Second attempt submitting a post. Marquest, Wow, you weren't kidding when you said Petunia seeds germinated..Your 'denia plant is filled with beautiful, purple Petunias. One year, Petunia seeds dropped in my citrus. The seeds germinated in winter, but nowhere as nice as yours. Or filled as yours. Mine had three pink blooms. Do you add dry or fresh fir needles in your plants? Where is the Gardenia trunk??? PM, The Fragrant Forum has a ton of information on hardy and tropical Gardenias. Some threads are passion-packed...when a member is having problems with their 'denias. PM, don't get me wrong, I love computers. Electronics in general..Example, light bulbs. :) But, I feel our society is too dependant on the net. As a child we 'walked' to the library. I do admit researching online is much easier than dressing, walking, then sorting through a zillion books to find information on one particular subject. So, guess I'm a little old-fashioned. lol I love reading, but refuse to get Kindle. Amazon emails weekly, reminding me this electronic device exists. My dh makes fun when another email comes in. Especially since I spend so much time online. Guess I'm a hypocrate...lol Logee's! In the mid-90's, I ordered from Logee's religiously. Back then, plants were shipped in 4" pots, well-rooted, and shipping wasn't all that much, though it was higher than other nurseries. Problem was, I didn't know of other nurseries. Don't know if Logee's sold my name, but I started getting catalogs from other nurseries. Two of my favorites were Stokes Tropicals and Mellinger's. Nowadays, you'd have to get a loan to order from Stoke's, and Mellinger's went out of business, in the early 2000's. Back to Logee's. In early 2000's, they changed. Plants were shipped in 2"-2.5" pots, barely rooted. Shipping outrageous. Via one order I bought a citrus. If you ever saw a photo of Logee's citrus, you'd be placing an order. What arrived was a 3" stick. Oh, crap happens. So, I gave them the benefit of the doubt. A couple orders later, plants were arriving in awful condition. I finally phoned. Customer Service Reps are very nice and helpful. They sent a replacement plant which arrived large, well-rooted. Why didn't they send a plant that nice in the first place? After another order or two, I said, heck with this nursery. Their over-priced plants aren't worth it. I can get the same plant on Ebay or most online stores, for half the price, and much larger in size. I will admit. I ordered a Thanksgiving Cactus, 'Aspen,' that's impossible to locate. A seller on Ebay sold Aspen cuttings. He made a small fortune. One buyer paid $94 and change plus shipping. So, I ordered the TC and a Begonia from Logee's. My bill was over 30.00. Anyway, that's the Logee's story. lol You sure are experienced with plants. Perhaps, one day, you can give me some outdoor garden tips. Because of back/knee problems, the last two years our garden has been duds. Weeds do fine though. lol. Well, let's say I've been growing indoor plants at least 25-yrs. I first got hooked as a child, when we'd go to my aunt's farm in MI. My MOTHER didn't allow plants indoors, but I managed to sow veggie seeds at 11-yrs. My first house plants were given to me as gifts when I moved out of the house at 18. They died..too much lovin'. PM, it's really nice talking to you. Mike...here you are.... Gardenia's are like the old saying...a watched pot never boils..Mike,, you must stop watching. :) Oke-e-doke, once your 'denia produces, you owe us a photo or two. Hugs, Toni PS: PM, please don't take offense regarding Excel. :_

If you want to have pale blue walls, have the paint store mix up the same color formula you used for the cabinets, but in a larger quantity of paint. You will get a paler shade, and it will match tones. If they take the formula for a pint and put it into a quart, you get "50%". If they use the formula for a quart and put it into a gallon, you get "25%" ... going even lighter usually doesn't work too well. I think pale yellow walls would look smashing with those cabinets.

