Well, the choice has been made. Thanks to all for your great advice! We will be using TSP on all the other cabinets for sure, but because these cabinets won't fit the new appliances, they will be used in the garage and my potting shed. They will be replaced with new. The new cabinets have been chosen. We brought one of the whitish floor tiles to our contractor's showroom and chose a shaker style cabinet in a honey color from PCS. Disgusted with the prices of quartz and granite, we chose an amazing matte porcelain tile that looks and feels to me much like brown swede cowhide in a 13 x 20" offset with a Schlutered edge in brushed stainless and a diagonally placed 6" tile backsplash with a decorative band that includes oddly shaped tiles in a metallic swirl (picks up the stainless), a white (picks up the floor) tile, and a couple shades of the matte brown. The choices we made give us the rustic feel we wanted with a touch of bling! My husband's comment was "It will look more high-end than granite!" He said this gleefully, knowing the cost was about a third of the other two! I'm happy because it's a hard baked surface and will not stain or absorb. The grout will match the tile, be narrow and also treated to not stain or absorb. The decorative band ties it all together! I'll post photos once it's all in. I'm finally happy to be stuck with that white tile floor in the kitchen! Well, sort of....... Now I have to deal with it elsewhere in the house!! Suzi

Great idea about the foamcore Kippy, that would be fabulous and so much easier than painting. I'll give that some thought. I need to get bold, there are so many amazing paints out there. Everytime I go to Home Depot, there is a new line of metalic spray paints. jlc712, I think that the bookcase is where I can make the next biggest impact in the room. I hate to get rid of our beloved Little House on the Prairie set, but if I find a niece to send it too, that will make the parting a little sweeter. Maybe if I thin out some movies I can store books below in the cupboard. My audiophile husband loves his sound equipment, however. To think, I can't turn half of it on! Great idea about the calendars. Clever and budget-savvy. So hard to throw away those beautiful calendar pictures. I've got to put 9 frames of something above the fireplace. That wreath comes down this weekend, its the Feast of the Presentation so the time has come. Maybe I'll find 9 pictures of the Blessed Mother to frame. There is an endless number of painting of her, and I could gaze at those forever. Of course, my husband would want pictures of National Parks, so I guess I've got a lot of thinking to do. Tibbrix, you are right, this big room needs big furniture. The coffee table is 48" and the sofas are 72" so it gives a foot on each side to sit. Remember, we walk behind the sofas, in front of them, beside them AND we chase Captain around the room! It's really a dog run, I guess. I would have loved to buy large English-arm three cushion sofas and lovely accent chairs, but it's the fact that we move the loveseats (sometimes daily) to watch television or play video games. I know this seems crazy. We only have one functional TV. With seven kids on board (well one is gone but we still have her bedroom that she shares with a sister), all of our rooms are full of kids. I figure that when the time comes to change the furniture once again, I have seven people who would love free sofas. ; ) Need to work on paint, don't have a budget for that now. Thank you so much for your thoughtful replies. It means so much to hear your opinions. -Cupofkindness

Is it possible that Houzz could add to the forum header instead of "Antique Roses" it could read "Antique Roses - roses that existed before 1867"? And the "Roses" forum header could read "Roses - all roses". This might make it more clear to participants. Dingo, we should talk about these old roses you grow, as we are close in zone! Jeri is invaluable to the rose communities, we love reading her posts! Please come back!

I live in the NYC area and SW Florida. When I did my NY kitchen in 2009 I had isssues with my backsplash. That is how I found Gardenweb. I scoured kitchen photos all over the internet. And, I looked at current new builds to get inspiration. I think if I would have seen that application used consistently I I would have remembered it. Shannon, pencil tile to me would mean those pieces that were used between other tiles and not grouped together as an application. It‘s interesting when we give advice, we do offer info about trends. When you yourself are in the thick of renovation, it is sometimes easiest to shop on trend. I’m doing my Florida master bath , gray and white is still huge and everywhere, I see still it in multi million dollar homes even in my NY suburb area. . Yet here On Houzz everyone discourages it. It’s out, don’t do it etc. But then, at the same time, where are the suggestions to what someone could do instead, moving forward. The backsplash is the easiest to change if you are thinking about resale. Trabideaux, you can also search mini tiles if this the look you want.