stage_rat, yes it is I who has an interest in heirloom tomatoes. I WSed about 35 varieties this year with astounding germination rates. I only wish that I had been better prepared to bring more with me to share but my decision to come to the swap was literally last minute so I threw what I could in the car. If anyone happens to be in the western burbs this week and wants some though I still have plenty to share after farming out what I could to family and friends. All those that haven't found homes by Friday get brought to the year-end picnic at the kids' school with a "free to good homes" sign. I'd love to talk tomatoes anytime. I'll be scouting out the farmers markets this summer for some fun new varieties to save seed from since my saved seeds from last year did so well. Thanks again to everyone for the wonderful plants. I came home totally inspired and have been ripping my way through previously neglected beds and overhauling them dramatically. Ellen, that gorgeous bleeding heart is the star of a new little shade garden in a newly-beautified corner of the garden...speaking of stars, shooting stars you say? I was just admiring them at a nursery the other day...making notes for next year's wish list :o) -Corrie

OK, I think I'm following you: The ceiling on the sink wall is going to have to stay at 7.5 feet. The cabs with molding are 3.5, leaving only 12 inches from the cabs to the counter. For me, this would be unacceptable. First, I'd pull off the crown molding, which would get you back to 15 inches of free space. Then, depending on how short you are, I'd use shorter legs on the bottoms, dropping the counter height to 35 inches, increasing the space to 16 inches. Now, if the window is wide so that there's plenty of space on either side of the sink to stack dishes, this would probably be enough. But if the window is narrow, it would still feel pretty claustrophobic to me. So I'd call a local cabinet maker, inquire about having the cabs for that area modified. Essentially, cutting 3 inches off the top. The doors may or may not be able to be moded, may have to be replaced. If the finish can't be matched, I'd change it to a different color entirely in this area so it looks more 'on purpose'. This won't be cheap, of course, but it would be better than tossing the cabs out and starting over. In areas where the ceiling is a full 8 feet, I'd leave the cabs alone. I'd try to reduce that 42 inch protrusion into the room, though. At that width, it's going to look like a mistake, not a design feature. Just raising the former florescent area makes the problem worse, since all the cabs would be wrong, then.

While I love the idea of awning windows I don't think that you can put screens on them... Which means that if you open them, you would be letting the bugs in and when they are closed the birds may fly into them because they can only see the screen, not the window. If I invested in new windows I would want to get maximum functionality out of them. So they would be double paned at least for heat/cold insulation and a triple paned if sound is an issue. You may want to invest in double hung windows as opposed to sliders. Personally, I like the windows where you can release one side of the window and it tilts into the room for easy cleaning.

I just bought my house. I have spent the last year looking at houses in my area. I still watch the market to see what is selling at what price. I am very well aware of what level of upgrades are in the houses and what is selling and for what price. We are not cheaping out on this, and have raised our budget from the beginning because we decided to get new appliances. We are buying mid range SS appliances (mostly Bosch, including their new Benchmark induction range) and likely mid range semi custom cabinets (which is what is in it now), although I am looking at some local custom cabinet makers too, and either granite or Quartz counters, all of which is totally fitting with what is in the remodeled houses in our area. The wall we are looking at removing is actually not an expensive part of this because it is small and non load bearing. The ideas I need are not a whole kitchen design, it is a couple of specific questions, and honestly if I just leave the wall up I can accomplish 90% of what I wanted with the plan I currently have laid out, which has minimal footprint change but does give me a wider U. I just thought that it would be nice to talk to an actual kitchen designer and make sure there wasn't some other arrangement that makes more sense, but I am ok with what I have if that is where we end up. My whole reason originally for wanting to reuse the cabinets is because they are good quality and in very good condition so I hate to put out a bunch of money for new ones. I have different reasons for doing the remodel than the cabinets. I am possibly going new now because of a variety of the choices we have made (going to the ceiling, etc) have us not re-using the majority, so at this point it is just probably easier to go all new. I really do appreciate your advice. Your comments on a different post were what made me start looking to talk to an independent kitchen designer. But, respectfully, you can't just take one or two posts and assume you know everything about the house/remodel/goals and say if you aren't willing to do this or that you shouldn't even do the project.