Another thought (since we've all been suggesting yellow, and perhaps you've been there done that and want a change)...the DAT (design around this) threads on the kitchen forum had some fun blue and green kitchens; I'm linking to the 60s ranch thread, but I think the formica thread had options, too. Sadly, many of the pictures are gone now, but some are still some there. I bet you could find fabric pairing that blue with a pale green and use the fabric and accessories to tie things together. BM Pale Vista could be worth a look if you like that combo. Maybe some pops of either red or yellow, like in a clock. Here is a link that might be useful: DAT 60s ranch house thread with some blue & green

Wow! I am overwhelmed with all the responses and ideas. I will attempt to work through them methodically as I try to digest all the suggestions. bahacca and bmorepanic, I have seriously looked at the long island configuration that runs perpendicular to the windows. It is an option that does work. But the more I test that one out in my current kitchen, the more I feel frustrated. I like facing the windows where I am also closer to the skylights and feel like I am almost outdoors (where I really prefer to be). So I hope to find a way to do that. I understand the concern that the center work island might become a corridor and I am trying to think that one through. I centred the fridge on that aisle for the cook's convenience not thinking about my 26 year old's sons need for a beer! Perhaps a beverage fridge on the 9' wall along with the wine and corkscrew. It would also be a good spot for coffee but for fact that the most common items to come out of my dw are the mugs. It would be a long walk to put them away unless I also put a small dw on that wall. (Do I need two dws?) I do agree that the most usable wall in the kitchen is the 12' one and that for that reason it is the perfect spot for tall things, like the fridge, oven, pantry. But if I take the dw and dish storage away from there, where do they go? Somehow that 9' wall seems too far from the table. And wouldn't I be frustrated carrying all my dirty cooking utensils over to there as well? Once I planned for the dw and dish storage to be near the kitchen table, it made sense to have the coffee there too. Am I going in circles? liriodendron and bahacca, you have both addressed my fridge/freezer choices. I have to say, choosing appliances has been one of the most difficult decisions. I like the all fridge because of the amount of produce storage it gives me and I chose the all freezer because it did not cost much more than freezer drawers and would hold more. However, after reading your posts, I have thought more about how much I do use the freezer and how frustrating to not have it near at hand. I am probably into it more that I ever realize: all my nuts are kept there, frozen berries, and the sliced bread for sandwiches and toast, etc. So, I believe it makes sense to go with a 36" wide fridge/freezer and, I could then get fridge drawers for both beverage storage and overflow of produce and these would go on the 9' wall. The "food path" which has been addressed by several of you seems to me to be: garden to big sink for washing, to fridge for storing. From fridge to prep counter to (possibly) the cook top where it might be combined with other fridge or pantry items, or the steam oven or main oven for cooking. Then, into a serving dish or straight onto a plate. Baking elements come from fridge, baking drawers and, often, pantry (raisins, oats...) then to the ovens. Hot pans and sheets need to go on the cooking island when they come out of the oven. Dirty dishes from the table, small cooking utensils and bowls, cups and glasses go to the dw and large items that require washing go to the big sink. Spices will be in a drawer next to cook top, oils, vinegar, etc. in the pullouts on either side of the cooktop. Am I missing anything? The pantry is probably the least used space in that the items stored there are not used all the time (canned goods, beans, baking speciality items, bulk oil and vinegar,...), so I think it could stay on the further wall. Everyday food items, such things as crackers and cereal could go in a cupboard near the fridge. Dishes would be stored in the drawers to the right of the dw and glasses and mugs in the cupboards above. Sinks: I like the big sink on the island but am not sure if I need another so close. The main purpose for it was to dump liquids before heading to the dw and to refill the water reservoir in the coffee maker. Also, with glasses stored above, a good spot for a drink of water. I could do all that from the big sink though. I don't usually rinse dishes, just scrape off the bits into the trash. Would I find a 4' walkway between sink and dw a problem? I don't really want the dw on the sink island because I covet the idea of a wide bank of drawers for baking goods, bowls, and all the paraphernalia. Windows: lavenderlass, there is no window on the 9' wall, there is one at either end of the jogged out area where the small table is and an entire wall of glass on that far wall going out to the deck. Above this are 4 skylights which are part of the vaulted ceiling. This ceiling runs up to about 14' height then drops down to 8' just above the sink island. Standing at that island, I don't just see out but also up to the sky and to the tops of the tall fir trees that surround us. The portion of the vaulted ceiling that is not skylights is t&g wood. Essentially, this was an addition done before we bought the house. Have I addressed everyone's questions? There was a lot to digest in all your comments and I will go through them all again. I am going to carry on trying to make the two islands work but perhaps reduce the need for people to take the short cut to the fridge and coffee. Thank you everyone for your help. It is great to have the "fresh eyes" on my plan and your comments are invaluable. Carol