I don't understand that drawing. Is that a wall with nothing on it at the right side of the kitchen? And what's going on with the island? I don't understand what those little things along the bottom row are (below the DW, sink, etc.). Here are some issues that jump out at me from this layout: - Two tables so close to each other? That seems weird. Why not put seating on the outside of the island instead of that little table at the end? You would get a lot more island seating that way, and also you wouldn't have someone sitting IN the kitchen right in the traffic path between range and fridge. - Sink across floor from range (instead of on same counter run or around the corner). This is a safety issue. It can work in certain configurations where the traffic pattern allows or where there are no kids or pets in the household, but your kitchen is open on both sides (so people can come towards the cook from either direction), which makes it more of a safety issue, and your kitchen has plenty of room to put the sink on the same run as the range. So I'm not seeing the point of putting it on the island. BTW, you can keep the DW on the island--it doesn't have to be next to the sink, just near it. - MW all the way across the kitchen from the fridge. Normally these are close together because the MW is used to heat leftovers, frozen meals etc. that come from the fridge. Putting them far apart creates a lot of unnecessary traffic, and that traffic will cut right through the main work area. - Pantries and hutch on other side of island from range. If you plan on keeping anything in these pantries that you would ever need when cooking, such as canned goods, oatmeal, baking supplies etc., this setup will get annoying fast. Also, why such shallow pantries? - Trash/recycling pullout: in this configuration the cook will do most prep work between the sink and the DW, because people naturally tend to prep between sink and range and that's the stretch of counter that is closest to both. This configuration means no one can access the trash while someone's cooking (or that is, they will have to ask the cook to move). Also, the cook will have to move every time she wants to throw something away. And of course, with the natural prep space being between the sink and the DW, no one can do dishes while the cook is prepping. In other words this configuration scrambles the zones, which creates inefficiency. You have plenty of room to keep the zones separate, and that will be far more efficient. See, the thing is, you might expect prepping to take place on the counter to the right of the range, since it's not far from the sink either, but that would require the cook to pick up all the freshly washed stuff and carry it across the aisle. That's just not what a human being is likely to do, especially because you often also need the trash while prepping and the trash is on the island. So what this configuration does is work against natural human instincts--in other words, natural human instincts would lead a person to use this kitchen in an inefficient way, by doing almost everything on the island, which scrambles the zones and leaves that whole nice long counter run to the right of the range unused. The way to solve this in a kitchen of this shape is to put the sink (or at least A sink, i.e. a prep sink) on the same counter run as the range. So I think your needs might be better served by a U-shaped kitchen (i.e. attach the island to the wall on the right, get rid of any wall that extends beyond the island, and put the pantry/hutch inside the kitchen on the closed end of the U). Making the pantries deeper, with pullouts, would mean you might only need one of them, so that closed end of the U would not need to be super long. A U-shaped kitchen with the closed end facing the garage will mean you can't walk straight into the kitchen from the garage, but if the fridge is on the far end of the kitchen you will be carrying groceries that distance anyway. It is no more effort to carry them on the kitchen side of the island or the outside of the island (or peninsula, since with a U-shaped kitchen the island would become a peninsula).

Thank you all for your kind remarks. Yes, the snails love the clematis Chas, what with Trixie chewing the stems and the snails eating the flowers I wonder why I bother, then this morning I walked out in the sunshine to see the lovely clematis 'The President' climbing through the yellow Gold Bunny and I know why I bother. Mary Ann, you have such beautiful flowers and birds to look at, but I know how you feel as I want all your flowers and birds too. Well done Bill, glad you found it. You do know how to use Photobucket don't you? So let us see how your arch progressed. Nice to hear from you Inga, good to share. You must have some photos too to share Chas, where are they?

I'm glad the previous post was helpful to you ipinkmountain. : ) I can't tell you how many posts I've looked up and read through that I've never commented on, yet they had important info in them that I needed. right. now. Besides the ones that are simply pretty or fun! I hope you'll share pictures of your progress, too. ; ) Again, thank you all for your kind and encouraging words. I could spend all day glancing in this room (and I do!) I can't get over how it turned out, and that it was so simple to accomplish. I'd love to have you all to tea in here, one by one of course. ; ) Maybe bpathome could make us some cheese toast so we could figure out what it is. ; ) The plants on the bench (dh and I made it about 10 years ago) are our little experiment this year. They are all outdoor specimens that we brought in to see if they could survive in this south window or not. From left to right: 1. chocolate mint (struggling, but really should be re-potted) 2. Lavender-seems very happy. She's even decided to put out a couple of flowers! 3. Pineapple mint, faring ok 4. Lobelia-Also seems to like it here. Re-flowered after we brought it in from outdoors. 5. "Fakin' Bacon" is in the little pot next to the clock. (The clock was a wedding gift nearly 20 years ago.) I thought you might enjoy seeing close-ups of the dishes, and I know some of you are animal lovers, so here's a better shot of our doggie.

I just went through the garlic listing in SSE's 2017 Yearbook. Most of the stock I presently grow came from other collectors there. Two of the varieties I lost in the 2012 aster yellows outbreak - Chrysalis Purple and Carpati - are now listed, so this will complete the restoration of my previous collection. Heritage Farm also had two other varieties that have been on my 'want' list for several years. Barring crop failures, they will all be shipped in the Fall. The garlic bed is already about the largest that I can maintain, so to make room for the new arrivals, I will be eliminating a few of the varieties this Fall which have failed to size up. Best case scenario, they all do well... in which case, it will be a tough decision. Several garlic collectors with large collections have dropped out of SSE in recent years, so SSE itself has been offering more varieties from its preservation collection to fill the gaps. This suits me fine, since I know garlic from their collection is free from some of the garlic pests & diseases (such as garlic bloat nematode) that might be present from other sources.