make the planned task too large, but most of the time, once I get started on the small task, I can keep going. The other thing I do is make the task as pleasant as possible so I surf the internet while I ride the exercise bike, listen to audiobooks while I pull weeds, play a movie while I unpack boxes. Then I just keep adjusting my goals. We just moved the last pile of stuff from the old garage yesterday. I've unpacked my clothes, "our" stuff in the bathroom, kitchen, and LR and DH has unpacked some of his stuff (I packed it since I was already retired, but if he wants it out of the boxes, it's his problem). Today I'm assembling the book shelves and tomorrow I'm hoping to unpack my books -- a few at a time! I did throw away a few packed boxes left from our 2005 move, but as I emptied one into the dumpster out tumbled my grandmother's Joy of Cooking. Whoops! I rescued that but refused to look at the rest. I also motivate myself by trying to empty the boxes so that I can get them listed on Craigslist. People are really, really grateful for a big pile of free moving boxes.

rhome410 - I will see what I can do about getting the graph paper plan to you asap- it's a bit faint, but that coupled with the cad should provide plenty of dimensions. Yes, both of the walls you mentioned are load-bearing (driving me crazy), but I guess I'm fortunate that's all I have to work around, right? I don't care if the kitchen is in the defined area. In fact I intend to take up that rectangular room toward the bathroom for sure. I suppose I should have mentioned that I view the round (10pp) dining table as leading into the living room adjacent to the stairs (and where the wine storage will be). In terms of my own (still very malleable) ideas, I thought the island with the range etc would look out toward the LR and the pasta/baking land would be parked on an island veering toward the bathroom. Main sink under existing kitchen window. I will have a second walk-in esque fridge in the garage (loud and commercial)so not worried about squeezing it in kitchen. In terms of oven, I really want a commercial combi oven, but am fast giving up on it because a. it's huge, b. it's wildly expensive, & c. it makes hooding that cooking island pretty ridiculous as I'd need a span of like 130" which is unsightly. Thus, for now, I'm going to content myself with the 48" and plan to supplement with the pizza oven and my dream-of-all-dreams tandoor. I'm actually not super oven-heavy anyway, what with doing a ton with sous vide and being very heavily pasta focused. YOu've already got me thinking- thanks for your input!! I hope I replied to you correctly, there doesn't seem to be a way to tag people directly in replies.

Bump!!!!!!! I was beginning my remodel at this time last year and i must have missed this.......it's so beautiful it deserves a second go round at the top of the forum for all the people who missed it. There aren't NEARLY enough comments on this kitchen. people must'vebeen outside enjoying the summer and not in the kitchen forums. Total eye candy.