I guess our metal building is what you'd like to try to avoid, but I'll post it anyways. We did try to blend it some with our house except fell in love with the red. Honestly the cost and maintenance of doing metal was so much less than anything else we priced. At first we were going to do a board/batten with hardi, but that was 20K more than what we have now and would require painting still for maintenance. All our options used a metal building for the shell and had different options for the siding. It was important to us to have an overhang on the roof just like a house would and have windows etc. to minimize the look of a normal metal building. You could use landscaping etc. to minimize the look as well and pick colors that won't stick out. We added the same stone we have on the front of the house on the bottom of the building. We haven't gotten around to landscaping yet. The thing is the developer in our neighborhood didn't want to approve ours with metal siding which is why the board/batten was on the table, but then as they were framing ours a neighbor down the street put up a regular metal building without overhang, normal silver metal windows (we used same as on the house with divided lights), so we called the developer on it and he said well theirs sits behind a tree and isn't as visible. Hmmm you can't approve one thing for one person and not for another, so we saved ourself quite a bit thanks to our neighbor. BTW the tree is gone now as it fell in a windstorm we had.

I love your idea. Saves you the cost of a stone counter top too. Or you could have a marble top put on an old dresser. I think it would be totally functional as long as the dresser was at counter level. I thought of using a higher chest with more drawers if you don't have a window to design around, but you'd lose the lower dresser surface to lay down a blow dryer, shaver, etc. My only concern is the ease of opening drawers and the odor that usually is in old dressers. So I'd probably want something new. I'm going to look at Houzz today for those inspiration photos! What search words did you use to find them?

I wouldn't lose any sleep over it. I guess if they had a strong smell you could let them air out a while first but I don't notice that in the boxes I've bought. I'd suggest some research on the "reports" you've been misinformed on. A lot of the talk is just that. The email about microwaving in plastic is so overblown it's substantially a hoax although it has a grain of truth in it. You should use microwave safe plastic and not let plastic wrap come in contact with the food. The claim about freezing water in a bottle is a hoax. "This is an urban legend. Freezing actually works against the release of chemicals. Chemicals do not diffuse as readily in cold temperatures, which would limit chemical release if there were dioxins in plastic..." People shouldn't be so afraid of plastic. Fer cryin out loud if plastic was as dangerous as some would have us believe, we sure couldn't ride in ANY new car these days now could we? :) Look in your refrigerator... plastic all over from the butter tray, to the drawers, to the shelves to the walls of the refrigerator. Plastic milk jugs have been used for decades. Plastic drinking straws, plastic flatware, etc. When I managed convenience stores we used plastic shoe boxes for storing the food, like hot dogs, polish, etc, which incidently were wrapped in plastic from production! And the Health Department endorsed this. Of the two thoughts, I'd lean toward your hubby's, however, I'm not so sure about the cardboard bringing in bugs. Musty smell? Mold/Mildew if they get damp, even from humid weather? Yes, but I'm not so sure about bugs once they're in there. Get the plastic. And ignore email chain letters! :) You'll be much happier! Happy organizing!

Oh rhome... thank you so much . That's awesome. The more I look at this, the more I like it. I'm really really starting to get excited that WE'VE come up with a layout. It just seems to fit the house, DH will not be adverse to it, I'll be able to afford to outfit it with any materials I want since I'm not asking for major plumbing moves, and it'll be a good working kitchen. My 2 biggest "wants" were a nice expanse of prep space by the cooktop and a bigger then 3' baking counter. With this I'll have both. Here's my layout tweaked. It's really just a 2D version of what rhome generously did for me. I think I'd rather have the prep space then the oven higher. Plus, I don't want to give up the pantry. I had thought about doing separate base/upper pantry so to maintain the counter space but I don't want pullouts or have to open and close different cabinets. I want a simple closet with shelves for the bigger pantry. The 24" next to the frig can be a cabinet. I thought I'd store cleaning and paper goods in the small one by the frig and food stuffs in the other. If the lower cab is an issue due to the oven door; I can always get a side opening oven like the Gaggeneau. (great excuse to get an awesome oven). I think supermom has a point that if one can go below a CT, then it can be in a 4" lower cab. I may also lower the cooktop cab. I had saved a pic about 3 years ago because I loved the look. Can't find the pic but I've seen it done and it should work great for a shrimp like me. It's sometimes uncomfortable when I use a large stock pot to make sauce or soups. So do you all think I've/we've got a winner here? OH.. I'm figuring I can do the sink run 30" deep.